Down Imaging Advice

I am a retired guy who fishes 3-4 times a week year round. I have been running HB and Lowrance units together on my boat for years. I currently have the HB 999 SI and the Lowrance Elite 9 Chirp. Both have their advantages. The 2D and SI are fine on the HB. However, in my opinion the DI on the Lowrance is far superior to the DI on the HB. I am about to put a Terrova on the front of my boat. The Lowrance transducer cable is too large to fit the Terrova's shaft groove. A possible solution is to buy a new HB dedicated DI unit. I don't want to do this if the HB DI is no better than the DI on the HB SI units. My question is this: Do the new HB DI units (not SI) have better DI than the HB SI units ? I would appreciate any advice you can give Thanks.

I would certainly suggest you try to find someone who has one and take a look at it. Just my opinion but dedicated DI on HB is far superior to the computer generated DI on the SI units. Now since you already have a very good DI unit you are happy with I would look at one of these rather than spend the money on a new unit. And Rickie is a sponsor on here and is usually on the electronics board.
da 'ducer apparatus - Podunk (po dungk) A small isolated town, region, or place that is regarded as unimportant. . . .

I wanted to give you the same answer as Cray this morning just after you posted, but you asked a specific question that I can't answer. My suggestion was going to be the same link to Rickie, because you are happy with the DI you have, so why buy new if there is nothing wrong with the Lowrance? Get one of Rickie's mounts for now.

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Originally Posted by cray

dedicated DI on HB is far superior to the computer generated DI on the SI units.[/url]

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I was not aware that DI was different or less quality if viewing on an SI unit as compared to a DI only unit! Is this true on the new Helix 10 DI vs. Helix 10 SI ???

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Originally Posted by Lonnie84

I was not aware that DI was different or less quality if viewing on an SI unit as compared to a DI only unit! Is this true on the new Helix 10 DI vs. Helix 10 SI ???

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I believe this is only in the instances where a unit's transducer does not have a dedicated crystal for the DI signal ... and the newer (HB) units may have them.

... cp :kewl

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Originally Posted by Lonnie84

I was not aware that DI was different or less quality if viewing on an SI unit as compared to a DI only unit! Is this true on the new Helix 10 DI vs. Helix 10 SI ???

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Yes, that is what I was told when I bought my helix 10 si

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Originally Posted by nixon

Yes, that is what I was told when I bought my helix 10 si

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Well that's not good; I was already trying to decide between a 9" or a 10" now you tell me this! :banghead

Okay, I went and did a little research and found the information below at Unofficial Humminbird Side Image Forums www.sideimageforums.com - Index page published by Wayne P. » Sun Jan 31, 2016:

(ALL Side Imaging units except the ONIX and ION use the exact same transducer and they do not have a dedicated DI crystal. The DI view is software blending of the two SI pulses. The ONIX SI unit's transducer has a dedicated Down Imaging crystal like a Down Imaging transducer has. BUT anything displayed in the DI view is "somewhere down there" so you won't know what direction. ONLY SI or 360 can show you where.)

I have only owned SI humminbirds with DI. I always imagined the DI would be really important but have found that SI is far more important and used the vast majority of time over DI. 2d sonar gives so much more info for straigt down views that DI is more of a pretty pretty picture than a usefull tool. DI is fine for comparing with 2d but not all that usefull as a stand alone no matter how good the image.

Consider a Raymarine a98 which has excellent chirp 2d and chirp di.

http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps27isllkm.png

"Dedicated DI" analogy ... (in all brands that have a dedicated DI piezo) ...

Take a flashlight and shine it directly at your shoes = Your shoes will be very well illuminated ...
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"DI from SI" analogy ... (in all core series HB SI units that derive the DI image from the SI piezo data) ...

Take 2 flashlights and shine them out to each side 60° = Your shoes are not going to be very well illuminated ...

Flashlight beams and Sonar beams are very similar ... They both collect data that they are "aimed" at ...

Which direction that Sonar beam is "aimed" at is where the best/strongest echoes will be collected from ...

Rickie

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Originally Posted by rnvinc

"Dedicated DI" analogy ... (in all brands that have a dedicated DI piezo) ...

Take a flashlight and shine it directly at your shoes = Your shoes will be very well illuminated ...
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"DI from SI" analogy ... (in all core series HB SI units that derive the DI image from the SI piezo data) ...

Take 2 flashlights and shine them out to each side 60° = Your shoes are not going to be very well illuminated ...

Flashlight beams and Sonar beams are very similar ... They both collect data that they are "aimed" at ...

Which direction that Sonar beam is "aimed" at is where the best/strongest echoes will be collected from ...

Rickie

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That is as simple as it gets and comes from the man who knows. Great example ,Ricky,,,,,crappie1133

Get a DI machine that works with your TM.
My Elite 7 TI is paired with XI5 TM
I tap on a way pt, (brush pile) it takes me to it.
Now I can easily fish a series of brush piles in one area