Best cheap fish finders

Start with the Garmin Striker 4. It's the classic cheap fish finder for a reason: real Garmin sonar, a simple button interface, and a small screen that's easy to read in a kayak or a 12-foot boat. If you want the cheapest thing that actually works, this is it.

Who the others suit:

• Lowrance Eagle-4x — a proper 4-inch IPS screen and bullet transducer for a little more; good if you fish from a small boat and want a clearer display.
• Garmin STRIKER 4 Portable Bundle — buy it if you move between boats or fish from shore: it comes with its own portable setup.
• Deeper Pro+ 2 — a castable sonar you throw out on a line; best for bank and pier anglers with no boat at all.
• Lucky handheld / Lucky FF918-C — the budget end: fine for depth and rough fish marks, but expect basic readings.
• Garmin Striker Vivid 7sv — the step up if you want side and down imaging and a bigger screen; not really "cheap" anymore.

Skip the big chartplotters (ECHOMAP, Elite FS) unless you're rigging a serious boat — they cost many times more than you need to spend to find fish.