The essentials in 30 seconds
- Charts: the STRIKER Vivid cannot display marine charts (a hardware limitation, according to Garmin): only your own Quickdraw contours, waypoints and tracks. Every Eagle except the 4x ships with a worldwide basemap and reads a C-MAP DISCOVER or Navionics+ microSD card.
- Lake or river, no chart needed: STRIKER Vivid 7cv, or the 7sv to search the margins. Wi-Fi only from 7 inches up.
- Coastal fishing with navigation: Eagle 7 or 9 with a chart card, in the HDI version if you often fish deeper than about 18 m (Lowrance's own threshold). With Garmin, that means an ECHOMAP.
- Kayak on a tight budget: the STRIKER Vivid 4cv has GPS; the Eagle 4x is a sounder only. For a chart on the kayak, go for the Eagle 5.
- Networking: neither connects to NMEA 2000.
Contents
Model names: cv, sv, SplitShot, TripleShot, HDI
These are the two brands' entry-level fishfinders: button-operated, standalone units sold with their transducer. At Garmin, the suffix tells you which transducer is in the box: cv means traditional sonar plus ClearVü (down imaging) with the GT20-TM; sv adds SideVü (side imaging) with the GT52HW-TM. Lowrance names the transducer instead: SplitShot HD (CHIRP and DownScan), TripleShot HD (adds SideScan), HDI 83/200 or 50/200 (CHIRP and DownScan aimed at deeper water), and the Bullet Skimmer on the Eagle 4x.
| Screen | Garmin STRIKER Vivid | Lowrance Eagle |
|---|---|---|
| 4 inches | 4cv: traditional and ClearVü | Eagle 4x: single-frequency sounder, no GPS, no chart |
| 5 inches | 5cv: traditional and ClearVü | Eagle 5 SplitShot or Eagle 5 HDI 83/200 |
| 7 inches | 7cv or 7sv (adds SideVü) | Eagle 7 SplitShot, Eagle 7 TripleShot (adds SideScan) or Eagle 7 HDI 83/200 |
| 9 inches | 9sv (adds SideVü) | Eagle 9 TripleShot or Eagle 9 HDI 50/200 |
Every STRIKER Vivid has built-in GPS. At 5 inches, neither brand offers side imaging: there is no 5sv, and the Eagle manual pairs the Eagle 5 with the SplitShot HD. The 5cv, 7sv and 9sv also come without a transducer, if you already own a 4-pin Garmin transducer: ask us to check compatibility first.
Charts: the real dividing line
Garmin is blunt about it: STRIKER units have no built-in charts and cannot accept any, because of hardware limitations. Charts bought in the ActiveCaptain app can be viewed on your phone, not on the STRIKER.
The STRIKER Vivid shows your position, waypoints, routes and tracks, plus the depth contours you record yourself with Quickdraw Contours: one contour every foot (about 30 cm), up to about 8,100 km² of surveys stored in memory (Garmin quotes 2 million acres). Garmin's own footnote is clear: no detailed mapping, the content is user-generated. Only the 7cv, 7sv and 9sv have Wi-Fi, which opens the Quickdraw Community through the ActiveCaptain app, where users share their surveys.
The Eagle 5, 7 or 9 is a GPS chartplotter and fishfinder in one: the European versions come with a preloaded worldwide basemap and a microSD slot (32 GB maximum). Lowrance lists C-MAP DISCOVER compatibility; the Navionics compatibility guide revised on 20 May 2026 also ticks Navionics+ cards (SonarChart and SonarChart Live included), but not Platinum+. An example from our range: the Navionics+ Bay of Biscay card. For your own surveys, Genesis Live draws half-foot contours (about 15 cm) onto the microSD card, over a Lowrance or C-MAP chart. The Eagle 4x has no GPS, no chart and no card slot.
Safety: contours you record yourself only show what your transducer passed over: no buoyage, no isolated hazard off your track. Garmin reminds users that a planned route can cross land or shallow water. The Eagle's basemap tells you where you are; for detailed coastal charts, Lowrance points to C-MAP DISCOVER or another chart provider. On a rocky coast, don't navigate on either without a proper marine chart.
Sonar: what the bundled transducers see
Both brands follow the same logic: traditional sonar for fish arches, high-frequency down imaging for a near-photographic view of what lies under the hull (ClearVü at Garmin, DownScan at Lowrance), then side imaging on the higher versions (SideVü, SideScan). CHIRP is a pulse that sweeps a range of frequencies, which separates targets sitting close together.
| Bundled transducer | Views and frequencies | What the manufacturer says |
|---|---|---|
| Garmin GT20-TM (cv) | Traditional 77/200 kHz, ClearVü CHIRP 455/800 kHz, 500 W | Shallow water. Stated maximum: about 580 m traditional, 230 m ClearVü |
| Garmin GT52HW-TM (sv) | High-wide CHIRP 150-240 kHz (250 W), ClearVü and SideVü CHIRP 455/800 kHz (350 W per element) | Fresh water. About 245 m traditional, 150 m ClearVü and SideVü |
| Lowrance SplitShot HD | Wide-angle high CHIRP, DownScan | Shallow water, frequencies not published |
| Lowrance TripleShot HD | Same, plus SideScan on both sides of the boat | Shallow water |
| Lowrance HDI 83/200 or 50/200 | CHIRP, DownScan | Recommended beyond about 18 m (60 ft) |
Workshop reading: both side-imaging bundles are aimed at fresh water (Garmin) or shallow water (Lowrance). If you regularly fish 20 to 50 m deep at sea, choose the transducer that reaches down: at Garmin, the GT20-TM supplied with the cv models, the only one of the two with a low frequency (77 kHz); at Lowrance, an HDI. SplitShot versus TripleShot: see our dedicated article.
To upgrade later, the Eagle 7 display accepts SplitShot HD, TripleShot HD and HDI transducers, according to Lowrance: the TripleShot transducer is sold on its own. At Garmin, the 7sv and 9sv have two 4-pin transducer ports, the other models one; the 4cv transmits at 300 W, the others at 500 W.
Connectivity, power, ecosystem
| Criterion | STRIKER Vivid | Eagle 5, 7, 9 |
|---|---|---|
| Screen resolution | 800 × 480 (5, 7 and 9 in), 272 × 480 (4cv) | 800 × 480 (5 and 7 in), 1,024 × 600 (9 in), IPS, 1,000 cd/m² |
| Card slot | None in Garmin's specs, internal memory | 1 microSD, 32 GB maximum |
| Wi-Fi | 7cv, 7sv and 9sv (ActiveCaptain) | Not listed |
| NMEA 2000 | Not in Garmin's specs | No (Lowrance FAQ) |
| Power supply | 12 to 20 V DC | 12 V DC (10.8 to 17 V) |
| Stated current draw at 12 V (different test conditions) | 0.40 A (4cv, 5cv) to 0.75 A (9sv) typical, 1.5 A maximum | 0.28 A (Eagle 5) to 0.64 A (Eagle 9), backlight at full |
| Waterproofing | IPX7 (incidental immersion up to 1 m for 30 min) | IPX7, card door closed |
On the 7 and 9-inch STRIKER Vivid, ActiveCaptain also transfers waypoints, shows phone notifications and installs software updates. On the Eagle, software updates (downloaded from lowrance.com), waypoint exports and Genesis Live recordings all go through the microSD card. Lowrance's FAQ is plain: the Eagle series is not designed to be networked; that is the job of the Elite and HDS ranges.
With Garmin, marine charts mean moving to a chartplotter such as the ECHOMAP UHD2 72cv (microSD, Garmin Navionics+ and BlueChart g3 charts). With Lowrance, see our guide to the Eagle, Elite FS and HDS Pro ranges.
Limits and pitfalls
- Tides distort your contours. Genesis Live is not corrected for tide, the Eagle manual says. Quickdraw offers offsets that you set by hand. With a Navionics+ card, SonarChart Live can correct its soundings using nearby tide stations, where they exist. On coasts with a large tidal range, two surveys made at different states of the tide will not match without correction.
- No direct 24 V. Given their supply ranges, a 24 V boat needs a converter. Both take a 3 A fuse.
- The Eagle's waterproofing depends on its card door. IPX7 is quoted with the card door closed: on a kayak, shut it after every card swap.
- GT52HW-TM bought on its own. It has a 12-pin plug and connects through an adapter cable supplied with the 7sv and 9sv bundles, but not listed in the box of the stand-alone transducer.
- Don't buy the chart before the display. Navionics+ for Lowrance and Garmin Navionics+ are two different products, and the STRIKER reads neither.
Workshop verdict
Lake, river, pond: no chart needed
STRIKER Vivid. The 7cv is our default pick: GPS, Quickdraw, Wi-Fi for the community and updates, and a GT20-TM transducer supplied with its trolling-motor mount. Take the 7sv if you search margins and weed beds with SideVü, the 5cv if space is tight and you have no use for Wi-Fi. An Eagle would do the job, with tighter Genesis Live contours (15 cm against 30 cm), but you would be paying for charting you won't use on this kind of water.
Coastal fishing with navigation
Eagle, with a chart card. The Eagle 7 TripleShot if you mostly fish shallow water and want SideScan; the Eagle 7 HDI 83/200 or the Eagle 9 HDI 50/200 if you often work deeper than 18 m. Add a C-MAP DISCOVER or Navionics+ card: the basemap alone will not take you safely between the rocks. If you want to stay with Garmin, you need an ECHOMAP, not a STRIKER.
Kayak on a tight budget
STRIKER Vivid 4cv rather than the Eagle 4x. At the same size, the Garmin has GPS, waypoints, Quickdraw and ClearVü; the Eagle 4x remains a single-frequency sounder with no idea where it is. For a chart on the kayak, step up to the Eagle 5 SplitShot, the smallest Eagle that reads one. Lowrance sizes: see our Eagle 5, 7 or 9 guide.
Who these are not for
A boat with an NMEA 2000 network, an autopilot or a radar, or a sailboat looking for a navigation display: neither of them. Move up the ranges (check for an NMEA 2000 port on the spec sheet); for a sailboat, see our article on the GPS/fishfinder combo. Conversely, if a chartplotter is already on board and you only need a fishing screen, the STRIKER Vivid is enough: no point paying twice for charts.
Sources
- Garmin: STRIKER Vivid product pages 4cv, 5cv (French version), 7cv, 7sv and 9sv; GT20-TM and GT52HW-TM transducers; ECHOMAP UHD2 72cv.
- Garmin: STRIKER Vivid owner's manual (v4, March 2025) and the support page Adding Charts to a Garmin STRIKER.
- Lowrance Europe: Eagle range page (versions, FAQ); product pages Eagle 4x, Eagle 5 SplitShot HD, Eagle 5 HDI 83/200, Eagle 7 TripleShot HD, Eagle 7 without transducer, Eagle 9 TripleShot HD, Eagle 9 HDI 50/200 and TripleShot HD transducer.
- Lowrance: Eagle Series operator manual (2024).
- Navionics: marine chart compatibility guide for third-party chartplotters (revised 20 May 2026).
