I am looking to replace my 20 plus year old portable humminbird with something smaller and lighter for canoe trips. I am not sure which direction to go. In my small boat i have a humminbird piranamax greyscale. I was debating setting that up as a portable like alot of guys have done and upgrade the one in the boat to something with more features. The lcd shouldnt use much power, so thats aplus running it off AA battery packs, buut is anyone running the higher emd units off battery packs? I might spring for it for the canoe if battery life wasnt a huge issue.

Big fan of the Lowrance X4 portable. Mine runs on D cells, heavier than AA but has decent battery life and a nice little case.

I too run the X4. I used an eight AA battery pack but I run the energizer lithium batteries. This setup has allowed me to run it on average of 5 hours a day for about 6 days and I always bring backup batteries. If I'd do it over, I would choose a ten AA battery pack.

Another vote for the x4. I run a 10x AA setup. It works well. I fish mostly for SMB - I really only use the unit for fishing Walleye, so I have 2 battery sets and have never run out of batteries on an 8 day fishing trip.

+1 on Lowrance X-4 Fishfinder with a 8x Energizer AA Lithium Battery power source set up.

I’ve never used a fish finder in the BW, but am planning on bringing one this year. Searching online for the X4, it seems to be currently unavailable and sold out on eBay as well. Anyone have any ideas where to find one? Anyone use another type that might still be available?

I used a Hummingbird 170 last year with a 12v security panel battery that is rechargeable.
I built a mount for both the screen and the transducer. The battery is about the size of kids animal crackers box so its small and lasted me 3 days with out going dead so no idea how long it could last. Not to heavy. 3-4 lbs.