Fix the old unit of upgrade?

Hey guys, I have a couple older Lowrance Elite units, one with down imaging. The plug end of my wiring must have a short or a bad spot in it because when i plug in and turn on the unit i have to put an upward pressure on the plug, and as soon as i move my hand away the unit goes off. It looks like I can replace the wiring for about $80, which after some looking is about what the old units are worth.... So the question is, Do I buy the new wiring and use the old unit, or do I just need to upgrade to a new unit. I have been considering buying a side scan unit. What, in yalls opinion is a good unit in the $400-$500 range? I will be using the units fishing and I use the map a lot for duck hunting, marking flats and hunting locations. Thanks alot!

First thing I would do is check to make sure that all the pins are straight and equally spaced ... then look at the plug itself and see if you can see extra holes in the plastic surrounding the metal female receptacles.

Why, you say ??? Well, because I've plugged my units in, in a hurry or from a bad angle, and actually pushed one of the pins INTO the plastic of the plug, rather than the receptacle it's intended to go in. :Doh: After finding my error & pushing the pin back into alignment (on two separate occasions) it worked just fine. Well, that is until the third time it happened ... and one of the pins broke when I tried to bend it back into position. That turned a $500 Lowrance Elite 5 DSI unit into a paperweight. :yikes (unless or until I can find another one that's been junked for reasons other than the elec connection assembly, that I can buy for around $50 and swap out the pin assembly) I've already purchased a Hook 7 to replace it, but haven't mounted it on the boat as of yet.

Find on the female end, the one that has power. Look at that and see if you could possibly slide something like a small pointed pitch between the outside of it and the rubber casing. Objective is to compress the round female connector just a little to make better contact. Also look at the male end and see if it is solid or has a fine split in it. If it does you might take something and real easy try to spread it out a little. If nothing else you might as a last resort try bending the male pin slightly where it would make better contact.