Thread: Jumping into the SI market?

Greg - Thank you for your honest thought. It wasn't the answer I was looking for but sure would rather have the truth than a sales line. Thanks again. Humminbird will get my business with either the curret 997 or the new 998.

I have had an 1197 for over 1 year, updated twice, I like the unit , but
feel the regular sonar is still not what I get with lowrance.

If I were just now coming into the market , I would wait till next spring,
look at HB and Lowrance on the water.


I have a LSS ordered with plans to hook up to my HD5 on my bow.

If I like what I see, I may sell the 1197 and put a HD8or 10 on my

console.

MO

Just ordered my 997 from Cabelas for 1489.94. They have a extra $30 off cabela' bucks rebate on top of the closeout 1500 price. Nobody tell my wife. Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me...........to me.

Ok I got all of that but will the new units 998's that are coming out in Jan. have a faster processor than the older units? If there's a difference in the processors how much is the difference?

I have just started looking at the Humminbird SI units. What is the difference between the 997 and 998. I see where you guys are saying the price for these are around 1,400 to 1,500 and the 1197 is like above 2,000. My local Academy sports has the 998SI Combo for 999. So I take it thats a good price. I have read where you have to add all this new technology to the units when it comes out. My question is this, is it a matter of want to or have too? Are the upgrades mandatory to be able to use the unit as it is or just upgrades to better things. I guess what I am really asking is this. I only fish maybe 3 lakes and will probably only be marking no more than 100 spots total. Will I have to do any upgrades in the future to keep up with these spots or will it always be able to locate these spots without any upgrades. How much are the upgrades? I just dont see paying that much for a unit that I am going to have to continuously upgrade. I also notice there is like a 1,000 dollar or better difference between the 798 and the 1197, so where does the thousand dollar difference come into play? I know these may sound like crazy questions but I am far from an electronic minded person,

The main difference in the 798, 997, and 1197 are the screen sizes. When you are using the side scan along with the gps or traditional sonar at the same time you have to spilt the screen and it just makes it easier to see with the larger screen sizes. I think the MSRP for each unit is $1099 for the 798, $1999 for the 997, and $2999 for the 1197.

Crappieseeker,
Differences between the 997 and 998 include a faster processor like has been mentioned (but I don’t know what this means to the user), a video output and Ethernet ports. All other differences will be made up with a free software update for the 997 units after the first of the year.

If your local store has the 998c Si Combo unit listed for $999 than I would snap it up! These have not hit the store shelves yet but if you can pre-order one at that price I would go for it! These should list for about $2,000 as they replace the 997 units. What you may have seen is the 798 units which should run around $1,000 or less. Too many numbers that are too close together to keep straight in my old mind anyways!

You do not have to add anything to these units to get them to work. Some will add additional accessories for added functionality that they want and others may add additional transducers depending on their boat designs and whether they want top mount the Si transducer where it is more protected or not.

Upgrades are not mandatory but they are free. Sometimes an upgrade will add additional functions or capabilities to the units, sometimes they fix reported problems with the units, usually they do both.

Humminbird Greg, I think maybe you are right. The numbers are so close together. It was a 798c SI I think. So how much better is the 2 grand units compared to that one then lol. I am still young and can see pretty well. Just to pay for bigger screen wont benefit me now. Maybe when I get older, but I ecpect to have good vision longer than I expect to get use from the unit, or atleast I hope