Hand held depth finder?

[Timbaux65]

My uncle told me about a handheld depth finder. I dont have one on ,my little 12 ft flat that i most often use. My dads 16 footer has one, but Its all mounted.

I tried, i looked online and i went to Academy and just dont know what I am looking for. The turkey who works at Academy and thinks he knows fishing doesnt really know and I dont want to ask him. He tried tell me not to buy several of the reels I bought. I dont want to ask the kid.

So...can someone point me to something, less than $100, that is decent?

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Did you ever find one of these? 

When you say depth finder, Im assuming you mean a sonar unit, what most people call a 'fishfinder.' 

There are only a couple that I might call handheld - and they tend to be the small wireless models, as far as I know. I'm thinking you really are seeking what the industry refers to as "portable fishfinders."

These are intended to be removable. Today, this kind of sonar unit is designed for the Silent Revolution, kayak fishermen in other words. In the old days,  I recall that the transducer usually mounted to the motor with a suction cup or some other temporary mounting feature was featured. There has been some changes to this and the transducer  might be suspended in a float collar or affixed to a short down-mast clamped to the gunwale. The latter are pretty cool looking - but not cheap when they come new. 

For the most part,  $100 marks the bottom end of most units, unless you buy used.  You could go that route and the make a gunwale clamping unit yourself. Again, look to kayak fishermen who are doing this. You might want to do a little research along those lines.

For something new, try visiting http://portable-fishfinders.com/ and see what they have.

Heres a kayak with Humminbird PiranhaMax ($89) mounted on a home made set up - with instructions. You might get some ideas.