Wayne P.

Yes. a harder bottom has the stongest echos. Stronger echos produce a brighter image.

You won't know if you will get "interference": until you do the install. It is not a sure thing, each motor and its installation is different. Any motor can broadcast RFI on the frequencies that the sonar unit uses. Trolling motor, electric steering motor, outboard trim motor, livewell pumps, bilge pumps, etc. You can have two motors exactly the same and one will and the other won't. It's a crap shoot.

The Humminbird scupper mount is not a mount bracket, it is a thru-hull transducer. The Lowrance scupper mount is a mount system but does not included the transducer. You can probably adapt the transducer bracket on the Lowrance mount to fit a Humminbird transducer.

Winter-early Spring, if the winds are calm, the Northeast areas will be warmest during the day. The low sun and afternoon will have the sun's rays more directly on those areas. In the morning, the Northwest west areas will get the most direct sun rays. Overall during the day the warmest temps are after noon. Additionally with wind, Northeast shorelines will be warmer during a warming trend since warming weather comes from the Southwest.

Yes, that is the speedometer pitot tube. Remove it, your unit has a GPS speed readout.

I have no idea how well Spotlight Scan works. I want to see some images of it in use rather than the cartoon advertizment. I may be interested. I am not married to any brand. I want the best technology for my fishing. I saw on another forum that three guys just got the Spotlight, they haven't had it on the water yet. So far Humminbird Side Imaging is the best for FISHING. I am not the only one that knows how to operate the Humminbird units. There are some web sites dedicated just to Humminbird Side Imaging.

Post how well the Spotlight Scan works with screen shots.

No, you cannot delete data yet. Watch the video on the Navionics web site to learn how to select areas to download so you don't make a mistake and put stuff you don't want or need on the card. There is no limit of how many times you can add data. The limit is the card capacity. You get a year of updates with your purchase.

Zero speed works fine once you learn how to use it. Yes it does take movement for the SI pulses to scan, but scan can be very slow or just turning the trolling motor while sitting still. This is a screen shot of a school of shad I passed over while fishing a roadway rip-rap with a jig. Note the blazing speed. You can see they changed direction in the Down Imaging view when I turned the trolling motor on for an instant.

It has SD card slots. You can use the microSD cards in a SD card adaptor. Most current Navionics mapping cards are microSD in a SD adaptor.

NO, that feature has not been added yet. Humminbird has Shaded Depth from the shoreline to the chosen depth. You can use that to indicate a lower water level or warn you of approaching shallow water. Water level offset adds the distance of the transducer below the surface to the depth readout so you see the actual water depth readout rather than just the distance between the transducer and the bottom. Lakemaster lake level offset lets you adjust the contours to the actual water level. I think that setting has been increased to 200' with a unit software update to handle the huge fluctuations of the western lakes or any drought area lakes.

Don't remember. I only used the 32 GB twice and found out I don't NEED that much memory for the recordings I do. I just remember it takes a lot longer than I want to wait for a format. I format every time after I upload recordings to the Sonar Charts program then copy the data from the card to a flash drive for storage. I have over a dozen cards of various sizes and speeds. I use an old 128 MB card for unit software updates. I use the 8 GB the most since I am used to the file sizes and how much data I typically record. I don't randomly record, I do that for a specific purpose and location. Right now I have 16 GB cards in two units and 8 GB in one. I'll be doing some recording tomorrow while testing the 360 so I'll be using a 16 GB to gather more data for improving a contour map of that location. I'll take an 8GB with me just in case. I will be just using one unit tomorrow since the lake is electric-only. Your results may vary.

You can't get the whole country on the Navionics+ card, the limit is 2GB of data. It is just not regional specific like the Hotmaps Platinum and Hotmaps Premium editons are. An example of data size is the 2009 Hotmaps Premium edition is on a 1 GB card. That is 20 states for the East region. The Sonar Charts you add will take up space too as well as Freshest Data updates.

Yes it is a good deal. Yes you will want SI at the bow once you learn how to use it. You can get another mount base, power cord, and transducer (XTM 9 SI 180 T) to use it at either location.

Yes, Navionics+ can do the inland lakes and Gold coverage. You choose what areas to download to the card from anywhere in the country up to 2GB of data. That would be a wise choice. I gives you the Sonar Charts program also.

There is a solution for that type craft if you can't get the side clearance past the outdrive. The SI pulses cover from the water's surface to past vertical under the transducer on both sides. If needed, get an extra Compact SI transducer XNT 9 SI 180 T Put one transducer on each side of the outdrive. Connect the two transducers to the display with the AS SILR Y cable. What that cable does is disconnects the left side SIde Imaging crystal of one transducer and connects the left side of the other transducer so you get coverage to the sides on both sides of the outdrive. The 2D sonar and temp comes from the transducer that has the left side crystal disconnected. Same type of installation for inboards and jet drives. BIGGER is always better, but any SI is better than no SI. You had best hurry with your purchase if you can find one. They are discontinued and replaced by a less featured unit. My first SI unit was a 798ci SI and I still use it even though I have larger display models too.

If you call them a hog, sow, or a pig, it hurts their little feelings. That does more harm than getting stuck with a hook.

The 698 replaced the 598 and the 798. BUT I would not recommend the 698 at all. The display is not as wide as the other two which is what you do not want with a Side Imaging unit. It is basically a narrower screen model if the 598 with the three quick view buttons of the 798. You have already made the best choice for a 5" display model of Side Imaging.

Good suggestion. Another one is choose to view one side only in the SI view. That will make the displayed subjects twice the size on the screen with the same SI range setting.

Exactly. your engine/s would need their own sensor harness to connect to the NMEA adaptor to display data on the Humminbird. This is one of the data displays:

OOOOHHHH, I misunderstood that you didn't see the waters at all. So you just want the 3D view of those. Well you won't get a 3D view of waters that are not HD surveyed. Those are not HD surveyed. BUT, the 3D is a fantasy. The contour lines are not accurate enough to depict the true shape of the bottom even if the body of water is HD surveyed. If you think what you are seeing with the 3D is real, you are mislead.

Did you LOOK at the Web App maps? I did, and I have a current updated Navionics Hotmaps Platinum East card that has the same data as the Web App. I was looking at the coverage for the river and lake on both as I was typing my response.

Additionally you can view the current maps on the Navionics web site with their Web App. That app is updated daily.

Navionics Hotmaps Platinum, Navionics Hotmaps Premium and Navionics+ have the exact same maps if they are current. That is the purpose of the Freshest Data updates that have been in affect since mid 2010. Black Lake is included but only has a single 10' contour line with the Navionics map and has 1' contours with the Sonar Charts layer.. The St. L river is done like coastal/tidal waters with spot soundings as long as it contacts the US border. It covers a little farther down stream after it is wholly in Quebec.

Legacy units can use the AS INTERLINK accessory to share GPS data only between two units. It is data box and two cables--prone to connection issues. Ethernet capable units can share GPS data, transducers, sensors, and Ethernet accessories. A single cable between 2 units or an Ethernet switch to attach as many devices as you want to share everything. A faster and trouble free connection. You can't mix Ethernet and INTERLINK. Ethernet supercedes INTERLINK.