Thread: Upgrade to side imaging?

Ummmm. Yes sir Rees buddy. I'm from BAMA but I can answer this one. Opened up a whole new world for me

My advice is to go with somebody who has one. You'll not beleive what you see..or how much more you will see.

Like Bama said it opens up a whole new world. It helps you find structure you would otherwise bypass. Will it help you catch fish well yes and no. It will help you find the structure that holds numbers of fish but doesn't guarantee you to catch them. Whatever you decide to buy buy the biggest screen, best unit you can afford. You are only as good as what you know about it. Learn it from the inside out. Do a lot of videos and reading. Good Luck......Ranger

That or go spend a couple days with Ranger

I'm starting to get the feeling that you all say "YES YOU FOOL! BUY IT!!!" Now I just need to figure out which one.... Been looking at Garmin and Humminbird. Trying to stay under $1K though. Like anything in life, they'll let you pay as much as you want to.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a unit to look into or even a unit to stay away from? Are all brands similar in quality? Is the screen size the main factor in your effectiveness or is there some electronic wizardry that has more to do with it?

Originally Posted by callmecamo

Does anyone have any suggestions on a unit to look into or even a unit to stay away from? Are all brands similar in quality? Is the screen size the main factor in your effectiveness or is there some electronic wizardry that has more to do with it?

Lowrance or Humminbird is about the same as Ford vs. Chevy and I guess now one could add Garmin as the Toyota product! They are all good imo, back when I was trying to decide the same thing Garmin wasn't really in play at the time and I spent most of my research based on what I could find regarding the companies customer service. At the time I was looking there seemed to be a lot more negative issues towards one company than the other; I have since seen that sway in the other direction and now to me they both seem to about equal again with their customer service. In addition reading up on the reviews you should check out the many different videos of each unit that is on YouTube. It just about the same as riding along with the folks as they demo the key features of the units. I even watch the videos of some of the older units cause there is still a wealth of information you can learn with them too. For me anyway after watching hours of YouTube I found myself becoming partial to one brand over the other one.

As for screen size, yes I suggest that you always get the biggest unit that you can "not" afford!!! What I mean by that is what ever your budget is now, wait till you can put another $300 or $400 bucks with it and buy the next size/model of unit. If not you will most likely be kicking yourself for not getting the upgraded version. However remember if money is an issue the 1, 2 and 3 year old units that are out there at extremely discounted prices were the cats meow in there time. I recently seen a new SI unit which I bought a few years back for over $700 now on sale for $199.00.

Thanks for the input, Lonnie. Which brand are you partial to?