Garmin Striker Plus 5cv Fish Finder Review 2023 – Expert Opinion

By Wade Johnson

garmin striker plus 5cv reviews with Transducer, 5 GPS Fishfinder with CHIRP Traditional and ClearVu Scanning Sonar Transducer and Built In Quickdraw Contours Mapping Software.jpgTop-notch, expensive fish finders aren’t the only ones capable of correctly locating fish at a faster rate.

A compact and humble model both in size and price like the Garmin Striker Plus 5cv also has the potential to turn your every fishing trip into a victorious one.

This one is better than its older version because of integration of powerful sonar and navigation features without allowing the price to soar high.

Its user-friendliness and clarity of image are added benefits that will enhance your fishing experience.

If you want a simple yet powerful, affordable yet feature-loaded device for freshwater and saltwater fishing, Garmin Striker Plus 5cv is the best candidate.

Proceed further to know all about its nitty-gritty details.

What Makes Garmin Striker Plus 5cv Stand Out?

Garmin Striker Plus 5cv has gained an advantage over its rivals by providing powerful sonar technology and some high-end features like personalized contour mapping and built-in wi-fi without allowing the price to soar high to reach a deal-breaking point.

 

Our Garmin Striker Plus 5cv Fish Finder Review

Instead of throwing thousands of dollars on deluxe fish finders, Garmin Striker Plus 5cv gives you an affordable solution for locating fish.

A combination of Chirp sonar and ClearVu allow you to gain a comprehensive report on underwater activity with remarkable clarity and target separation.

The picture displayed on its backlit colored screen is in high resolution so you enjoy a real-like view regardless of the lighting condition and make sure your target doesn’t take advantage of the dimness or brightness of the environment.

Besides, integration of QuickDraw Contours and built-in Wi-Fi to access the ActiveCaptain app will enable you to have a library of maps containing everything you need to smoothly sail through a waterbody without bumping into rocks and other obstacles.

You can shorten your search by using GPS and pin waypoints, routes and trails. That way you’ll directly move towards the spots where the possibility of yielding targets will be higher.

I would suggest you to buy it if you want some high-end performance-grade features to ensure that neither your fishing attempts go futile nor your budget gets upset.

 

Display

Although Striker Plus 5cv is a portable model, yet the 5” large display it employs is nothing short of magic. First, it’s laden with intuitive controls to ensure veterans and beginners both can operate it without any fuss.

Moreover, it features 800×480 pixels that promise you a crisp and bright, almost real-like, picture of the bottom environment. To make it a champion in the provision of comfort, it employs a backlighting format and waterproof nature.

Meaning, neither the sunniest of the days nor the darkest hour of the night, cloudy environment nor accidental splash or unexpected rainfall can keep you from going after your object of interest.

Also, you can split the screen into three windows to get side-by-side updates regarding sonar and GPS.

Sonar

Striker Plus 5cv comes with a one-track mind i.e. to detect and capture as many fish as you can carry back in the limited hours that you’ve assigned for fishing. This is made possible through the transducer that it comes with.

It is powerful and supports Chirp sonar as well as Chirp ClearVu. When you use dual-frequency Chirp sonar, it can search to a depth of 2300ft in freshwater and 1100ft in saltwater to bring back clear images of underwater terrain with greater target separation.

More impressive is the Chirp ClearVu scan as it has the capacity to plunge 250ft directly below the vessel to give you a photo-like crisp and clear picture of fish and structure.

This means Striker Plus 5cv is an effective fish hunter for both shallow water and deep water fishing.

GPS and Mapping

Striker Plus 5cv is like a guide in miniature due to combining GPS tracking and customized contour cartography. The GPS system is pretty basic yet quite fast and allows you to pin waypoints, create your own routes and monitor your boat’s speed.

However, it doesn’t have an SDcard slot so your storage capacity is a bit limited.

It doesn’t come with pre-installed maps which might not be a bad thing since it gives you a free hand to draw your own maps of up to 2 million acres area using Quickdraw Contours software.

It’s more liberating because you’ll be able to review them anytime and narrow down some spots that you could revisit on your next venture.

Other Features of Garmin Striker Plus 5cv

As icing on the cake, this one also adds built-in Wi-Fi to the long array of features.

Due to this feature anglers can chisel their fishing skills by accessing the ActiveCaptain app or quickdraw Contours Community to download maps or upload yours if you feel the need.

Pros

  • Hard-wearing, portable device.
  • Affordable.
  • Sonar can travel upto 2300ft in freshwater and 1100 ft in saltwater.
  • Detailed imagery of things submerged underneath the boat with ClearVu sonar.
  • High-resolution coloured display with backlight format.
  • Uncomplicated use.
  • Built-in GPS and wi-fi enhance performance and user’s convenience.
  • Personalized contour mapping.

Cons

  • Doesn’t come with a personal instruction manual.
  • Lacks an SDcard slot.
  • Lacks chartplotting built-in mapping feature.

 

Why Should One Purchase Garmin Striker Plus 5cv?

You should buy it because neither its a low-costing, shoddy device nor overly expensive complicated one yet carries a number of advanced features to help you raise your fishing game.

Besides, its whole setup and operating system is quite simple and the device has all-rounder-like traits to perform well in almost any type of fishing challenge without causing nuisance.

Final Thought

Garmin Striker Plus 5cv comes with a powerful sonar that supports traditional Chirp sonar and ClearVu scan to help you promptly trace fish regardless of the depth of water and obstructing objects. Much to your dismay, it doesn’t feature SideVu but that doesn’t bring down its value since it offers personalized cartography, accurate navigation and Wi-Fi connectivity. Veterans and hobbyists both are recommended to buy it since it will help them make the most of their fishing expeditions without causing havoc on their pockets.

 

Related:

 

Wade Johnson
Latest posts by Wade Johnson (see all)