Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

I am looking into buying a lowrance elite 4 with chartplotting because that's what I can afford for my little boat. I am wondering what would be best for me on smaller inland lakes if the unit is my only unit and is mounted on the bow with the transducer on the trolling motor. Dsi or traditional sonar? From what I understand dsi is better for detailing structure but traditional sonar is better for marking fish? Any advice?

Exactly what you said.  DSI marks structure very well but doesn't do a great job of marking fish, like a traditional sonar would.  You have to ask yourself, do you want to know where the fish SHOULD be or do you want to know where the fish ARE??  Me, I don't always believe what the sonar tells me anyway and use it more for finding where the fish should be and then count on the skills we all have to get fish in the boat.

With that said, some places have the Elite 5 DSI on sale right now for $399.99.  Shoot me a private message and I'll let you know where you can get one for that price.

Mike

Thanks for ur input man, in the past I have always used my sonar to find where the fish should be but that was before imaging came around. I saw gander mnt had the elite 5 for $350 and I almost bought it but decided I shouldn't spend that much money right now, then I saw a bunch of ads for the elite 4 for less than $200 with a $100 rebate, Brand new gps/dsi for less than $100 cant be beat and is within my budget, gotta save some dough for a bigger motor I am gonna need by tourney season.