Thread: SIde imaging to be or not ??

I like a lot of fishermen are looking at the SIs, those of you that have them , do you recommend them.. from what I have been reading here it doesnt look too good. Which one would you recommend, the 797 at $1000 , the 997 at $2000 or the 1197 at $3000. Really I think I am between the 797 and the 997. Or should I wait until the new models come out and and see if maybe the competitors offer up some new choices? Thanks for any help.
The lakes I fish are not deeper than 30 feet if that makes a differnce, also is the NVB worth the extra few hundred dollars.
Thanks

I can't believe Lowrance has not hit the market with one yet. Because of the Humminbird GPS problems I am waiting, at least until next year, before taking the plunge.

Tom

Jaxxman, check out Marine Electronics & Fishing Equipment, Buy Humminbird, Raymarine & Garmin Fishfinders, Handheld GPS, Chartplotters, Radios, Radars & Autopilots Online

. They have the 997si for $1586. Got one from the a few months ago and had great service. Ordered it on Monday and it was at my door on Thursday. Hope this saves you $$.

Originally Posted by T_om

I can't believe Lowrance has not hit the market with one yet. Because of the Humminbird GPS problems I am waiting, at least until next year, before taking the plunge.

Tom

That is easy... Lot of years left on on the patents. I think I heard something like 12 to 15 years on them left.

If I were buying one to replace the 987c-SI I have, It would be the 997. As its about all we need. The 1197 for me is just $$ wasted cash. And the 797 on all that I have read and heard about it. Is just not even half of what the 997 is.
And when my Old 987c-SI does die. You can bet I will have a 997 to replace with. Also like the other post. Look online. You can get the 997 way under the $2000. Mark
Pete

I love my 997. If you only fish one or two lakes in your area, then the NVB is of little value to you. If you fish "cross country", it's a super value


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Originally Posted by ShilohRed

That is easy... Lot of years left on on the patents. I think I heard something like 12 to 15 years on them left.

If I were buying one to replace the 987c-SI I have, It would be the 997. As its about all we need. The 1197 for me is just $$ wasted cash. And the 797 on all that I have read and heard about it. Is just not even half of what the 997 is.
And when my Old 987c-SI does die. You can bet I will have a 997 to replace with. Also like the other post. Look online. You can get the 997 way under the $2000. Mark
Pete

Pete,

I talked to the Lowrance product engineer. He said that Lowrance investigated SI some years back, but that the performance of transducer arrays could not meet their high standards of excellence.

Wow. My tailpipe still seeping a little smoke (and this conversation was over a month ago........).

Well a few months ago I was not looking , now that I have some extra money I am looking seriuosly.. thanks for the replies, so far it looks like a 997 without all the NVB..

Sideimaging is great....but im sure you can do a search and you will see the downside of it with the sluggish GPS. Its been beat to a pulp here and its also a popular topic over on the yahoo site lately. I would recommend the 997 but wouldnt spend a penny on one until they fix the GPS issue. When they do that....get ya one!

Originally Posted by ShilohRed

That is easy... Lot of years left on on the patents. I think I heard something like 12 to 15 years on them left.

Sorry, I might be wrong but without some citations I just don't believe that.

Side imaging has been around in the salt water community for many years. And not by Humminbird. They certainly do not hold the patent on either the device itself or the idea since both have been around longer than Humminbird has existed. I do believe they probably hold some patents on their particular implementation of SI, but not on the entire concept.

Cudos to Humminbird for getting this to market, but I want to see some competition.

TOm

where do you find the info on yahoo?