I'm looking to upgrade my Lowrance Elite 7 Chirp with a unit that has down scan and side imaging. I've decided to purchase a Lowrance elite 9 TI unit but then learned that a new TI2 unit is being released with so called "active imaging" and a few other new features. I'm looking for opinions from folks on if it is worth waiting for the new TI2 or just get the older TI unit on sale this holiday shopping season (I see the Cabelas ad got leaked and they will have Elite 9 TI units with the Nav+ chip for $600) I've tried researching the new features on the TI2 units but there isn't much out there for people that already have their hands on one. Wondering if anyone has any insight on if the new features are worth the extra price of what I could get the older unit for?
Fishing Equipment
Lowrance TI or wait for TI2?
Thanks for the insight, Bone-Fish! I really do appreciate it.
I am new to the game here. I just purchased my first fishing boat this past July and dived right into it. Before that I just occasionally used my fathers older 14' Bluefin but with no electronics to speak of. It's been quite the learning experience thus far and has been really fun (and expensive :-) ) That said, I am not well experienced at all but have managed to put some fish in the boat.
Your advice really puts things into perspective. You mentioned some really valid points. I'll also mention that video reviews are finally starting to trickle in for the TI2 and the active imaging really isn't the thing people seem the most excited about. It's more of the wi-fi networking between multiple units on the boat. Being that my boat will have a stand alone unit, I've decided to try and get my hands on one of the holiday sale original TI units. I'll use the extra cash I save on the unit for some rod tree holders and maybe some hard water hardware.
So the lowrance active imaging provides more detailed info in both shallow water and at greater side imaging distances. The marketing material I saw claimed super detailed up to 100 meters. Seems unreasonable but I guess if you were running a high definition 30 inch screen on your boat then you could observe 100 meters on both sides of the boat in great detail. I personally believe it is their answer to improving on mega imaging from hummingbird.
With the tech out of the way I ask you this.... how clear do you need the image to be to go gun for fish? Are you pretty experienced? Do you know what structure you are looking for at what time of day/year? If you are a solid fisherman then having a slightly better tech isn't going to change your game. If you are new to the game and have expendable cash then by all means go and buy the new model with all those new features because when you are new you need all the help you can get.
The last piece is this. The locators seem to be getting better and turned often. This means no matter what you buy now you wont have the top tech for long. So unless its game breaking, why would you bother paying premium for it. Let me clue you in. If a new tech comes out and you can't find much on it, either the marketing team is bad or they didn't pour resources into marketing because it isn't all that game changing.
One last thing. If you only buy new locators every 10 years. Then go ahead and buy the new tech because it will be with you forever. Otherwise buy the holiday sale model and save that extra premium jing to spend on the 3rd gen when the 4th gen has just released and the 3rd is 50% off in 6 years.
