Bigger screen, lower price: the Garmin Striker Vivid 7cv takes the lead
If you’re choosing between these two Garmin fishfinders, you’re really deciding whether you want the newer, larger-screen value play or the older, pricier compact unit with built-in mapping. For UK anglers, that matters whether you’re jigging for perch on reservoirs, tracking carp patrol routes on pits, or reading contours on coastal marks for bass. Both are proper Garmin tools, but one is clearly the smarter buy for most boat, kayak, and bank anglers. Here’s the straight answer on which one deserves your money.
Garmin Striker Vivid 7cv, Easy-to-Use 7-inch Color Fishfinder and Sonar Transducer, Vivid Scanning Sonar Color Palettes (010-02552-00)
Garmin Striker 5cv with Transducer, 5" GPS Fishfinder with CHIRP Traditional and ClearVu Scanning Sonar Transducer and Built In Quickdraw Contours Mapping Software
Our Recommendation
Product A is the definitive buy for most anglers because it gives you a bigger 7-inch display, a better review score, and a much lower price. At £77.64 less than Product B, it offers stronger value while still delivering Garmin’s easy-to-use sonar package. Product B’s only real edge is Quickdraw Contours mapping, which is useful but not enough to offset the smaller screen and higher cost for most users.
Detailed Comparison
Display
Product A wins comfortably here. The Striker Vivid 7cv gives you a 7-inch colour screen, which is a serious upgrade over Product B’s 5-inch display. In real fishing terms, that extra screen area makes it much easier to split sonar views, read arches, and spot bottom changes without squinting, especially in bright summer conditions on UK waters. The Vivid colour palettes are also designed to improve contrast, so fish and structure stand out more clearly when you’re working weed edges, drop-offs, or hard spots. Product B is perfectly usable, but the smaller 5-inch screen feels more cramped and less comfortable for long sessions.
Winner: Product A
Performance
Product B has one key advantage: built-in Quickdraw Contours mapping. If you fish unfamiliar waters and want to build your own depth maps, that’s a genuinely useful feature. However, in day-to-day sonar performance, the Striker Vivid 7cv is the more attractive package because it pairs the larger display with Garmin’s vivid sonar presentation, making interpretation easier. Product B includes CHIRP Traditional and ClearVu, so it’s not lacking in sonar capability, but the overall user experience is held back by the smaller screen and higher price. For most anglers, especially those focused on seeing fish and structure quickly rather than making maps, Product A offers the better practical performance.
Winner: Product A
Build quality and design
Both units come from Garmin, so you’re getting a reliable, well-finished bit of kit either way. The design philosophy is simple and fishing-focused: easy menus, straightforward operation, and a unit that’s built to be used on the water rather than fiddled with. Product A feels like the more modern and balanced design because the 7-inch form factor gives you more usable information without becoming awkward. Product B’s 5-inch footprint is more compact, which can suit very small boats or tight consoles, but it’s harder to argue that it’s the better-designed overall package when compared side by side. Build quality is effectively a draw, but Product A’s larger, more readable layout gives it the edge in design usability.
Winner: Product A
Battery life
Neither listing provides battery specifications, so there’s no hard data to separate them on runtime alone. In practical use, screen size can influence power draw, and the 7-inch model may consume a bit more than the 5-inch unit. That said, most anglers run these from a boat battery, leisure battery, or portable power pack rather than relying on internal battery life. Because there’s no confirmed battery data here, this category is best treated as a tie. If you’re powering a kayak or small craft setup, you’d want to check your battery capacity regardless of which one you buy.
Winner: Tie
Price and value for money
This is the clearest win of the comparison. Product A costs £398.76, while Product B is £476.40, making Product A cheaper by £77.64. That’s a huge difference when the cheaper unit also gives you the bigger 7-inch screen and a better-rated customer score: 4.6/5 from 3,018 reviews versus 4.5/5 from 1,088 reviews. Product B only justifies its higher price if Quickdraw Contours mapping is essential to your fishing. Otherwise, Product A is the better value because you’re paying less and getting more visible, more comfortable sonar viewing.
Winner: Product A
Features and usability
Product B’s standout feature is Quickdraw Contours, which will appeal to anglers who want to create custom maps of pits, lakes, and reservoirs. That can be very handy for carp anglers learning a venue, pike anglers searching for winter haunts, or anyone fishing large, featureless water. But Product A’s Vivid palette system is the more immediately useful feature for most people because it improves day-to-day sonar clarity without any setup or mapping work. In simple terms: Product B offers a specialist advantage, while Product A offers a broader benefit that most anglers will notice straight away. For ease of use, Product A also feels like the better choice because the larger screen makes menus and sonar returns easier to interpret.
Winner: Product A
Overall user experience
Product A delivers the better all-round experience. It’s cheaper, has the larger 7-inch display, carries a stronger review score, and is likely to be easier to live with on the water. Product B is still a capable fishfinder and its Quickdraw mapping is a legitimate reason to buy it, but the combination of a smaller screen and a higher price makes it a harder sell unless mapping is a priority. For most UK anglers fishing carp lakes, pike waters, or inshore bass marks, the Striker Vivid 7cv is the one that will feel more useful every time you switch it on.
Overall summary: if you want the best blend of screen size, sonar readability, reviews, and value, Product A is the clear winner. Product B is only the better choice if built-in mapping matters enough to justify paying more for a smaller unit.
Buy the Garmin Striker Vivid if...
Buy Product A if you want the best all-round fishfinder for the money and care about reading sonar quickly and easily. It’s the stronger choice for carp, pike, and bass anglers who want a bigger screen for structure, fish marks, and contour interpretation. It’s also the better pick if you simply want the more sensible purchase without paying extra for a niche feature.
Buy the Garmin Striker 5cv if...
Buy Product B if you specifically want built-in Quickdraw Contours mapping and know you’ll use it to map your own waters. It suits anglers fishing unfamiliar lakes, pits, or reservoirs where custom contour mapping is a real advantage. Choose it only if that mapping feature is worth paying more for a smaller 5-inch screen.
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