Garmin STRIKER Plus Reviews and Comparisons
Who would have thought that looking for fish could be so easy? Of course, that is all thanks to technology.
Anglers can benefit from all the modern fishing tools, but they can do a lot better with convenient fish finding and navigation equipment.
GARMIN is an American multinational tech company specializing in navigation technology for automotive, sports, aviation, outdoor, and marine activities.
The company also has a wide array of products construed as wearable technology for any of these applications.
In this Garmin STRIKER Plus review, we’ll discuss some of the top fish finding models under the Garmin STRIKER Plus Series.
Comparison Chart
Garmin STRIKER Plus Reviews
1. Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv is a 4.3-inch screen GPS combo fish finder using pre-eminent sonar technology.
The screen uses a 272 by 480 pixels resolution, and it has a QSVGA display type. In short, it has 130,560 pixels on its display.
It comes with a transom mount transducer, power and data cables, a swivel mount, and some installation hardware and documentation.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv comes pre-installed with the Garmin Quickdraw Contours, a mapping software that lets you store up to two million acres of underwater contours.
With the built-in GPS, you can mark waypoints, set up routes, and monitor your cruising speed.
Built-in sonar on the device uses Compressed High-Intensity Radiated Pulse (CHIRP) for traditional scanning and Garmin ClearVu scanning.
The GT20-TM transducer accompaniment of the Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv has a traditional CHIRP with an effective range of 1,900 feet.
Alternatively, the Garmin ClearVu on the GT20-TM transducer has an effective range of 750 feet.
The GT20-TM transducer will mount on boats with a deadrise or transom angle between zero and 70 degrees for attachment.
The included connecting cable is a 4-pin wire that measures 20 feet in length.
Review
Measuring only 3.9 by 6.9 by 1.8 inches and weighing less than a pound, the Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv is quite handy. You can move around your boat with the device in your hand.
Think of it as a rugged mobile phone or a walkie-talkie that you can carry around with you on your fishing trips.
Its size makes it an excellent option for a portable fish finder.
Using the Garmin Quickdraw Contours Application, the Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv offers convenient mapping of underwater contours accurate up to one-foot elevations.
As you cruise the waters, the device generates very detailed contour maps of the places you’ve been.
The CHIRP ClearVu coupled with traditional CHIRP sonar lets you clearly see underwater formations, submerged objects, and fish.
Its dual-frequency and dual beam sonar support traditional, medium, and high frequencies.
Traditional frequencies supported include 50, 77, and 200 kHz, while ClearVU frequencies allow 260, 455, and 800 kHz transmissions.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv provides bottom lock readings by showing returns from the bottom up to the surface.
It also logs and graphs water temperature changes as you troll the waters.
The Garmin has a sunlight-readable, bright display screen and an intuitive user interface.
You won’t have to worry about daylight legibility, and you won’t have to understand complicated controls like those on other devices.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv allows any user to mark origin points and abundant underwater spots so that you can go back to the same fishing spot the next time around.
Mark points such as docks, boat ramps, and piers whenever you leave the shore, and mark a spot on the map whenever you find some fish.
The built-in GPS also makes the Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv display current trolling speed to let you know if you are trailing a bait or a lure at the right rate.
Apart from all of these features, Garmin built the STRIKER Plus 4cv to work in any environment.
Garmin designed the device with an IPX7 rating, which means it is water-resistant. You can submerge it in water up to a depth of one meter and up to 30 minutes.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv fish finder has a split-screen zoom and UltraScroll functionality.
While UltraScroll displays fishes at higher boat speeds, fish symbols help identify fish targets.
Other features include auto-gain technology, adjustable depth line, and real-time display of passing fish.
Finally, with the Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv, you won’t have to worry about software changes because the manufacturer's website provides updated manuals and software updates.
PROS
- Compact; can be handheld
- Convenient underwater mapping accurate up to one-foot
- Dual-beam, dual-frequency sonar
- Sunlit-readable bright display
- Allows you to make maps with personal markings
- Simplest and most affordable on this list
- IPX7 water-resistant
- Comes with a protective case
- Deeper scanning range than 7sv
CONS
- Smallest screen among these three models
- No other attachment options for transducer
- No Wi-Fi connectivity
2. Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv
If the Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv seems a little too small for you, and you have a little more to spend, check out the Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv.
It is a five-inch GPS fish finder also equipped with industry-leading sonar paired with the Quickdraw Contours Mapping Software.
Like the 4cv, it uses CHIRP traditional and CHIRP ClearVu. The device can also create and store two million acres worth of maps showing underwater elevations accurate to one-foot changes in levels.
GPS options built-into the 5cv let you monitor boat speed, mark waypoints, and map out routes for your next fishing trip.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv has a transom mount transducer, power and data cable, a swivel mount, installation hardware, and an instruction manual.
It uses the same GT20-TM 4-pin transducer as the Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv.
Review
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv measures 7.5 by 4.5 by 2.1 inches, and it has a five-inch landscape display, unlike the 4cv, which has a portrait orientation.
Its display has an 800 by 480 resolution using WVGA color, representing 384,000 pixels.
While the 4cv has its controls on a bottom panel below the 4.3-inch screen, the Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv has its buttons on a right-side panel beside the landscape screen.
Aside from the larger display, orientation, and the control panel's location, the 5cv pretty much has the same features as the 4cv.
It has the same IPX7 rating for water resistance, and its transducer records water temperature changes and graphs them onto datasheets.
Since it uses the same transducer as the 4cv, the Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv also supports Traditional 50, 77, and 200 kHz, and ClearVu 260, 255, and 800 kHz frequencies.
It uses the same dual-beam, dual-frequency sonar. The screen allows split-screen zooming and UltraScroll at increased trolling speeds.
A built-in A-Scope on the transducer shows fishes passing through the transducer beam in real-time.
However, the wider screen allows three split displays showing three different functions simultaneously.
Another difference between the STRIKER Plus 4cv and 5cv is their weight and appearance. The Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv weighs one pound, and it looks more like a small mountable TV.
PROS
- Wider screen
- Shows three different displays simultaneously
- Convenient underwater mapping accurate up to one-foot
- Dual-beam, dual-frequency sonar
- Sunlit-readable bright display
- Allows you to make maps with personal markings
- IPX7 water-resistant
- Deeper scanning range than 7sv
- Free GARMIN bumper sticker
CONS
- More expensive than the Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv
- No Wi-Fi connectivity
3. Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv
If you want something even bigger than the Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv and with more features, take a closer look at the Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv.
The included transducer is a transom mount GT52HW-TM.
The device also comes with a power and data cable, a 12-pin to a dual four-pin transducer adapter cable, swivel mount, installation hardware, and product documentation.
Similarities with the 4cv and 5cv include traditional CHIRP High Wide, CHIRP ClearVu, Quickdraw Contour Mapping Software, and waypoint marking through GPS.
These three devices also share the sunlight-readable display and the contour map data storage of up to two million acres.
Conversely, in addition to traditional CHIRP sonar and CHIRP ClearVu, the Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv has the CHIRP SideVu scanning sonar.
Another extra feature in the Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv is the built-in Wi-Fi for accessing the ActiveCaptain app.
ActiveCaptain allows you to pair the Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv with a compatible smartphone so you can access Quickdraw Contours Community.
In this online community, any user of the Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv may transfer and share waypoints and get software update notifications.
With the ActiveCaptain app, you can access hundreds of maps uploaded by the Quickdraw Contours Community members.
GARMIN makes instruction manual and software updates effortless through the Wi-Fi application.
Review
With Garmin ClearVu, you can use the sonar transducer to obtain nearly photographic images of what it scans under your boat.
While traditional CHIRP High Wide and CHIRP ClearVu can produce clear underwater images, CHIRP SideVu scans the sides of your boat. In effect, CHIRP SideVu widens the scanning range of the built-in sonar.
The Garmin SideVu function of the 7sv uses the built-in transducer to get crisp, clear images of whatever passes along the sides of your boat.
This combination of traditional CHIRP High Wide, ClearVu, and SideVu lets you see underwater terrain, structures, submerged items, and aquatic fauna.
The GT52HW-TM transducer connects to the fish finder using a 20-feet dual four-pin to 12-pin adapter cable to make this possible.
Boats with transom or deadrise angles between zero and 70 degrees can securely hold the GT52HW-TM transducer.
With the GT52HW-TM transducer, traditional CHIRP has a maximum depth reach of 800 feet, and ClearVu and SideVu can scan depths up to 500 feet.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv measures 9.3 by 5.5 by 2.3 inches, and it features a seven-inch display.
Like the Garmin STRIKER Plus 5cv, the 7sv has a landscape orientation display using WVGA color and a control panel on the right side.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv display has the same 800 by 480 resolution as the 5cv, but because of the bigger seven-inch display, the 7sv offers better legibility.
Since it features a wider screen, the device is larger and weighs 1.7 pounds, almost another pound heavier than the 5cv.
Since the 7sv shares many primary features with the 5cv and 4cv, they typically share the same attributes.
These attributes include dual-frequency and dual-beam sonar, supported frequencies, bottom lock, and water temperature logging and graphing.
PROS
- Wi-Fi ready; connects with compatible smartphones
- Provides access to Quickdraw Contours Mapping Community
- Widest display among all three
- Shows three different displays simultaneously
- Convenient underwater mapping accurate up to one-foot
- Dual-beam, dual-frequency sonar scans under and on each side of your boat
- The sunlit-readable bright display provides crisp, clear images
- Allows you to make maps with personal markings
- IPX7 water-resistant
- Free GARMIN bumper sticker
CONS
- Most expensive fish finder on this list
- It uses the same resolution as the smaller 5cv
- Shorter scanning range than 4cv and 5cv
Conclusion
All of the fish finders featured in this Garmin STRIKER Plus review are excellent and affordable options for having a CHIRP imaging sonar device.
Around five years ago, no one would have thought that sonar devices could be this cheap. All of these products might as well fall under the best fish finders under 500 dollars.
The bad news with the STRIKER Plus series is that they do not have any preloaded maps.
You will certainly save money by choosing a sonar device that does not have any preloaded maps, but it would be difficult to navigate through unfamiliar waters without them.
That said, the included Quickdraw Contours Mapping Software lets you build your own maps from scratch.
Additionally, you can download existing maps onto these devices using the ActiveCaptain app.
With all the available features on each STRIKER Plus series fish finder, they make an excellent addition to existing navigation equipment any angler might already have.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv would be the ultimate choice among these three products because of the large display and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Wi-Fi is a great development for any fish finder because it allows the user to connect with wireless devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and wireless networks.
Using this connectivity feature would make it much easier to download maps and transfer data for peer review and analysis.
The Garmin STRIKER Plus 7sv is one of the most affordable seven-inch sonar fish finders available on the market.
