School Me on new technology

Currently running a Garmin Elite-7 on my boat but am getting a new to me boat rigged and ready for mainly crappie and catfish some. I'm sure I'm already missing out on the full features of this unit but still need/want to but a new bow unit and console unit for the new boat. I'm wanting to buy once and have the best setup. I can use the search feature for days and find unlimited information, but some is outdated and some are biased. Looking for the right setup all around. I'm sure there are many of you, whom are die hard crappie fisherman, that have fished many boats with many different units that could give good comparisons of brands and functionality. Thank you for any and all help.
Mud

Also getting a new TM with Ipilot so that has me leaning toward hummingbird products just for the link capabilities.

Ok, MK and HB work well together in that aspect. One thing I have learned since purchasing my HB 899 & 898 is that they don't have a true down scan, their DI is a composite of the SI transducer. I have a Lowrance Elite HDI 5 that I plan on putting back on my console just for the DI images.

It is true that in the 800 series, the DI was derived via software from the SI beam...........The Helix Gen 2 Mega units, however, do have true DI ..... The transducer in the G2 Helix 9, 10, and 12 have an all-in-one transducer that includes a dedicated DI element. This transducer in addition to the 2D, SI, and DI chirp and the new 1.2 Megahertz frequency ...results in some truly amazing images in both SI and DI. The displays in the new Helix series are the brightest in the industry and also have a VERY high pixel density.

There have been quite a few images posted in various forum and a search via google or on this forum should find a number of images to view.

Thanks guy. Any info helps