Fish-finders/chartplotter touch screens or not

[ronaultmtd]

I pulled the trigger on my Upgrade from my Hummingbird 798 ci HD si Fishfinder/Chartplotter combo...love the side imaging feature for my kind of shallow water fishery, but a five inch screen shrinks down the data and makes you squint to tell what you are looking at in bright sun...so after looking and reading reviews, Sonar Wars articles, Bass fishing forum posts and asking Snaggedline users about their Hook2-7 tripleshot combos...I went with the Hook2-7 Fishfinder/Chartplotter triple shot combo with US Coastal maps...I was torn between the Elite TI-7 tripleshot and the Hook2 unit...not much difference in the price, but I absolutely did not want a touchscreen on a kayak...I ordered Berley Pro products for my Hook2-7...the Tripleshot transducer cover and the sunshade...the reason for the sunshade is two fold...to allow me to lower the brightness settings to preserve power and to keep water off the screen...the exact same reason I rejected the touchscreen...a clear clean screen is essential to see the information...greasy, fish slime finger prints...all I have to do is visualize my I-Pad in bright sunlight...but that is just me...and FYI..there is no fully automatic plug it in and fish Fishfinder/Chartplotter combo...you still have settings to set, screen color, width of sidescan, etc...you still have to learn how to use your unit if you want to get the most out of it...us old dogs have to learn new tricks...

[nhunter344]

Touch screens may be ok for larger boats that don't have to worry about getting splashed all the time. But IMHO, for a kayak, touchscreens are useless. Once a touch screen gets wet, or your hands are wet, or the screen is covered in dried salt residue, or fish slime, they are unusable for the most part (at least the touch screen functionality).

[Oldbayrunner]

and don't forget cold fingers render them useless....

[Yak Fish]

My Humminbird Solix works great in the rain and with wet fingers. Here's the video I put together showing just that in the pouring rain.
https://www.facebook.com/chesapeake....9141837353066/

[ronaultmtd]

My Humminbird Solix works great in the rain and with wet fingers. Here's the video I put together showing just that in the pouring rain.
https://www.facebook.com/chesapeake....9141837353066/

Wow! A Solix 10...I am jealous...the top of the top of the line...looked at Hummingbird...liked my 798 unit, but a five inch screen is pretty small using side imaging...just couldn’t justify the $2000 price tag of the Solix...and it looks like the touch screen was designed to be used with wet fingers...some good news is that ACK shipped my Berley Pro sun visor and tripleshot transducer cover...got everything to finish my upgrade..I brought a 12v battery in the House and played around with my Hook2-7 unit at the kitchen table...set it up and added the splits I want to use on the water...spent all my prize money from winning the fantasy football league championship-$1000.00...even when you get a “free” kayak, outfitting it can be expensive...