Garmin SideVu (side imaging) fish finder unboxing & install on Hobie compass kayak 

lol thanks - theyre so curious at this age

Thanks so much! I’m all about practical, this comment made my day, appreciate the feedback !!!

Can’t wait to learn how to use it! Thanks Dan! See you out there, Aloohaa🤙

Thanks man! Cool to hear your from Dan’s channel. Yea I think I mention it in the video but totally agree if you apply grease to the connectors the fish finder should last a long time, I’m a VERY big proponent of greasing connections, lol. And of course as you mention everything is rinsed with fresh water when I get back home. It’s important for sure!

Hey man, appreciate the perspective! It’s so true though when I first launched this kayak to now so much has happened and changed. She’s been very good to me, lol. The side scan is very very nice to have. I wouldn’t say it’s an absolute game changer for me (like navionics relief shading) but it has def helped me understand the bottom better and locate unmarked rocks. It’s crazy I can even see the rake marks in the bottom with it from the clam digging boats where I fish. I think as a beginner it’s good to start with a more basic fish finder, then you can learn how it works and look forward to getting an upgrade if you really like using it. I say that also because then you will see what aspects of the ff are useful for your areas you fish. All that said, I’m a big believer that your fish finder should be one of the most expensive purchases on your kayak and if you can afford it then by all means go for a nice one with a big screen lol

@@PeterRanieriII That's great advice man along the lines of what I was thinking. I'd get SI but my fishing fund is pretty lean right now lol! Any entry level units you'd recommend?

For this unit its not really inside the transducer port. Since the sideview has to look out to the side below the hull I had to mount it outside the cavity. But if you got the GT20 transducer with the vivid 4 then I think I know what your talking about, I had the same issue before I installed this newer unit. I actually have a video on what I did for that here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_jIKQctoOHw.html

Hahaha for real, it’s a huge screen and way more features I will need to learn but I think it will help exploring new areas if I can figure it out lol. Thanks mr tcal, will let you know what I think

I found the battery box video. Sorry

No worries! I have done a slightly better battery box since but the concept is basically the same. I would just advise to use somewhere between 10-20ah battery for the FF bc it does take a bit of juice. Other than that though I’m super impressed with this unit and have zero issues. I honestly haven’t had a different brand to compare but I’m happy with my purchase. The navionics vision chip yes was a one time purchase and I believe you just don’t get updates after a year, bc it’s on the sd card . So far I’m fine with it as is would change a thing at this point

Thanks, really hope I can figure out how to read the dang thing

Thanks, I do think you can do this without drilling any holes but the only issue I see having is your battery would be outside the hull. If you take the transducer wire from the transducer and just go under your seat straight to the unit and then the same with the battery maybe if it could fit under your seat straight to the unit, it would probably work. you're just going to have a bit more exposed wires but it definitely could be done.

@@PeterRanieriII ahh yeah im trying to hide as many wires as possible. So it looks like drilling it is 😂 I have OCD when it comes to wiring so if it were all over the place it'd destroy the soul haha. Thank you!

@@The_Big_Soup3 haha I hear ya, I guess you could possibly use a Velcro on the side to run the wires or something that could hold them in place but yeah I suggest to drill and keep everything inside the hull. I know it seems daunting to drill into a kayak but it’s really not so bad as long as your doing it smartly. Gaskets are important and I’ve really found water to get in from the front hatch the most, all the holes I’ve drilled not so much

Hey man how’s it going?! I’m very happy with this purchase. Initially the screen felt big but I quickly got used to it. The funny thing is that the big screen is now probably my favorite part about this fish finder. I mean the side scan is nice and I do use it but having just the regular sonar on a big screen and in higher resolution is awesome. The big screen allows combo views to be less small too. Seriously if you can afford a 7” get it, it’s worth it. To be fair I’ve only ever owned garmins so I can’t say if theyr better than lowrance or humminbird but I have no inclination to switch as of now.

@@PeterRanieriII That is great to hear! I was actually considering the 9" screen but felt it may be too large and felt the 7" would be the sweet spot. I car top my compass and slide it on the roof using the same method you have shown in prior videos. Did you encounter any issues with car topping using the Berley Pro cover since it sits well below where the factory Lowrance covers sat?

Cabelas / Basspro. They apparently do the big sales in March each year around the time for Father’s Day, I just happened to be lucky enough to be looking to buy one at the perfect time. Lol I do like the simplicity of the cable management on this unit. Haha might have to wait till March. Your 64 uses the same gt54 transducer right?

Yep, same transducer and same install with the BP2606. Not sure if it’s a true side-vu but it’s definitely much clearer than the GT-24 series. Looking forward to using it on the Sound, maybe this week.

@@LI-FLKayakFisherman nice, yea with that adapter it def looks like we could put any size transducer in there. Hope to get out this weekend as well in the Sound

100% I hope so too, just don't get it, like it would prob cost them 14 more pennies to make the gage a size up.

Hey Ronnie, it’s a kokatat, supernova angler

It’s actually pretty short. Maybe 3’ which is kinda silly. I don’t remember if I cut it shorter but I don’t think I did. You may need to splice a bit to get to the bow, sry

That is what I was afraid of.

@@smthcrmnal26 look up splicing with kuject it’s pretty simple to do if you have to

I found a link on amazon for it: amzn.to/3KpuJ70 it might be cheaper from Garmin but not sure. Some people have made covers from kydex material as well

I use motor assembly grease called lubriplate no.105: amzn.to/3IU2FYs but any dielectric grease will work great as well.

@@PeterRanieriII thanks

Did it really go up that much?! It was 20$ a year when I first starting using it

Nothing broke on this setup yet. I did remove the plate once bc some sand got in there and I thought it might be messing with the readings but that was it and it was very easy to clean out

Kind of worried about breaking it loading it in the truck.

@@Adeesicks you definitely have to be careful, its hard plastic but it can't take impact too much. I can't drop the kayak on the ground like I used to, I have to gently place it every time now. I think if you had a rug or something in the bed and were careful (going slow on bumpy roads too) it would be fine

haha he's always asking questions...nowadays the questions are getting tougher to answer lol