If my guess about how you fish is correct, it would be helpful. I envision you slowly poking around searching for the structure in relatively deep water then when you locate it, stopping over it for a while before moving on. That being said, I think the DI up front could only be a bonus in interpretting what you're looking at from the traditional 2D view. You image will alternate between interpretable and not interpretable as you're moving and searching. However, I suspect you've fished your area so regularly, you already know pretty close to where the structure is and already have an idea of what the structure actually is. In that case, the DI upfront would only be a plus for you. The DI upfront advantage would almost disappear if you were fishing new water and unfamiliar with where something is and movement would be needed to be able to interpret what's there. That being said, the beauty up DI is a clearer picture of what is there, not whether or not something is there, so Front DI in a new area couldn't hurt you at all.

Give it a shot when you have the extra cash for the new mount/ducers and power.

BTW, there's nothing to prevent you from taking your existing power cable, pig tailing it at the console and putting a femail pigtail a the front. Done it myself. I enjoy screwing Big Sonar out of an additional $25 bucks for a 40 cent cable when I can. Only advice is to coat the pigtails with dielectric grease.

Wannbe...