Thread: Help choosing a new Sonar........ Undesided and confused with what to purchase!

There are some great options and if a person is willing to take a previous generation of unit, there are real bargains as well. Garmin is trying hard to compete in the sonar market and recently they have some nice units out. From what I've read and pictures I've seen, the Lowrance has, in the past, had the best looking sonar views. The cost for Lowrance is usually a bit more and from what I understand the learning curve is slightly harder than Humminbird. I have never owned a Lowrance unit, but wouldn't hesitate to buy one if money was not an option. Humminbird has made great strides with the Onix and Helix units to get the same quality of sonar viewing as Lowrance.

I personally run Humminbird units and have been extremely satisfied. My first unit was a 718 to which I added a magellan hand held gps to get gps capabilities on the unit. I then added a Humminbird 798 hd si, and shortly after that a 998 hd unit and networked these. This allowed sharing of way points. Recently with the drop in price of the Core humminbird units, I am currently running the 998 at the console and have an 1199 at the bow. It is my preference to run the larger unit at the bow since that is where I spend the most time. I run a SI/DI transducer on the transom and an identical transducer on the trolling motor. Recently I have added 360 imaging with heading sensor gps, which I am still learning. My goal is to take the 798 unit I have as a spare and add it to the bow fishing location to have "his and hers" units up front. It will be mainly used for mapping, but will also be able to access all the sonar sources, transom, trolling motor, and 360, just like the 998 and 1199. I do not have the ipilot link, but this is another available feature that uses the humminbird units to interface with the terrova trollling motor by networking.

Ultimately, I love to fish rather than operate boat "appliances". Both Lowrance and Humminbird would work for this, but ultimately, due to the ease of operation and costs, Humminbird won out for me. Features of the Humminbird have not only allowed me to find fish today, but because of my configuration, have allowed me, while fishing today, to find fish in the future. With limited time to be on the water due to work situation, this maximizes the use of my available fishing time, which is definitely a big plus.

As you well know, fishing very shallow water, any sonar unit will be somewhat limited in its capability, but even in shallow water, seeing a slight depth change can be beneficial. The Humminbird units that I run are not the top of the humminbird line, but they do the job for me. I would definitely love to have a complete Onix setup. Maybe this will happen when they become "obsolete". Here are some screen shots from the past and you can see some of the views I use. One of my favorite pictures is the 2d. Never underestimate this feature when fishing. If you have any questions about these units/pictures, I would be glad to share what I know, but up in the electronics forum, there are some real experts that are very much more knowledgeable than I about sonar.

Here is the 360 imaging from last week, with crappie. Sensitivity could be adjusted to show the fish out of the water column better, but I was limited in my adjusting time, due to the poles being bent in a horseshoe.

Here's a side imaging picture of structure that I dropped. I named this the crappie fence. One other very important thing, if you choose humminbird read up on the transducer exchange program and make sure that which ever unit you choose has the best transducer available. For example, the 899 came with a non hd transducer. For a few bucks more, through transducer exchange, you could get the HD tranducer that comes stock on the larger units. This "unlocks" the 800 khz frequency and also makes the 400khz frequency much better in the smaller units. I did this on my 798.

The crappie fence you see on the sonar, and what it looked like out of the water. The sonar is from the 798

A little 2d. Notice the jig going down and the white bass coming up to get it. We still use 2d quite a bit. In the cooler was a few of the fish on the sonar.

Di from the 798. Notice the crappie stacked around the pole timber and the egg sinker of the capps and coleman rig going down. Red arrows are the fish. The green arrow is the egg sinker. Here are a few examples of what I see on my Humminbirds. Hope you have fun choosing a new sonar unit.

Wow Randall Humminbird is going to offer you a job!

HAHA!!! HAHA!!! HAHA!!! Bobby

I will pay him $1.50 plus gas money to show me how to interpret all of that. He is smarter than he looks. Or, did Ms Carol learn him that? DP

Listen folks, I was just tied up at the house while on call and needed something to do. I ain't sponsored by no hummingbird so it would tickle me if he chose Lowrance which in my opinion is the top of the line. I just thought the purchase of a SI or DI or even 2d would be a little easier if you could actually view what the object is and then view the object on the sonar. As they always say, if you can't dazzle with brilliance, baffle with bull. I may be sum dum, but I ain't plum dum.

Disclaimer: If Humminbird should call today and offer a sponsorship, and throw in a couple of ONIX units, I retract all compliments and mention of Lowrance. If Lowrance calls today, I will go Extreme Moderator on my own post and delete it.