Anyone have one?

Do you like it?

What is your experience with battery life?

I think this is the model my fishing partner brings and it can be hard on batteries. I think he goes through two sets of 8 AA batteries on a 4 day fishing trip. Once we find structure or fish and anchor, he shuts it off to conserve battery life. Nice fish finder, though.

Yes, the less features the better when it comes to battery life. I have a Lowrance with imaging and it is a battery hog. My old $100 Eagle was far better on juice.

But I liked the Lowrance fish finder so much I bought a "special" battery just to run it. One thing leads to another so be careful.

i have a lowrance x-4 pro and easily get 4 full days of fishing out of 8 AA batteries Shooting thru the hull.
i like the finder. basic no frills. wonder how i get twice the life as the x-4 mentioned above.

zski: "i have a lowrance x-4 pro and easily get 4 full days of fishing out of 8 AA batteries Shooting thru the hull.
i like the finder. basic no frills. wonder how i get twice the life as the x-4 mentioned above.


"

He might be confusing the X-4 pro with another model which also includes the words "4". Mine is also a Lowrance 4 of some type but it has DSI imaging and it burns through the juice fairly quickly but I still got about a week out of 8 batteries but that was only about 4 hours in the afternoon per day on that travel type trip.

Simple and basic is good for conserving juice.

I have the X-4 as opposed to the "Pro" model. Good basic unit that does the job just fine. I power it with 8 AA Energizer Ultimate Lithium's, which I believe are better than alkalines for longer slower draw of current. I can usually get thru a 6-7 day trip without changing batteries, but have had to replace them toward the end of the trip.

thlipsis29: "I think this is the model my fishing partner brings and it can be hard on batteries. I think he goes through two sets of 8 AA batteries on a 4 day fishing trip. Once we find structure or fish and anchor, he shuts it off to conserve battery life. Nice fish finder, though."

I actually have a Lowrance X67C. It is hard on batteries, but I love the unit and after looking around recently it can't be replaced cheaply. I mostly use a suction ducer but when vertical jigging can use the floating ice ducer. Have used both effectively in the bwca. The flasher mode when fishing vertically is fun, just like ice fishing!

I'm still using my Eagle Cuda which I believe was bought by Lowrance and then manufactured under the X-4 name. For what I need it to do it works great for me. I run it on a lithium battery that is about half the size of a Vexilar battery and weight very little. Going this route I'm never concerned about battery life on a week long trip. My brother runs a X-4 Pro the same way and has had great luck with that unit as well.

I just purchased an x4-pro off ebay off recommendation from a friend. Can someone share the battery pack/wiring needed to make this setup portable for fishing out of an outfitter's canoe? Excited to try this out!!

Thanks in advance for any tips!

buzz17: "I actually have a Lowrance X67C. It is hard on batteries, but I love the unit and after looking around recently it can't be replaced cheaply. I mostly use a suction ducer but when vertical jigging can use the floating ice ducer. Have used both effectively in the bwca. The flasher mode when fishing vertically is fun, just like ice fishing!
"

I also have an X67C. I've had it for about 10 years and it has about 15 BW trips on it.

I've never had any problems with batteries. I have a 7AH lead acid battery. It has never failed in any of those week long trips.

Hi portagelabs,
A few years ago at Canoecopia I went to a seminar on setting up your canoe for fishing in the BW. One little detail I took from it (and I forget who gave the seminar, my apologies) was that you get 70% more life from your batteries if you use a 10 AA pack rather than an 8 AA pack. I changed mine over to a 10 pack and I get 4 or 5 days on my x-4, about 5 hours a day. I put the pack in a little zip-lok and hang it under the unit in a 3" pouch. The 10 AA pack is about $3.

Good luck

Thanks SJW!

I missed Canoecopia this year, but knowing they have seminars makes we want to plan ahead to attend next year for sure.

Do I need any special clips or soldering to attach the battery pack to the fish finder? x4-pro is still in the mail so it may be obvious once it shows up...

I appreciate the tip!

I have the x-4. It seems to graph the bottom just fine, even through my aluminum hull, but it doesn't seem to graph fish very well for me. However, it's possible I have the arches turned off or something. I try to go bare bones to keep the battery usage to a minimum.

These pictures show my battery pack. I just used some PVC, with an 8-pack of AA's. I think if I were to do it over though, I might go with a 10 pack.

I have a couple U-bolts with wing nuts. I put the u-bolts around the PVC, straight up on either side of the thwart, and thru pre-drilled holes in the base of the X-4. So on the top side of the cross member I have the X-4,and on the bottom side I have the battery pack. It's easy to change batteries, and keeps them dry.

Note, I live in Oakdale. If anyone wants to try it out before purchasing, they're welcome to. You can even take it to the bdub/quetico if I'm not using it.

Analyzer, very nice battery setup. Where did you source the battery holders?

MEPPS: "Analyzer, very nice battery setup. Where did you source the battery holders?"

It's been a while, but might have been Radio Shack. But they don't exist around here anymore.

A cursory glance on Ebay presented this:

ebay 8 AA battery holder

It fits perfectly inside the PVC tubing. Both ends screw on and off. Picked up the PVC parts at Home depot. Just need to leave enough slack wire to pull the entire sleeve in and out of the PVC for battery replacement.

10 pack

I've seen guys put something like this in a small tupperware container. I think I'd would recommend using a 10 pack instead of 8.

Although I haven't tried lithium batteries that might last longer.

I'll set it up on the canoe tomorrow and show you what it looks like, but it's very similar to many other's on this site.

SJW: "Hi portagelabs,
A few years ago at Canoecopia I went to a seminar on setting up your canoe for fishing in the BW. One little detail I took from it (and I forget who gave the seminar, my apologies) was that you get 70% more life from your batteries if you use a 10 AA pack rather than an 8 AA pack. I changed mine over to a 10 pack and I get 4 or 5 days on my x-4, about 5 hours a day. I put the pack in a little zip-lok and hang it under the unit in a 3" pouch. The 10 AA pack is about $3.


Good luck


"

This about sums it up.

portagelabs: "Thanks SJW!


I missed Canoecopia this year, but knowing they have seminars makes we want to plan ahead to attend next year for sure.


Do I need any special clips or soldering to attach the battery pack to the fish finder? x4-pro is still in the mail so it may be obvious once it shows up...


I appreciate the tip!"

portagelabs,

I just drilled into the posts on top the battery pack and wired to that. I'm sure somewhere you could fine the 9 V battery clips like in a smoke detector. One note, I went to an auto parts store an got an inline 12v fuse... just in case.