well I dont know much about the 997 I have the 797 and the more I use it the more I like it and I really dont know that much about it. I have found stake beds,big broke off trees, barrels arround points, and large trees laying on the bottom. I fiddle with it and get it all messed up then have to redo everything but thats kinda fun also. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10 it is a 8.5 and moving up.