# Garmin striker 4 review



## BigJoe90

Just picked one up. Menards has them on sale for $99 originally $119

If the bag sale is still going on you get an extra 15% off

Used it for the first time today. Will post a review later


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## Hook_line_sinker

Does that have lake maps?


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## BigJoe90

I'll explain that 

So everything comes packed pretty well. Comes with the transducer, base for the screen and screw for it, power cord, and a mount for a trolling motor. Does not come with a mount for the back of a boat. The screws for the screen base stripped pretty quick on me so those will be replaced. The transducer cord is pretty long. Haven't measured it yet. The power cord comes bare and you have to put your own connectors on it. There are also two extra cables for data sharing of some sort. I cut them off because I won't ever be using them. 

So it has a few different modes. 

Standard screen. 
It has the normal scrolling screen. You can have it at either 200, 200 chirp, 77, or 77 chirp. You can manual zoom or auto zoom, and the same with the gain settings. It could pick up my jig while ice fishing, and has pretty good colors. You can also show the two different frequencies at the same time if you want 

Flasher
It has a standard flasher. Same as above you can adjust the gain and zoom either automatically or manually. Used the flasher mode yesterday. Watch a few fish come up to the jig and hit it. There was a bit of noise in the first 2-3 feet but I'm not sure the transducer was all the way under the ice. 

Map/GPS mode. 
This is something that's kind of a bummer. It has a GPS mode so you can track your movement and drop marks of where fish are caught. But there is no lake overlay or lake data. 

It also shows water temp, battery voltage, time, and GPS strength. 

Overall I like the unit so far. Still have to find a better way to make it more mobile on the ice. 

Any questions just ask


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## Brian Berg

Hook_line_sinker said:


> Does that have lake maps?


No. Its not a charplotter. Its a sonar with gps. Garmin charplotters start around $500. Although many Garmin handheld GPS units can accept a mini-SD map. I have the Oregon 650T with LakeVu HD chip in it. Amazon has the card for under $50. https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00KOEN3T2/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all


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## BigJoe90

Brian Berg said:


> No. Its not a charplotter. Its a sonar with gps. Garmin charplotters start around $500. Although many Garmin handheld GPS units can accept a mini-SD map. I have the Oregon 650T with LakeVu HD chip in it. Amazon has the card for under $50. https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00KOEN3T2/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all


When I looked it over I didn't see a SD card slot but I'll check when I get home.


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## Brian Berg

BigJoe90 said:


> When I looked it over I didn't see a SD card slot but I'll check when I get home.


I doubt it does. For $99, that's a lot of electronics, just without mapping. I want the map on my GPS anyways. It's smaller and easy to carry while heading to your spot. I don't think I'd want to carry my fishfinder for a mile walk to my spot! lol


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## BigJoe90

Brian Berg said:


> I doubt it does. For $99, that's a lot of electronics, just without mapping. I want the map on my GPS anyways. It's smaller and easy to carry while heading to your spot. I don't think I'd want to carry my fishfinder for a mile walk to my spot! lol


Haha ya that would be a pain. All but one lake I fish, I bring a sled.


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## booyah

Thanks for this, I was set on buying the portable, but for $100 i will grab an ammo box and a few lantern batteries.
which transducer do you use on the ice?


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## BigJoe90

It comes with the standard boat transducer not an ice transducer. You can rig it to work with pvc tee or a wood one. Or a bunch of ways as long as you keep it horizontal


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## JoeLansing

I picked up the portable kit last night. I won't be trying it out until Saturday, but so far it seems very nice. I got it from Walmart $199 online site to store.
- Joe


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## BigJoe90

Yea I saw that and wanted to try it.


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## triplelunger

does


JoeLansing said:


> I picked up the portable kit last night. I won't be trying it out until Saturday, but so far it seems very nice. I got it from Walmart $199 online site to store.
> - Joe


does that portable kit have an ice ducer?


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## RichP

Someone else posted a thread a few days ago about an Auger/Shelter value pack at Menards. Does menard's have an entire fishing section or are these just anomalies? For some reason I must have always missed that.


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## growninmi

RichP said:


> Someone else posted a thread a few days ago about an Auger/Shelter value pack at Menards. Does menard's have an entire fishing section or are these just anomalies? For some reason I must have always missed that.


Most menards I been in have basic tackle. Hooks, line, sinkers, maybe few jigs.
One small rack usually. 
I have seen the gas auger with hub...not sure of quality, but at $300 the price is right, just not sure if product is.


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## Brian Berg

RichP said:


> Someone else posted a thread a few days ago about an Auger/Shelter value pack at Menards. Does menard's have an entire fishing section or are these just anomalies? For some reason I must have always missed that.


Menards usually carries hunting stuff like stands and popup blinds during deer season. It doesn't surprise me they carry fishing stuff too. They usually keep what limited selections they have towards the back past the registers. At least, the handful of stores I was in. They seem to have them laid out the same.


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## JoeLansing

triplelunger said:


> does
> does that portable kit have an ice ducer?


No, a small boat transducer. It does hang in a hole ok with the included float, but it's not totally flat for shooting through ice. It also has a suction cup thing you can use for mounting it on a boat. Here's a review of it, but the guy doesn't even show the Sonar + Water-column split display.


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## sfw1960

RichP said:


> Someone else posted a thread a few days ago about an Auger/Shelter value pack at Menards. Does menard's have an entire fishing section or are these just anomalies? For some reason I must have always missed that.


Rich, one shot deal - aka Anomalies lol!

http://www.menards.com/main/outdoor...42893373-c-10106.htm?tid=-7838249655875418781


The Garmin is a good CHEAP FF that can take you back to a spot on GPS.

My 1st GPS was an Eagle AccuNAV Sport - we learned how to navigate to a grid, these maps are really nice now - but certainly not an absolute requirement.


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## triplelunger

JoeLansing said:


> No, a small boat transducer. It does hang in a hole ok with the included float, but it's not totally flat for shooting through ice. It also has a suction cup thing you can use for mounting it on a boat. Here's a review of it, but the guy doesn't even show the Sonar + Water-column split display.


Thanks. I ordered one on amazon anyways. At the very least it should be good as a backup or for the kids to mess around with. I'm giving it a shot this weekend.


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## Vertical jig

I just bought the portable one.... I will report after I get out this weekend!


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## JoeLansing

triplelunger said:


> Thanks. I ordered one on amazon anyways. At the very least it should be good as a backup or for the kids to mess around with. I'm giving it a shot this weekend.


I already had a little craptastic Lowrance x3 Elite or something on my little fishing boat. This Garmin seems a lot more advanced. I could've adapted my Lowrance to ice, but for $200 I figured I'd just try something better, that would work for boat and ice roles. I love the split sonar/water colum display. But I'm such a noob at advanced fish nuking things, I don't think my opinion counts for much yet..
- Joe


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