I have been using the HB 997 for a couple of years now and really like it a lot. The Hummingbird seemed to be a bit more user friendly from my previous experience with Lowrance units. I have a good friend who has the big Lowrance Hds with additional readout at the bow which is an absolutely fantastic system and setup. As far as technical quality of what you see on the screen the HB and Lowrance are both great. The side imaging gives another dimension of viewing what is underneath the water which is very helpful if you know how to use that information.