SI or bigger screen

[blueball]

FYI ....2 a my buds both use 4 and 5 inch screens with SI and DI ......a buck pair a reading glasses at the local dollar store will fix a small screen ...

Bigger screen will blow away a 4-5 in screen,use dollar store glasses with big screen and see what you get,lol.I have had them all,bigger is better

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[Hanr3]

Friendly reminder, screens are measured diagonally. As in from corner to corner like your big screen tv.

[blueball]

Sounds like a few guys are trying to compensate for other deficiencies...

I struggle with a similar question. My thoughts. DI depends on the depth of water you are fishing. If you are fishing in water deeper than 10' it starts to make sense. Remember the cone size in relationship to the depth of water. In shallow water that cone (field of view) won't be worth much and screen size won't matter. There won't be much to see. In shallow water, side imaging has the advantage.

The trouble with side imaging on the bow is the transducer cable. Wait one, you can buy a trolling motor with a transducer built in. Great, however this transducer is only designed for down imaging. Great if that is what you have up front. However if you want side imaging up front then you need to mount a transducer on the trolling motor. IF you have a cable run motor, you will be fine. If you have a drive-by-wire you can spin that head unit around all day long and will snap your transducer wire.

So, what to get, down imaging or side imaging on the bow? Both have their advantages and disadvantages. You mentioned river fishing. I gather that means relatively shallow water, under 10'. Do you have a cable drive trolling motor or one with a built in transducer? Cable driven go SI. Built in go DI. Drive-by-wire, go DI (built in).

Not done yet.
Another factor to consider is connectivity of the head units, bow and helm. Will the unit you are looking at be able to connect with other sonar units in your boat? Will it have the ability to map the water your fishing (AutoChart Pro or similar)? Or does you helm mounted sonar unit have the ability to map the water?
These options open up other possibilities, and yes more money. Which sounds like you have a budget you want to stick to. Good for you, stay within your budget.

I have a head unit that will map the water at the helm. I am trying to decide on the bow unit. I want the new Helix 9, undecided if I want SI or DI only. I have a cable driven trolling motor and SI would work great. However, eventually I want a drive-by-wire trolling motor with IPilot Link so I can set a contour course and let the motor do the work while I concentrate on fishing. That means DI. Until I decide, I am using an old Humminbird Piranha Max 220 unit on the bow. My trolling motor does not have the built in transducer so I had to mount one to the trolling motor.

Two questions you need to answer.
Cable or drive-by-wire trolling motor for the type of fishing I do?
How deep is the water?

As for head unit size, sounds like a few guys need to get glasses or a new prescription. I see everything just fine on the bow 4" screen. I do have the 899 mounted at the helm and that works equally as well. I spin it around and watch the SI from the bow of the boat. Remember I have a 16' tiller and am reading a screen that is 8-10' away from my bow seat.

Don't believe the trolling motors with the built in transducers will do di,2d only.I have a electric steer motor with two transducers without a problem,have a hstwsbl and a lss1 on trolling motor.Also if you do much scanning a bigger screen will help,if you don't use you side scan you might as well not have it,it has made slow days productive here lately.i have had a few units and just speaking from experience,797,had 2 997,two hds 7 nontouch,two hds7 touches,9 hds touch,hds 10 non touch.At the moment I have a hds 10 non touch at the console,hds 7 and hds9 at the bow with structure scan front and back

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