Thread: Down Imaging vs Side imaging vs neither

Originally Posted by chaunc

So now this thread turns into another ford vs chevy debate, huh? Here we go again.

Eaxctly what I was thinking.

Fellas .... anytime you have a "choice" discussion, it's going to have the potential to become a "chevy vs ford" scenario. The trick to not letting it become that, is to not LET it become that (by staying on subject), and/or not MENTION the fact that it appears to be coming to that. Rofl

And, IF it should turn into such a case ... and site rules are being violated ... report the offending post, & let the Mods & SuperMods look it over & make a judgement call as to whether or not any action need be taken.

... cp

Thanks for all the replies and discussion everyone. The intent of my post and poll was to focus on the technology available so here is a followup question...

I fish Mark Twain Lake in Missouri 99% of the time. I'm pretty good (if I can pat myself on the back lol) at finding and catching whatever fish I'm chasing when they are in a known set pattern and doing what they are supposed to be doing at a given time of year. For instance crappie during the spawn or on a strong summer pattern or catfish in the spring when the rivers are running. Now I want to branch out a bit and get better and finding fish during the winter for instance or during transitional periods for instance between the spawn and the summer pattern etc. I was thinking that if I upgraded my electronics from the Eagle Ultra Classic I currently run to either a DI or SI/DI model I might have better luck finding schools of baitfish, seeing schools of crappie and finding brush piles and other structure that hold fish. Since I fish the same lake all the time and since I'm not a tournament fisherman ( I do fish probably 40-50 days a year) do you think I'd be satisfied with simply a DI unit and secondly do you think I'd be disappointed with a 5" inch screen if I went for one of the cheaper units like the HB 798CI HD DI?

I got to say, I have enjoyed adding SI/DI to my boat. I have Lowrances HDS so I'm not familiar with the HB numbers. For me, I opted for a larger screen.
I figured if I was going to spend the money and make the investment I wanted to make sure I had no regrets because of screen size. I think down imaging is pretty cool to look at but it alone wasn't going to make me spend the money. I wanted to have the SI. Now I must say I don't use SI every time I go fishing but I do like having it when I want it.

2d shows structure under the boat
DI will show a picture like image of the structure under the boat and out to the sides a few feet...
SI will show a picture like image of the structure under the boat, out to sides 100+ feet, and which side of the boat

In 1 pass SI will effectively show you a 200 ft wide swath of water...eliminating unproductive water...

SI is invaluable for finding new unknown structure...

Rickie

For Stymie, and all. Just for reference.

Hard to make out whats in those si pictures above.can anybody else tell whats being showed here other than the interference in the water column and all that darkness on the sides.just asking?

for best clarity I find 3x to 4x water depth seems to work best at least for me.
Cool pics mduncan62