Ever been on a dock fishing and wondering why you are not catching anything? You went online and checked the fishing report. You see other people elsewhere are catching fish, and you are going home skunked. Or have you been out on your float tube or Water Master kick boat and have been struggling to get on those fish.
The Humminbird Fishin’ Buddy Max is a portable fish finder that has a lot of the same qualities of more traditional units but still offers the versatility of a portable unit. Easy to mount on your float tube, your buddies dock, or your fishing Kayak. Now you can see the world that is the depths below you so you can make changes and put yourself on fish.
Being lightweight and portable means it won’t weigh you down or get in your way. It also means you do not have to do a lot of work to install your fish finder. No running wires and worrying if you have done everything right only to later find out you were wrong and it does not work…and now you start over. Just clamp and go fishing.
Fishin Buddy Max Features
- Depth readings up to 600ft
- A 3.5 inch color display
- The ability to read accurate water temperatures
- Lightweight and easy to install on various watercraft
- Can be used on Docks as well
- 30 hour battery life
- Runs on AA Batteries
Advantages
The Humminbird Fishin’ Buddy Max gives you a lot more options with a fish finder, depth finder, and thermometer with the ability to mount it on various watercraft or docks. If you like personal watercraft fishing like from float tubes, Water Master kick boats, kayaks, Canoes, or even fishing from a dock and you want the ability to get an accurate read of what is going on for you this easy to mount tool is perfect for you. Now you can move from your different boats with ease and still have a lot of power.
Speaking of power, it runs of AA batteries and boasts over 30 hours of constant use before they die. You would be right to be skeptical of that, but using it on the lake for 8 hours and at depths of 100 feet still left us with plenty of battery life. Not what anyone expected from little AA batteries. Generally speaking you need to draw more power than you expect to reach that deep, and this goes 600 feet.
Heading out on the lake with the canoe required a three-minute setup to install the Fishin’ Buddy. Being able to find those sharp drop offs where the fish like to hide, made this a life and arm saver. Later clamping it on the drift boat and heading down the river for trout was a snap and it kept us where the fish were, which is important when one is trying to catch them. Being able to sit in honey holes and know where the fish were made presenting our flies a lot more productive and we landed some good fish.
When using a personal watercraft for fishing you want to cut down on time spent paddling around looking for fish, and the Fishin’ Buddy is perfect for that. Knowing where the fish are even in deep water (up to 600ft) means you spend less time paddling and more time trying to land those trophy fish.
Disadvantages
Every rose has its thorn, and the Fishin’ Buddy has a few. One of the ones that stands out the most is the inability to use it even when paddling around. When it’s in the water and you are moving its hard to get accurate reads because the mounting bracket makes the unit shift when the pressure of the water flows by. This means when you move you need to pull the unit up, or the drag might eventually pull it off the boat. Bracing it works, but the end of the unit that is in the water that makes the readings tends to move and again throws off your readings for depth.
The Humminbird Fishin’ Buddy used to have the ability to read both vertical and to the side, however the side scanning doesn’t seem to be an option any longer.
Even the vertical reads are not spot on. Catching fish that do not show up on the screen is pretty common which means you are missing more than you realize. It works better as a depth and temperature gauge but it does find fish, just not as accurate as other options out there. The price makes up or this fact but it would be nice if it worked better.
Final Verdict
For what it is, it is a really good product. The Humminbird Fishin’ Buddy will help you get on fish. With its ability to give accurate readings of the depths below, and the ability to gauge the water temperature is nice. Couple that with the ability to spot fish, and you got a real winner.
It does have its drawbacks but when you factor in what it does, its price, and the extreme portability it makes it a worthy purchase. Not being able to really use the depth finder when moving was sort of annoying but manageable, and the mounting bracket could be better, however the ability to mount it on pretty much anything is great, adding to its versatility and making for a great addition to your fishing tools.
All in all, this is a good product. It gives you a lot of bang for your back and gets you on fish quick and easy.
See it on Amazon.
