side imaging

alright, with the new to me boat purchase my partner thinks since i'm turning lose of some cash i should swing for one of the side imaging sonars.

#1 do ya'll really think they are worth it?

#2 and i know this has been discussed to death but which brand and model

#3 is it hard to identify fish/crappie with side imaging, never seen one on the water. i have seen the wonderful pics of bridges and cars but the fish to me in those pics look very faint as opposed to regular sonar. or do ya'll use side imaging to locate struture and then go over it with regular sonar or down imaging?

I'm still trying to decide if the side imaging is worth the extra money. I wish more units came with the down imaging.

‪Crappie school‬‏ - YouTube

Take a look at this video. TapOut64 has three of these and it would be worth your time to watch all three. This is one of the best video's I have seen of side imaging. Do a Google search on Hummingbird side imaging and you will see several more out there.

I have a 798 ci si and love it, i would if i could afford it buy at least an 898 or 998, Hb makes down imaging only units now, they look good on paper.

Have a 570di that I like. Had issues with it origionaly, but working fine now. Would love to see a side imiaging in action.

I got a lowrance hds 5 without side imaging; love the unit haven't had any trouble locating fish. I look at it like this if you got the money get the big toy, I don't really think you need it but you only live once. I didn't have the money at the time but I may add it later I like toys myself

Trolling motors and depth finders are why they make jars like this. That's how I got my ipilot. This one now has 300.00 in it for an 898. I could get by with a 798 but plan on having the hb for a long time. Donations are welcome. LOL

Look up humminbird.factoryoutlet.com. can get them a couple hundred less. Kellog on here shared this with me.

I did some research and that company is not associated with Hummingbird, they just sell them.

I have a HB 597 ci di adn love it,since i'm in a kayak I don't think I could really benefit from SI unless you go with a larger screen but so far I love it.You can definitely see fish and anything down there.Either way you go I'd think you'd be happy.

Seems I saw a new Lowrance HD5 with down scan already on it. The one I have I would have to pay another $550 or so to get down scan. A buddy of mine just bought the HB with down scan but I haven't got to see it in action enought to make a decision on it..
Mike

Take a kid outdoors!

The 898 from Humminbird is great. If you ever get up this way I will gladly take you with me and you can look at the different things one can find and see.

#1 Definetely worth the money. It'll improve your fishing tremendously.
#2 I have a HB 898 si. It's great, but if I had to do it over again, I'd keep saving and buy one of the bigger screens.
#3 For me, the SI is for finding structure and cover. You'll find dozens of places to fish the first day you use it (I found 148, new to me, brushpiles in 1 day on a lake I had fished for years). You will learn to see schools of fish fairly quickly and identifying individual fish will come as well. There is a lot to be said for adjusting the unit to see the fish. You'll learn, it just takes turning on the unit and playing with it. You can freeze the screen and then make adjustments to the unit. This technique lets you see how each adjustment changes what you see. You can also use the switch fire mode as a regular fish finder. One thing that helped me was to print out the manual (it comes on a cd) and carry it to the lake.

I have two Humminbird SI fish finders. I can tell you that if you are "SERIOUS" about fishing, you should own at least one. There are a lot of videos on YouTube to teach you how to read and use them.