Although some might consider it “cheating”, sonar-based fish finders have become quite popular among fishermen lately, allowing them to see exactly what the places with higher chances of actually making a catch are. And that's exactly the type of product you'll read about as follows, namely the 140c Fishin' Buddy, released back in the first half of 2008, which offers users a relatively high level of versatility in a very portable form factor.



Since we're talking about a handheld, mid-range product, it's no wonder that the 140c sports only a single-beam sonar system, but this is pretty much everything the user might need from such a fish finder. Thus, the device sports a narrow, 20-degree beam for precision, focused on the bottom and fish in heavy structure or close to the bottom and providing a very good image of the bottom. The beam delivers a coverage area equal roughly to one third of the depth.



The imaging capabilities provided by the device from Humminbird are also quite good, namely 200 kHz / 34 degree @ -10db and 455 kHz / 10 degree @ -10db, the sonar waves reaching a maximum depth of around 240 feet (73 meters). This is possible due to the fact that the 140c sports a 24-40 inches adjustable telescopic pole, as well as quite an impressive amount of power (125 watts RMS, 1000 watts peak-to-peak).



Obviously, a sonar-based fish finder would be pretty pointless without a screen to display the readings on it, and for this reason, the 140c Fishin' Buddy has been equipped with a 3.5-inch TFT LCD display, which sports 256 colors and delivers a maximum resolution of around 320 x 240 pixels. Furthermore, the display also sports a backlight, allowing anglers to spot fish even during nighttime or early morning.



It's also important to mention the fact that the device sports a portable clamp-based mounting system and is relatively easy to carry around, measuring solely 4.22 x 5.76 x 2.72 inches. The power requirements aren't exaggerated, either, since this device requires only 6 AA batteries during normal operation.



The 140c Fishin' Buddy from Humminbird is also pretty affordable, since it can be purchased for around 270 US dollars, which is not at all a very bad pricing, given the features and specs it provides.