Has anyone tried out the new side imaging units yet? My boat needs updating in the sonar department this winter and I am looking into purchasing one for my boat. Its a toss up between the Hummingbird 997c HD side imaging and the Lowrance LCX-113-HD. Any info is greatly appreciated.
I've done quite a bit of research on this over the last couple of months..I am far from an expert.
I ended up going with Lowrance, simply for familiarity reasons.
Lowrance service seems to be struggling a little bit, but it sounds like they are starting to get that worked out.
With HB side Imaging you have to really consider the TD placement.
The hot setup seems to be placing one transducer on the Jack plate or transom for Low speed operation and another epoxied to the hull for High speed...(switched).
From what I have gathered both are great units with HB making huge strides over the last few years. I really like my Lowrance and haven't had any issues yet.
Both are good choices. The Lowrance is a better accuracy unit for standard sonar. Both are equal as GPS units. The side imaging is awesome.
Berkely,
There's a couple of posts in this board that have covered Humminbird units and side imaging.
Here's one that covered transducer placement concerns: LINK (http://www.greatlakesbass.com/forum/index.php?topic=3101.0)
Here's another that discussed some general Humminbird vs. Lowrance topics: LINK (http://www.greatlakesbass.com/forum/index.php?topic=3003.0)
Now that my tourney season is done, I have had some free time to play around. I took one of our open-box 997 (http://www.ezods.com/go/store/details/Humminbird_997c_SI_Side_Imaging_Dual_Beam_Combo)'s the other day and tested it out the river near my house. I spent some time idling around submerged channels an structure that holds fish and was really impressed. It took me a bit to orient myself to what I was seeing, but once I figured it out, I had a lot of fun. I haven't permanently mounted it, however, and I've only tested it on water that I know really well.
One other thing that impressed me was the way it handles map data. The new Navionics Hotmaps Premium '07 chips are fairly slow when scrolling and drawing on my Lowrance X-38 (http://www.ezods.com/go/store/details/Lowrance_LCX_38C_HD). The Humminbird handles the same data much faster than the Lowrance.
I would say as long as you don't mind the two transducer setup (see the first linked post above), the 997 is a very nice way to go. I was tempted to give the one I tested a permanent home on my boat. :)
Hope that helps,
Jon
I have some screen captures from my 997c SI unit that I took on Gun Lake a couple weeks ago while out with one of the guys from D&R. Two are of a sunken boat, and the other is an isolated rock patch off the base of the break in 19'. I sent them to Dan last week, so may have him help me post them here if I can't figure it out myself. I hope to get out on Erie/Detroit River this weekend to get some more images that I'll post.
Humminbird is coming out with a new 1100 series for '08 with a 10.4" diagonal screen, available in both side imaging (1197cSI Combo) and standard color sonar/gps combo (1157c Combo). These are basically blown up versions of the 997 and 957 with a few added features. Target availability is January. Also new for '08 will be a y-cable accessory that will eliminate the need for the TS-2W transducer switch when using the dual ducer setup.
Regarding the dual 'ducer rigging, it's actually very easy to rig, and in a lot of cases you can mount the SI transducer where you won't even notice it on the outside of the boat.
Berkley--I'm curious what you mean by "better accuracy for standard sonar"? I'm the HB rep for here in Michigan, and I'm always interested what we can do to make the products better. I can tell you there are a couple guys from the HB factory that are registered on this board and I'm sure they'd like to hear any feedback.
Bryan
From everything I read and seen with the side imaging I am sold on it. The gun lake images were awesome. My biggest concern is mounting the transducer. Its something i probaly should have installed by a professional;-)
Seriously, mounting the transducer is not as hard as it sounds. I've done at least a dozen this year, and I'm not mechanically inclined at all ;D What kind of boat would you be mounting it on? Depending on the boat, there are multiple options for transducer placement. I have quite a few pictures I could e-mail or post of transducer rigging locations. The hardest part is running the transducer cables to the console, which is done using a wire snake. Again some boats are easier than others. I can tell you Ranger is by far the easiest.
I had a really good feeling about this technology ever since I seen it. To me, it should be a must have for any body of water. Here's my reasoning why this unit should be the first choice of all serious anglers.
Whith a standard sonar unit haveing a 20 degree cone angle in 20 FOW, you are only viewing a 7 foot diameter. I know this because I drew it up on CAD (sorry, just the OCD coming out again). With the side imaging, you can cover 200-300 feet of bottom at a time. Yes simple common sense tells us all that, but that unit right there just made Lake Erie one heck of a lot smaller. Just using the 100 ft per side covering 200 feet at a time it makes Lake Erie 28.57 times smaller than with a standard 20 degree transducer.
When practice time is limited, and yes, time is money. It makes the most economical sense to have this advantage when factoring that you're fishing for $50,000 -$100,000 each tournament.
The other thing that really convinces me on this unit are the people who use them. Fishing the Stren Series this year I've gotten the chance to meet a lot of pro's who fish for a living. I've talked to quite a few of them about the side finding unit and almost always, their first reponse to me is "I can't believe what I can see under the water now."
It will be my next purchase for my boat.
Just my humble opinion,
joshimoto son ;D