hoyt30
Well-Known Member
Im looking for a new depthfinder. Im not sure which is better for me si or di. Im not a big bass fisher I mainly fish for bream, walleye, sauger, crappie. Any help is greatly appreciated!
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Si or di??
- Thread starter hoyt30
- Start date
From what I have seen for no more difference in price go with the SI because it will have both.
I use my SI all the time looking for and finding bream beds.
I use my SI all the time looking for and finding bream beds.
What Ruger said. I just started using my SI for locating bluegill beds last weekend and let me tell you, it works great. I have di but really don't use it very much for my type of fishing.
hoyt30
Well-Known Member
Any certain brand easier to use? I have had regular
sonar lowrance and humminbird
sonar lowrance and humminbird
The big benefit of lowrance is touch screen
Crow Terminator
Well-Known Member
You'll definitely use SI more than DI.
And as a heads up, you will want the biggest screen you can get. The reason is, resolution and the size of objects. A small screen unit and big screen unit will technically show the same thing...but on a big screen, the image is larger and you can see what you're actually looking at and can also scan further off the sides of the transducer and see things. On the bigger screen you can also get away with multi screen views. Such as the GPS map screen and SI at the same time. If you have a map card, you can follow ledges, channels, and all kind of stuff on the map..then see what's actually under and to the sides of the boat in real time. Then mark it with way points or tracks. Go right back to it any time. That's why you see so many guys with 12+ inch screens.
And as a heads up, you will want the biggest screen you can get. The reason is, resolution and the size of objects. A small screen unit and big screen unit will technically show the same thing...but on a big screen, the image is larger and you can see what you're actually looking at and can also scan further off the sides of the transducer and see things. On the bigger screen you can also get away with multi screen views. Such as the GPS map screen and SI at the same time. If you have a map card, you can follow ledges, channels, and all kind of stuff on the map..then see what's actually under and to the sides of the boat in real time. Then mark it with way points or tracks. Go right back to it any time. That's why you see so many guys with 12+ inch screens.
Crow Terminator":3gbaqjdc said:
yeah but the thing about a 7" screen and a 9 or 10" screen of the same pixel resolution the smaller screen will actually look better at console viewing distance. on the bow i wouldnt use anything less than a 9" unless a 7" is mounted up off the deck.
the manufacturers are starting to realize this and have been upping the resolutions on the smaller mfd's, ie 8,9 and 10" units. its even more noticeable for anything in the 1000-1200 khz sonar range as those standard 800x400 displays just dont cut it.
Crow Terminator
Well-Known Member
What we ran into with the screen size thing was how small you had to shrink the scanning area in SI mode in order to be able to make out what you were seeing. Example...we started out with a 7 inch screen unit, the sweet spot for being able to see the best images on it would be somewhere around 20-30 foot scan distance on each side of the boat, which REALLY limits the unit's capability. Any larger/wider of a scan area would make things super small on the screen. And that's it in a nut shell...the larger area that you make the unit scan, the smaller it makes it appear on the screen. You COULD go out to 60 feet or more on a smaller screened unit, but if you did, you wouldn't be able to make out most of what you were seeing. So the work around for them was/is to reduce the overall scan area down to where you can start to see things pretty good. On the smaller units, that was around 20 feet off each side of the boat. That's a step up from regular 2D sonar that only showed what was directly under the transducer but not much of one, since it made you have to shrink the scan area. With a bigger screen unit, it allows us to be able to see details in proportion to size, while running larger/wider scan areas....albeit the resolution on the larger units is getting better but could still be a lot better. I look for 1080 and 4k to be the next big wave for them.
You asked about brands...I have no experience with the Lowrance units but my dad has had several SI/DI units and all have been Humminbirds. I will say this...he babies all his gear and he hasn't had a single one of them that HASN'T had to make a trip to Alabama for repair. His last unit was a Helix 10 Mega and it had to be sent back 3 times. The 3rd time, they just sent him a brand new one in the box instead of trying to repair the other one. He likes them because they stand behind their warranty. His and my view on things are different...he likes their products for their customer service, whereas I say, the best customer service is the one that you don't ever need something from. A lot of guys locally have gone away from Lowrance and Humminbird, in favor of Raymarine and Garmin.
You asked about brands...I have no experience with the Lowrance units but my dad has had several SI/DI units and all have been Humminbirds. I will say this...he babies all his gear and he hasn't had a single one of them that HASN'T had to make a trip to Alabama for repair. His last unit was a Helix 10 Mega and it had to be sent back 3 times. The 3rd time, they just sent him a brand new one in the box instead of trying to repair the other one. He likes them because they stand behind their warranty. His and my view on things are different...he likes their products for their customer service, whereas I say, the best customer service is the one that you don't ever need something from. A lot of guys locally have gone away from Lowrance and Humminbird, in favor of Raymarine and Garmin.
hoyt30
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have the new helix 7? If so do you like it and is the screen big enough to see what you're looking at?
hillbillyfab
Well-Known Member
I'm one of the last ones to ask about fish electronics, but we just put a little Helix 5 with SI on our 16' flatbottom and man do I like that side imagining.
I have garmin,humminbird and lowrance on my boat.Also have 360 and livescope and have been around the new humminbird stuff.On lowrance i mainly have experience with the hds series good things are touch,share 1 maps card between 2 units,accurate gps and share waypoints.When i say share waypoints when you delete something it automatically takes it off the other,you turn your console unit off your waypoint will still show on the bow unit,etc.Humminbird 2d and the new mega imageing is amazeing,especially for beginers that havent used sidescan much.There 360 is amazeing also and good mapping although i think every mappping gas there good and bad points.Garmin i have only used for livescope and its worth every penny to know 100% sure you are fishing where the fish are at.In conclusion if it was gonna be a console unit get the biggest you can,when useing sidescan and mapping the bigger screen is awsome and helps alot,really in my opinion a 10in or bigger unit makes it easier no matter where you are gonna put it.
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I run 3 Garmin 9" units and they are all touchscreen. Everyone makes touchscreens.bluball":11wle4gt said:
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I would not buy anything smaller than 9 inches. Actually I run 2 nine inch units on the bow. One for mapping and one for sonar/DI. I figured out that when you use split screen for mapping and sonar on one 9" unit it just isn't big enough to show everything you want to see. I do most or all of my SI at the console, but my units are networked so they share waypoints, transducers, etc.
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As far as brands, do plenty research. I've always had issues with Birds and Lowrance units. I have 3 Garmin Echomap 93SV Plus units and a Garmin Echo 551C (my Echomap transducer on the transom is mounted on the jack plate so it doesn't read on plane. The 551C is my sonar for running on plane) mounted on my bass boat, and a Garmin Echo 500C on my pond boat. I've never had one issue with any of them. Garmin customer service is supposed to be top notch but I've never needed them. I have called Garmin tech support to ask questions when installing and networking and they were fantastic.
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they all find fish if you know what you are looking at on the screen and tweak settings.
the helix 8 mega si+ g3n has been a good seller. it has the same pixel resolution as the 10" model and the same mfd casing. of course if you can spend the cash on the 10" unit go for it.
lowrance hds live with 3 in 1 AI xducer is a big improvement over the last gen with a higher pixel resolution and some have ips panels. if you can find a used carbon unit it might save you some cash if you trust buying used. the elite9 ti2 with the 3 in 1 AI is a descent budget unit as well. the AI transducer has some better range than the previous gen xducers. lowrance also includes c-map which is pretty dang good and they just recently scanned last year to include the backwater shallow spots.
garmin 93sv plus are great units if you can find one, unlikely though. i do not care for the 93uhd, mainly because that mfd doesnt have the resolution to really support the GT54 and its actually a lower res screen than the 93sv plus units. go figure. ifin i were gonna buy another garmin itd probably be the 106sv without the transducer and buy a gt30 for imaging and a gt8 or gt15 with a y cable for running on plane and 2d chirp. the included mapping is current on most lakes and really good as well.
good luck, hope you dont have a brain cramp trying to decide which one to buy.
the helix 8 mega si+ g3n has been a good seller. it has the same pixel resolution as the 10" model and the same mfd casing. of course if you can spend the cash on the 10" unit go for it.
lowrance hds live with 3 in 1 AI xducer is a big improvement over the last gen with a higher pixel resolution and some have ips panels. if you can find a used carbon unit it might save you some cash if you trust buying used. the elite9 ti2 with the 3 in 1 AI is a descent budget unit as well. the AI transducer has some better range than the previous gen xducers. lowrance also includes c-map which is pretty dang good and they just recently scanned last year to include the backwater shallow spots.
garmin 93sv plus are great units if you can find one, unlikely though. i do not care for the 93uhd, mainly because that mfd doesnt have the resolution to really support the GT54 and its actually a lower res screen than the 93sv plus units. go figure. ifin i were gonna buy another garmin itd probably be the 106sv without the transducer and buy a gt30 for imaging and a gt8 or gt15 with a y cable for running on plane and 2d chirp. the included mapping is current on most lakes and really good as well.
good luck, hope you dont have a brain cramp trying to decide which one to buy.
Yep,but in humminbirds most buy helix's which means no touch screen.You mark stuff with si on helix on console then go to the bow and want to power off console unit to save batteries and you wont see the waypoints on the bow after powering off the console unitSpurhunter":3slvdlzc said:
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Ive owned them all and never had any trouble out of any of them.And it hurts me to say this cause im a lowrance man[emoji23]but if you get to see the newest birds si its the best i have seen hands down.But i will say this also,if you know what your looking at anyone will do.I made bucket beds,drove steaks and rhen scanned them yrs ago and that helped my learning curve alot.Some small driven steak beds you may not see them if you set your distance oit real far with the first gen helix or lowrance and i u imagine alot of units.Time on the water is priceless.Spurhunter":2o43bqc8 said:
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Does the helix 8 have the same transducer as the 10.Dont keep up with bird like i use to but back when they had a99,1199 and so on the add had a different transducer that didnt give as much detail.You could though trade in the transducer and pay to upgrade to the better transducer.Like i said i dont keep up with them,but im telling you if you ever see a properly setup 12 in si in action its about as good as it gets and fish pop.On lowrance hds,helix 1 and regular helix mega the fish dont pop like on the newest gen3,its amazeingWTM":273db0ul said:
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