Top 5 Editorial Picks

Five current fishfinders chosen for distinct buyer needs—from compact value to a premium expandable system. These are editorial selections, not Amazon or reader ratings.

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  1. 1
    Garmin STRIKER Vivid 4cv, Easy-to-Use 4-inch Color Fishfinder and Sonar Transducer, Vivid Scanning Sonar Color Palettes 4 Inch STRIKER Vivid 4cv Transducer

    Best Compact Value

    Garmin STRIKER Vivid 4cv

    A straightforward sonar and GPS unit for kayaks, jon boats, and small boats.

    • CHIRP and ClearVü scanning sonar in a compact package
    • A sensible pick when you do not need a chartplotter or SideVü
    • Best fit for budget-conscious small-boat anglers
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  2. 2
    Garmin STRIKER Vivid 4cv, Easy-to-Use 4-inch Color Fishfinder and Sonar Transducer, Vivid Scanning Sonar Color Palettes 7 Inch STRIKER Vivid 7sv Transducer

    Best All-Around 7-Inch Fishfinder

    Garmin STRIKER Vivid 7sv

    A capable sonar-first choice for anglers who want a useful 7-inch display without moving into a full chartplotter system.

    • CHIRP, ClearVü, and SideVü sonar for fish and structure
    • Simple setup with a practical 7-inch screen
    • Strong value for most general boat anglers
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  3. 3
    Garmin ECHOMAP UHD2 73sv with GT54 Transducer, 7” Touchscreen Chartplotter, Garmin Navionics+ U.S. Inland 7' Garmin Navionics+ U.S. Inland with GT54 Transducer

    Best GPS & Chartplotter Upgrade

    Garmin ECHOMAP UHD2 73sv

    The mapping step-up for buyers who need confident navigation as well as high-quality scanning sonar.

    • Garmin Navionics+ U.S. Inland mapping and touchscreen control
    • Ultra High-Definition ClearVü and SideVü sonar
    • A better fit than STRIKER when charts matter
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  4. 4
    Humminbird XPLORE Series GPS Fish Finder MEGA Side Imaging+ & HD Touchscreen Display Transducer Included) 9-Inch Display

    Best Side-Imaging Upgrade

    Humminbird XPLORE 9

    A current 9-inch imaging platform for anglers ready to build around serious side imaging and boat integration.

    • MEGA Side Imaging+ and MEGA Down Imaging+
    • 9-inch display with touchscreen and keypad control
    • Recommended configuration: 9-inch, transducer included
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  5. 5
    Lowrance HDS PRO Fish Finder/Chartplotter with C-MAP, 9 to 16-inch Options 10 Inch ActiveImaging HD 3-in-1

    Best Premium Expandable System

    Lowrance HDS PRO 10

    A larger-boat platform for buyers who want premium sonar, mapping, networking, and a serious expansion path.

    • Active Imaging HD and C-MAP charting
    • Wide networking support for integrated electronics
    • Ready to expand with ActiveTarget 2 and the Lowrance ecosystem
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Garmin Colorado 400c Review

The Garmin Colorado 400c is a very sophisticated full-mapping marine handheld GPS. A variety of Colorado models are available, while the hardware remains the same in each variant, the onboard cartography in each unit is different.

The Colorado 300 features a world base map, while each variant of the 400 adds specialized mapping. The 400t is preloaded with U.S. topographic maps, 400i has U.S. inland lakes, and our test unit the 400c packs U.S. Bluechart cartography.

garmin colorado 400c portable gps

Garmin Colorado 400c

A couple special features we found in this Garmin portable GPS series include the ability to transfer data from one Colorado to anther wirelessly and the ability to view images on an SD card. All Colorado handheld GPS units also have a built-in electronic compass and altimeter.

The 400c is packaged with a USB cable, carabiner clip, owner’s manual, quick start guide, and MapSource software.

The Colorado fits well in hand and measures 5.5-inches tall, 2.4-inches wide, and 1.4-inches thick. With a pair of AA batteries installed our 400c weighed in at 7.8 ounces.

Operation

The Garmin Colorado 400c is designed for easy one-handed operation with its pair of soft keys and Rock ‘n Roller™. The latter is a combination rotary knob, directional keypad, and enter button. This unit also has a top mounted on/off switch.

Pages are selected by pressing the shortcuts soft key. This open a graphic window with a user selectable page list.

Spinning the Garmin Colorado 400c Rock ‘n Roller selects a page, then pressing the center Enter button executes your choice. I found this to be a very fast and easy way to move from page to page and function to function.

I added the Route Planning page to the default list of pages so I’d have easy access to this function for testing later.

One page I was glad to see on the default page list was the Trip Computer, usually this type of page is buried somewhere deep in the bowels of a unit making it hard to find and use.

garmin colorado 400c portable gps

Use the right soft key to select shortcuts, then choose a page with the Rock ‘n Roller.

The Compass page is another default navigation page. This one features a compass rose powered by a built-in compass and four data boxes. The data boxes are of course all user selectable.

The Map page is also selected via the shortcut menu. It is very detailed and is by default set for auto ranging.

I much preferred manual map ranging and set things up that way by using the map setup menu. Once you do this the rotary portion of the Rock ‘n Roller becomes the default map range selector making setting the proper range fast and positive.

Waypoints and Routes

The easiest way to save a present position waypoint in the Colorado is to hold in the enter button located at the center of the Rock ‘n Roller for a couple seconds. A second quick press of the Enter key accepts the waypoint.

If you choose to edit the waypoint you’ll be directed to a menu that lets you change the name, symbol, comment, and position.

Since I had previously saved the Route Planning page in the