What's a good depth finder for a kayak

How much did you pay for yours if you don't mind me asking. I'm seeing all different prices on those

What's the difference between the dsi and hdi

With your OT baller status, go ahead and spend the extra change to get the 5" screen.

The Elite 4 DSI or HDI is my choice also though.

GPS/chartplotter, downscan, etc.

4" screen is hard to read sometimes, especially in split screen mode.

How do you plan on using it?

If you are just looking for depth, a Lowrance Elite 3x for $99 will work perfectly and not break the bank.

If you are planning to fish structure in deep lakes or take the kayak offshore to fish reefs, spending a little more on a unit with DSI or CHIRP will be a sound investment.

Most kayakers fish shallow waters, and rarely go further than 15 miles from launch. Having GPS is nice, but realistically its usually not needed.

And gonna check out the elite 5 and 7 while I'm there

Yeah I'm leaning towards the 5 right now. The 7 would be nice for a boat but I think it's a tad too big for the yak

There are a lot of factors.

What kayak? - Some kayaks come setup or are better setup for different fish finder. i.e. Hobie = "Lowrance Ready"

Where you will mount display? - Mounting a 4" screen 6 feet away from you on the front of your kayak is pointless. You can't see it and you can't reach controls. I prefer a small screen, very close to me. One of my favorite spots is mounted between the legs right at the seat with the screen flat (pointed straight up). My body could block the sun/glare and screen + controls were close.

Where you will mount transducer? - This actually may be the #1 decision in FF shopping for kayak. Transducers come in all shapes and sizes. Some transducers do not certain kayaks well. I first tried a rigged scupper mount and had to baby my kayak everywhere and eventually about tore the mount including cracking entire scupper area. I then tried over the side mount. This not only picked up every piece of grass in the area, it created a huge amount of drag with just the transducer and arm. I was very surprised how much drag. This caused me to completely leave the transducer at home and only bring power cable and running GPS only until I got a kayak with specific transducer mount location.

Where you fish? Depth you fish? - Here in south Louisiana, water depth is only greater than 10 feet in shipping canals. I have a difficult time making out the bottom when its very soft mud. Different transducers are meant for varying depths.

I know some people are brand loyalists but Lowrance has pretty much separated itself from the pack in the last few years. The new CHIRP series is essentially enhanced HDI for those targeting individual fish. Since it takes some depth to even target fish, I don't think this is useful at all for kayak fishing south Louisiana. Since the CHIRP has come out, the HDI series are always on sale or discounted heavily. I think the HDI series is the best bang for the buck series out there.

There are some misconceptions out there about HDIs. As far as I can tell, the Elite 4 HDI and Elite 5 HDI run the same software and read the same files. They can both read custom sat imagery cards and can accept 32GB microSD (It's true DSD!). I've heard that there are some processing speed differences between 4 and 5 when navigating menus.

Elite HDI pros - Price and ability to NOT get any 3rd party sat imagery (Elite Gold). Using Google Earth Pro with the Elite HDI series is a game changer. You can create routes, waypoints, etc in GE and import into your GPS or vice versa, save your tracks (where you've been) and import to GE. I can not begin to describe how powerful Elite HDI + Google Earth really is. I'm not even going to mention Lowrance Insight Genesis (Google that!).

Elite HDI cons - Transducer is huge making it difficult to scupper mount. Cable ends are huge but they will fit in 1" hole saw + West Marine thru hull plug. HDI's drain more battery than comparable non-fancy FF. Doing some research, the Elite 5 needs a higher than your basic 6-7AH battery for a most of the day trip. 6-7AH battery should last the Elite 4 a good 12+ hours on the water.

TL;DR - Lowrance Elite 4 HDI or Elite 5 HDI if you can easily mount transducer. Or if you want to leave transducer home during summer and just use GPS. 4 vs 5 is screen size preference and how far away you mount display.

If you get into a bind as far as mounting, check out the YakAttack "Cellblok".

All you need is a gear track and you are good to go.

Drill free, self contained, battery sits in the box.

Yeah you would definately want to kick the arm back if you need speed/traveling longer distances.