Best and newest is going to cost you by Brad Wiegmann

This year’s International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades (ICAST) turned out to be a successful one for marine electronics companies. All of the major marine electronics released new products at the show. One company even won best Best of Show in the electronics category.


For electronic marine companies that’s a good thing, however, for anglers that want the best and newest electronics for their boat it’s going to cost you. No matter what brand electronics there’s an update or new product.



There also seems to be trend towards integrating a boats fish finder or fish finders if the boat has multiple units and the trolling motor or accessories. In addition to no crossover of products between the different companies. While the one boat network is a great theory and even better profit wise for the marine electronics companies it’s not realistic because each company has certain products that anglers believe perform better.

First let’s start with Lowrance and its release of the Lowrance Ghost 360. Ghost 360 rolled out at the start of the year and was followed up with something you rarely see from any company. An upgrade of product for free. That’s right, Lowrance actually sent out new upgraded Active Imaging 3-in-1 nose cones out to replace the outdated nose cones.




Next up Garmin released yet 2 new transducers for existing LiveScope compatible Garmin fish finders. The first new Garmin transducer is the Garmin LiveScope Plus. Garmin boast about the clearer images, reduce noise and better separation with the LiveScope Plus System. Priced at $1,699.99 the system comes with GLS 10 and LVS34 transducer, however, anglers can just purchase the LVS34 transducer at $1,199.99 and hook it up to the GLS 10 sonar module to upgrade.


The word on the water is many crappie anglers don’t like the look of the newer LiveScope Plus System. They explained that the transducer even with a clutter screen showed crappie echos better and brighter. In addition to many of the crappie anglers reluctant and unwilling to spend $1,666.99 when their unit works great already.


The Garmin LiveScope XR aka Extend Range is boasted as having a range of up to 500 feet in fresh water and 350 feet in saltwater below and further around the boat. It offers a Compress Range setting to display a live look in sharp detail up close while allowing an angler to keep an eye on targets further away at the same time. It’s possible that this could be the next “hot” feature, but as of right now no one is boasting the ability to use it for crappie fishing.




That takes us to Humminbird and the release of the the Humminbird MEGA Live Imaging TargetLock retailing at $2,999.99. This product when revealed in July at ICAST 2022 won the Best in Show for the electronics category.


The ability of a separate a transducer pole is not a new concept, however, this is the first for a product to be introduced by a major marine electronics company.



Mega LIVE Imaging TargetLock attaches to the bracket on a Minn Kota Ultrex trolling motor similar to the Humminbird MEGA 360 Imaging, however, it’s the ability to lock in independently of the trolling motor that anglers are impressed with. In addition to TargetLock that can function even if your boat is moving or anchored using Minn Kota Spot-Lock; Mega Live Imaging TargetLock has MEGA LIVE SWEEP that can automatically do a 120 degree sweep no matter where your trolling motor is point, Minn Kota STEER that controls both your trolling motor and MEGA Live transducer at the same time using the foot pedal of your i-Pilot Ultrex and ONE-BOAT Network.


The trend seems to be making existing products better not cheaper. At the current pricing live sonar imaging is still out of the reach of a number of anglers. For anglers with the money to spend it’s not an issue, but that does drive a wedge between anglers with and without; in addition to some anglers that just don’t want to look at a fish finder screen all day. There was also a rumor of a new trolling motor company at the show, but no releases yet.