Setting up new to me boat

[parratt1]

A little background. I inherited a boat 3 years ago and it needed tons of work. I got a new Terrova with I Pilot and bought a Humminbird 899 SI with the HD transducer to mount on the back. I had planned on using the existing transducer mounted in the Terrova and just move the unit from the front of the boat to the back as needed. Well, I bought a different, larger boat and am now thinking that moving the unit back and forth all of the time is gonna be a huge pain. The motor and finder are both brand new and have never been out of the boxes yet. I primarily am a jig fisher just fishing brush piles and standing timber. Recently, I have gotten back into bass fishing a little so I am trying to figure out my best course of action. Should I mount the 899 in the back and get a smaller unit for up front or vice versa? I will spend more time up front so maybe I want the 899 up there and then get a different unit for the rear? Any suggestions on placement and what additional unit I should consider?

[Hanr3]

Options are endless.
I too have a Terrova with IPilot, 899HD SI and added an 898 SI unit. Prior to the 898 I was using an old PMax 220 up front.

My current set-up.
899 next to the tiller with the HD SI transducer on the transom.
898 on the bow with the compact SI transducer on the trolling motor.
I bought the Ethernet cable to link both units to I can share waypoints, transducers, etc...

I just bought the Terrova and 898 a month ago, both used. Love the configuration.

With the PMax on the bow I was limited to 2d, if I wanted to see what was on the SI I had to turn around and look at the screen across a 10' span. At that distance about all I could see was structure/cover and the readings (temp, depth, time, etc.). As for moving the head unit back and forth, it can be pretty simple with another power cord, cable collector, and 2 RAM mounts. Unscrew the ram mount and cable collector and move it to the other location, attach the ram mount and screw in the cable collector.

When I was in your shoes, I bought a used core unit (898) for the bow. The 899 is a great unit for the counsel. I would have preferred a DownImaging only unit up front, however the 898 came with the HD SI transducer, the 899 only comes with the compact SI transducer. I could have bought the HD version, if I would have know about it. But I didn't, and now have it. Plus the 898 comes with an external GPS puck, doesn't have an internal GPS sensor so the external is needed. Being linked via the Ethernet cable I can use it on my 899 too.

Should be pretty easy to pick up a used core unit these days. Lots of guys are making the leap to the newer stuff and want to dump their old stuff to help offset the cost some. Another option is ask your local sonar dealer if they have any old units in the back they want to sell. My local fishing store just donated a brand new in the box 2 year old 600 series HB to our club. He couldn't sell it, not for lack of trying.

I also have AutoChart Pro to amp my local lakes. No maps exist commercially. AC-Pro has settings to calculate the distance between the transducer and GPS unit so all your readings are matched. It's like mounting your GPS to the transducer. I can very accurate maps this way.

My next purchase will be a transom mounted 360 and Ethernet box so I can read the 360 from either sonar unit. Once this is installed, then I will look at upgrading the sonar units to G2 technology.

Like I said, options are endless. What you buy really depends on your pocket book and fishing needs.