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One of the more affordable fish finders in Garmin’s extensive line of products is Garmin Striker Plus 4cv. It offers sonar features and some basic navigation, making it a perfect choice for those looking for a simple fish finder at a reasonable price. Compared to older Garmin Striker models, such as the Striker 4, this one comes with a few improvements, at which we’ll look in this Garmin Striker Plus 4cv review.
Display and Control Features
Garmin Striker Plus 4cv features a 4.3 inch display, which is a slight upgrade from the 4 inch display of the older Garmin Striker 4cv model. This gives a slightly wider view and makes it easier to read from a distance.
It’s also a color QSVGA display, which provides high clarity images that make it easy to differentiate all the displayed sonar returns. Moreover, it has a high pixel resolution of 480×272, so you also get very sharp images.
The display is easy to read in different light conditions due to the adjustability of its LED backlighting. If you’re reading it in direct sunlight, you can just increase the brightness of the screen. Or if you’re fishing at night, you can decrease it.
Since you’ll be using your fish finder surrounded by water, the display also features a waterproof design with an IPX7 rating. This means that the device can withstand incidental water exposure without any damage. This is important since there’s a high chance that it can get water splashed and rained on.
This is a relatively basic fish finder, so you will not find some of the features that more expensive units might have. For one, it doesn’t have any networking features, so you won’t be able to share your fish finder’s information, such as sonar information, with other devices.
Moreover, there are no NMEA ports and it doesn’t have a micro SD card slot. Due to this, you can’t upgrade it with better maps.
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Sonar Features
The Garmin Striker Plus 4cv bundle includes the CV20-TM transducer, which also comes with a metallic transom mount, 20 feet of cable and a 4-pin connector. It also includes a mounting bracket for the trolling motor installation.
This transducer is dual beam 77/200kHz capable. The 2D sonar uses conical beams that are 45 and 15 degrees wide. This allows you to choose how you want the sonar to scan the water, whether you want it to scan a larger area or with more detail.
The fish finder also uses Mid and High CHIRP sonar, which you can modulate to get most detailed results with the highest level of clarity. This will provide you with all the data to easily target more fish.
In addition to CHIRP sonar, this device also uses ClearVu sonar, which provides you with an image of what’s happening below your boat. And by combining the traditional CHIRP and ClearVu sonar technologies, the produced are of nearly photographic quality. As a result, you clearly see structure below your boat and if there are any submerged objects and fish.
ClearVu sonar uses a high frequency beam with a very thin fore/aft. It uses 455/800kHz frequencies, so it’s scan doesn’t reach far. It has a depth capability of up to 250 feet, making it a better option for freshwater fishing as you’ll get more use out of it when fishing on a lake or river.
As for the CHIRP sonar depth capability, it can scan up to 2,700 feet. However, this is only in freshwater and if the water conditions are perfect. In saltwater, the depth penetration is lower and it can scan only up to 1,100 feet.
Compared to higher priced Garmin models, such as Echomap UHD 93sv or 73sv, there’s no sonar recording and rewind. However, some of the other standard sonar features are present. They include Bottom Lock, Fish Symbol ID, Autogain technology, A-Scope, Split-Screen Zoom and more. Moreover, as most other fish finder transducers do, it also includes a water temperature sensor.
Navigation Features
Garmin Striker Plus 4cv does include a high-precision GPS receiver, but it’s not a chartplotter. It doesn’t come with any charts and all you see on the screen is your boat’s position on a blank space with your coordinates and speed. On top of that, there’s no possibility of upgrading the system with any maps since there’s no SD card reader.
However, the GPS system of this fish finder does offer you the possibility to save waypoints with its memory capacity capable of supporting up to 5,000 waypoints. Using this waypoints system, you can mark spots, such as your favorite fishing location, boat ramps, docks and other points of interest. With these saved waypoints, you can easily choose them on the map again and the system will create for you the best route to that location.
Although this fish finder doesn’t come with any charts, it does allow you to create your own. It offers the Quickdraw Contours software, which combines the data collected from the 2D sonar and GPS returns for creating maps with 1 foot depth contours. As the software works automatically as you fish, mapping the lakebed or the riverbed. And you can store up to 2 million mapped acres on this unit.
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Garmin Striker Plus 4cv Pros and Cons
- 4.3 inch display size.
- CHIRP and ClearVu sonar.
- Dual beam sonar capable.
- Ultrascroll, Auto Gain, Bottom Lock and other sonar features.
- GPS shows coordinates and speed.
- Saves up to 5,000 waypoints.
- Quickdraw Contours feature.
- Includes transom and trolling motor mounts.
- Includes a tilt and swivel mount.
- Easy to use.
- Budget-friendly.
- Doesn’t include any charts.
- No networking or connectivity capability.
Final Thoughts
Overall, if you’re looking for an affordable fish finder with high performing sonar, then Garmin Striker Plus 4cv is a good option. Not many other fish finders in its price range can offer both CHIRP and down imaging sonar. Due to its size, this fish finder is also an excellent choice for kayaks, canoes and smaller boats. However, if you’re looking for a good fish finder GPS combo, this device might not be the right one for you as it doesn’t offer any chartplotting and you can’t even upgrade it with any maps.
