The Garmin Striker Plus 9sv is a high-quality fish finder and navigational aid intended for serious near-shore fishermen who want to spend as much time as possible catching fish and as little time as necessary finding their way around. As with any high-end unit, the Garmin Striker Plus 9sv allows fishermen to not only know if there are fish in the water below, but where they are in the lake, what obstructions lie below, and other important local information. The Garmin Striker Plus 9sv thus lets fishermen know more than they would ever know just by looking, and this helps them to catch more fish, with less trouble, than ever before.
The Features of Garmin Striker Plus 9sv
Big Screen
The Garmin Striker Plus 9sv is built around a 9″ screen, making it larger than many tablet computers. This helps ensure that the unit is big enough to be visible even from a few feet away and that there is no need to squint or break out the reading glasses in order to see what is going on. The screen is also extremely bright and optimized for usage even in bright daylight. Additionally, the larger size of the Garmin Striker Plus 9sv helps make it more usable in cold weather conditions, as it can be operated with some types of gloves.
Garmin ClearVü
The Garmin Striker Plus 9sv is built around the advanced Garmin ClearVü system. This means that not only is the Garmin Striker Plus 9sv capable of producing traditional fish arcs, it can produce near-photographic displays of the lake or ocean bed below. This enables fishermen to see exactly what sort of hazards and habitats they are dealing with and get a better idea of why a particular location may or may not be a great place to fish. Additionally, this helps fishermen to spot potential problems that may result in their boat being damaged or stuck.
Garmin SideVü
The Garmin Striker Plus 9sv also includes Garmin SideVü technology, which is intended to help fishermen see more than just is what may be below them. When paired with proper transducers, Garmin SideVü enables fishermen to see hazards and fish well off to the side. This not only helps fishermen keep from steering into submerged objects and surprise sandbanks, it ensures they can find and go after fish to their port or starboard without disrupting them by using the motor. This ensures that fishermen who don’t find themselves in the optimal fishing spot, but instead next to it, can seek out those fish and catch them easily.
GPS Navigation
As with all Garmin fishfinders, the Garmin Striker Plus 9sv includes a robust GPS and map system which includes thousands of maps for most major waterways in the United States, as well as immediate coastal shores. These maps are updated via the onboard Wi-Fi upon user request, enabling them to remain accurate even as shores change due to storms and weathering. However, what really lets the Garmin Striker Plus 9sv stand out is the fact that the maps can be customized to meet user needs. This includes saving favorite fishing spots (or hazard warnings) as well as setting waypoints for navigation.
Garmin Quickdraw
But what really allows the Garmin Striker Plus 9sv to stand out when compared with other fishfinders is its ability to map and store contours using the Garmin Quickdraw system. This enables the Garmin Striker Plus 9sv to act as a scanning and mapping sonar system, passively mapping the sea or lake bed below with detail as precise as 1′ contours. This enables fishermen to have a better understanding of the land below the surface of the water and to store up to one million acres of such information for later reference. Additionally, Garmin Quickdraw can update the maps as users move, enabling the maps to remain up-to-date at all times.
ActiveCaptain App
The Garmin Striker Plus 9sv also includes full integration with the ActiveCaptain App via cell phone WiFi connectivity. While this does mean that WiFi must be provided through some external means, it enables fishermen to save and upload the data they create with their Garmin Striker Plus 9sv to the ActiveCaptain service for later use, as well as for sharing with other fishermen. Users can show off the best spots to fish, record locations of big catches, or alert others to unseen hazards and potential trouble spots. This collective effort helps everyone to see and get more out of their Garmin Striker Plus 9sv.
Sturdy Construction
The Garmin Striker Plus 9sv is water resistant but not waterproof, meaning that it can withstand wind, rain, and possibly a boat flipping, but not being dropped over the side. The hard plastic shell can withstand most impacts and is resistant to cracking or fading in UV light, although it should still be taken inside when not in use. At almost three pounds in weight, it feels as sturdy as it looks, and will have no difficulty continuing to function after being struck by a bucket or toolbox. It can be flush-mounted or held using any one of a number of stands. It is designed to connect to a boat’s power supply and does not have significant onboard battery life, although it does have a large onboard memory that is not battery dependent, meaning that stored data will not be lost when the device is unplugged.
Overall
The Garmin Striker Plus 9sv is a solid unit that will be ideal for most serious fishermen. It offers a lot of options beyond standard fishfinding, and most importantly it lets fishermen know what it is really like under the water and if there are hazards or underwater features they should be aware of. Additionally, due to its many software options and WiFi connectivity, fishermen can know much more about the lakes they use and benefit from the knowledge and data of other fishermen. This ensures that owners of the Garmin Striker Plus 9sv will spend more time catching fish and less time looking for fish, especially in unfamiliar waters.
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