I am in need of an inexpensive depth/fish finder that I can easily transfer from boat to boat. What should I look for?

Has anyone tried a 110 or 120 Fishin' Buddy by Hummingbird?  If so, is there an advantage to the rod over a suction cup design?

I have heard reports of Fishin' Buddies jumping overboard, so if you choose that route, tie it off! I found the screen on the Fishin' Buddy I tried smaller than I like. Like anything else, there are always trade-offs. Some of the FB units have sidescan which is hard to find in an affordable unit. I have an Eagle portable that runs on D cells and the suction cup transducer can be a problem especially if you fail to tie off the supplied lanyard. Mine has never ended up in a prop but it can happen. The Fishin'Buddy 120 is probably the better buy due to the better screen resolution. Tom

Thanks Pegsguy! What model is your Eagle that uses D batteries?

My Eagle is a very old Magna 3 from the mid 90s. It is no longer in production. Something to keep in mind- almost any unit can be made portable with a bit of work. I converted a Lowrance 525LMS color unit to portable use by adding a seat clamp bracket and a transom clamp transducer bracket. The problem with my unit is that it can not be considered "affordable"! The color display is awesome, though. Cabelas sells the brackets and also has a small battery suitable as a power source. A motorcycle or lawn tractor battery would also work.

Another option for you is a Vexilar or similar type of flasher unit. They are extremely portable and will run for 8-20 hours on their own internal sealed battery. They are normally used for ice fishing, but I know of people that bring them onto the boat and just throw the transducer overboard. You can find used ones in the $150-$300 range. Their downfall is they won't work when the boat is moving more than a few mph, unless you fix the transducer to something solid. If you've never seen one, they give you real-time data and you can watch the fish come to your bait. They will also see through weeds if you choose the correct settings.