New Garmin Striker Plus is a full-featured budget fishfinder

Garmin has launched a new Striker Plus series of user-friendly fishfinders packed with new features to help anglers find and catch more fish. Yet the Plus side of the equation doesn’t mean a heck of a lot more price.

The new Striker Plus series of proven and popular fishfinders now includes built-in GPS, Quickdraw Contours and Wi-Fi, making them the perfect entry-level sounders for anglers who want the ability to create and store their own contour maps .

Like the first-gen Striker Series, the Striker Plus offers built-in Chirp traditional sonar and Chirp ClearVü and SideVü scanning sonar technology.

Garmin says that, in addition to crystal clear fish arches and remarkable target separation with Chirp sonar, its ClearVü will create a near-photographic-wide image of what passes below the boat, while SideVü gives anglers a crisp and clear view of what lies off to each side of the boat including structure, submerged objects and, of course, fish.

QUICKDRAW CONTOURS
But now Striker Plus users can also create HD fishing maps of the places they’ve fished. Thanks to the built-in Quickdraw Contours mapping software, it’s easy to create and store up to 2 million acres of maps with 1-foot (30cm) contours.

Once the Quickdraw feature is turned on, users will instantly see contours with labels generated right on the screen as the boat moves — there’s no waiting around or sending the files to Garmin.

The results are quick and accurate and can be viewed in real-time or created in the background for later use.

For the comprehensive coverage of the seabed, Quickdraw Contours clearly shows where usable depth information has been collected and where gaps exist, so you can easily see what still needs to be scanned and collected.

ACTIVE CAPTAIN APP
With the addition of built-in Wi-Fi (7in and 9in models only), users can also take advantage of the free Garmin ActiveCaptain mobile app that creates a simple yet powerful connection between a compatible mobile device and a Striker Plus unit.

With ActiveCaptain, waypoints and routes can be transferred directly to a Striker Plus unit, making it easier than ever for anglers to pre-fish a body of water. Smart notifications are also delivered on the screen along with software updates.

ActiveCaptain also makes it possible to quickly and easily access the Quickdraw Contours Community to share or download new user-collected data.

BUILT-IN GPS
The Plus series comes standard with a built-in high-sensitivity GPS receiver, so anglers have the ability to not only see fish and structure below the boat, but also to quickly and easily mark favourite fishing spots and other areas of interest like sunken timber, reefs, docks and so on.

When trolling, the GPS provides an update once per second, giving fishos the precision needed to dial in the exact trolling speed and optimise lure presentation.

You can also share waypoint data across multiple Striker Plus units, as well as the new Echomap Plus series devices.

DISPLAY SIZES
There are six new Striker Plus models available. Those with a 5in or 7in display are joined by new 4.3in and a larger 9in models, each with a bright, sunlight-readable colour display.

With a rugged design and keyed interface that’s built to withstand the harsh marine environment , the Striker Plus series comes with everything anglers need – including transom and trolling-motor transducer, plus mounting hardware.

The six new models offer flexible mounting so the devices can be tilted for optimum-viewing angles. An optional flush-mount kit is available for in-dash installation.

Additionally, the Striker Plus series is compatible with a wide-range of optional Garmin scanning transducers to customise sonar performance and installation options.

The new Striker Plus fishfinders will be available in the last quarter of 2017 with recommended retail prices from AUD$249-899 and NZD from $299-$999.

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