hummingbird locators

I fish Wisconsin, Ohio, and Kentucky, and would be happy to fish more states when the opportunity occurs. Since the preloaded maps adds about $200.00, it is like getting all the map cards for a little more than the price of one map card. You can still by a more up to date mapcard and use it for the primary area you fish in if you wish, but if you fish in alot of different states I do believe that the pre loaded maps are worth the extra money.

I have the older model SI, 987. I didn't get to use it as much as I hoped last year but I was impressed with the detail the SI shows, trees, fish cribs, slabs of concrete used for riprap, pretty sure I saw a sunken boat, and the massive amounts of junk fish below the dam at Sauk City. The new model(997?) is supposed to have even greater detail using a higher freq for the SI

When I buy one of the sideimaging GPS units, would a person be better off buying the more expensive unit with the maps already loaded in it or buy the cards as needed. Which would be the better deal or has someone bought them either way and whish they would have done it different?

Go to the webites mentioned earlier and you will see lots of side imaging pics that show fish to include crappie, bluegill, bluegill beds, baitfish, etc... The great thing about the side imaiging is if you see a school of fish off to the side you can mark it on the screen and it will place a gps mark so you can get right over top of that spot. So, in effect, instead of motoring around hoping to pass over top of a school of fish, you are motoring around looking on each side of you out to a distance, to spot the schools. That allows you to cover alot more water quite quickly. I have only been in a boat with one once and it works great. Remember though, the larger the range you have the side image set for, the more bottom you see, the smaller anything appears on the screen. This will cause panfish to look mighty small and hard to spot if you try to search to large an area in one pass.

That works well for suspended walleye also, by the way...

As far as locating fish with the sonar has any one experieced locating schools of gills and perch. My LCX15MT will locate gils and perch schools and I assume the humminbird will do the same. Thanks for the response on the motor blocking the side imaging , I assume if I get one I will have to trim the motor up while searching for structure and fish.

The Yahoo Group is called 'sideimaging'. Once you join click on the photo's section to see lots of photo's from side imaging finders. Another place you can look is the 'Bass Fishing Home Page' in their electronics forum, search on 'LTBama' for lots of compairisons of different sonars with alot of side imaging pics. To get to the Electronics forum on that site you need to click on another forum (only the most used are on the home page) then across the top of the forum it will list all of their forums, click on Electronics and you will be there. Then search on 'LTBama' 'Name' and you will see the compairisons. If I could afford one, I would deffinately get one.

Daren

Lucky I have the Lund Tyee and have the 900's on it. I use them both on the dash and the bow. (also on the 4 wheeler ice fishin) You will like the wide screen. It is crystal clear and can be viewed anywhere on the boat. I mount them on a Ram so they can be repositioned for others in the boat. Many people do add a second transducer because at times the motor can get in the way when not trimmed up. There is a lot more to this unit than the side imaging. so don't buy one just for that feature. compare the pixel/power and all the other features to any of the competition and you will see they make the best locator on the market. Good Luck Tyee

For the side imaging do you use 2- transducers in the back of the boat or one? If you use 1 it seems to me the motor would get in the way of one side because it can not send the signal sideways. Thanks for the all reply's on this. Laughing guy I can not find side imaging on yahoo groups, all I get is web sites that sell the humminbird locators. I think I almost have to buy the 700 series because the 900 series is so wide that it will not fit on my console, unless some of you have a better idea or can give some location to mount the screen that I cant think of. Thanks again.

muskeyhunter, thanks for the info. that was very helpful. i'm looking at the same unit you have. did you have any issues with mounting the transducer? my boat is a lund tyee

I've got one and I love it. You can see fish on them if you as long as you're not zoomed way out. The nice thing about it is you can actually see the shape of the fish so you have an idea of what it is. I've used it on mille lacs and spotted schools of walleyes. I also used it on a lake in texas with flooded timber and you could tell where the fish were holding on the wood when you zoomed in which made presentation a lot easier. My favorite part about it is you can mark structure on the gps without going over it, you see it off to the side, move the cursor to it and mark it. My personal experience is that this will help you locate more secret spots and catch more fish. I've got the 797 by the way.

welch1, I have seen their demo on display many times. tv, computer and store. what i was looking for was real user feedback regarding my hopes and expectactions in actually seeing fish. thanks for the info. Dan

I have the 997 Fish are so small compared to the area you will cover this why they will not show up. I have found that a school of fish will show but you have to pay great attention to the screen. The screen is very clear and holds great detail. The extras that this unit will do are to long for me to list--head to Cabelas and look for help! Play around then make your choice.

Fish move, especially when a boat goes by - making them hard to image with the side-scan. But seeing schools of fish is pretty common.

Check out the pictures at the Side Scan Group at Yahoo for more info:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sideimaging/

I am also looking into this side imaging technology. it appears that the primary benefit is in locating structure that "may" hold fish, vs. actually seeing a pod of fish 100 feet off to the side as you motor down the lake. Is that the case? it would be great to be able to spot fish from a distance, mark them and come back and silently slide in to that spot. I guess that was what I was hoping for but i am getting the feeling that hard structure is what this is about. any comments from the guys who own one of these would be greatly appreciated before i decide on this investment. almost all of the images i have seen relate to rocks, trees,and other submerged objects. very few of just fish echos. Thanks, Dan

Lowrance was bought by Navico, Humminbird and Minnkota are owned by Johnson Outdoors in MN. The side imaging is a great unit, I use the 900 series and you will be very pleased with them, Find a good sales person that is fluent in both units and not sponsored by either and if they explain the product properly you will more than likely end up with the Humminbird but both companies offer a great product.

Good luck Tyee