A great deal of what works for you is personal preference. I put a new terrova with the lift assist and ipilot link from Brian at BBG marine in May. Unfortunatly you can not run the cord for external transducer up the shaft like the original terrova w/o lift assist. I have the Cornfield Crappie Gear cord adapter (with the specific factory swap out tm transducer) and have had zero issues. It will stop itself in the RARE event it starts to twist up. Fishing 75+days a year it's very important to me to have a way to seperate tm from electronics in a hurry if I need to. With the advancement of electronics, Rickie nailed it spot on......the future for the humminbird guy is 360. Best of luck.