Lowrance FishFinder?

I have just bought a Hobie Pro Angler 12 with 360 drive. I want to add a fish finder and was advised by the dealer that Lowrance was the way to go and that side scanning is a very useful feature. I have little to no experience with fish finders and the choices are overwhelming so would appreciate any advice. I will probably only use the kayak on the lake I live on.

Lowrance.

i helped a friend install one on his ProAngler..and one on another friends Outback. they both have side imaging, which neither of them know how to use.

bottom line, Lowrance fits the hobie the best. basically all the fittings are made to drop it all right in. not saying another brand will not work, but you will need to retrofit somethings. i did it and it involve zipties. hahah.

Agreed, I fitted my outback with a Garmin because I prefer Garmin, but fitting the transducer was a mission, I had to do a bit of cutting and molding which was not a good feel for me. For whatever reason, Hobie have designed their stuff to easily work with Lowrance.

But the other question is your budget. When it comes to fish finders, getting all the bells and whistles costs a surprising amount. For lake fishing side scan is best but the cost will mount up. As opposed to a basic depth sounder / fish finder which can still be high quality in terms of seeing what is right below you, and be done very cheap.

Watching a few YouTube videos may help you decide, you see guys seeing fish on their sidescan and casting exactly to them, watching on their screen as the fish go to the hook, and catching them.

Me, I fish the ocean. The fish are pelagic and fast moving, and the water is deep. So I'm mostly looking for structure where fish may hang out, or for schools I could drop into. So side scan would be interesting but likely less value for me, I have a straight down sounder which pretty much tells me what I want to know plus didn't break the budget. And, runs all day on a very small battery.

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2014 Hobie Outback set up for rod and longline fishing

I just recently swapped out my old Lowrance for a Garmin on my 2014 Hobie Sport. I did screw up one plug and had to replace it with the 3 in 1. Other than that no installation problems, including the transducer which fit just fine in the Lowrance mount. Suppose there could be a difference in transducers depending on model. Mine is the Striker 4.

Honestly, it depends on what you intend to do with your plotter. For example, I have a Lowrance HDS7 Gen3 w/ Totalscan transducer. I had to buy a berleypro in order to "bolt-on" the transducer. No holes or customizing. Just a small protective shell protruding from the bottom. Anyhow, I use my setup to log my sonar. That way I later create a map of the area I was scouting. Berlypro also makes different adapters for different transducers. I will upload photos later. Not sure if it helped.

Fitting Lowrance Reveal 7 to an older PA 12

I bought the new unit and then YouTubed away my afternoon. Does anyone know whether the side scan transducer (long one!) is compatible with the older yak? It seems that the newer ones have a retractable transducer mounting system (Guardian?) but mine does not. So the transducer is going to have to be mounted inside the flat plate. I hope it fits in there, actually.
Will I have side-scan capability if the transducer is not hanging below the surface of the hull?
Does anyone know if this will fit (before I go to the trouble of unscrewing the bottom plate?
I wonder if the Guardian system can be retrofitted to older Pro Anglers. Anyone know?

All replies welcome and I'm grateful in advance.

Thanks - Michael in Western Australia