Hey guys how much better are Lowrance units with chirp vs units without chirp....is chirp worth an extra $200?

I have not had my unit delivered yet, but I thot it was worth it so I bought it. Supposed to be just that next level of picture quality and separation of targets so they are more easily seen.

I was under the impression chirp is geared towards extremely deep water

Chirp was initially developed by the Navy for deep water, but Raymarine used the technology to develop a shallow water unit called the Dragonfly that has exemplary downscan resolution.  Lowrance has now jumped on the band wagon. Don't know about Bird.  Haven't checked

As a general rule, you will get more benefit with CHIRP as you move to deeper water.  With that said, even in 5-10 feet of water CHIRP provides noticeable improvements in clarity and resolution when compared to traditional sonar.

Chirp was initially developed by the Navy for deep water, but Raymarine used the technology to develop a shallow water unit called the Dragonfly that has exemplary downscan resolution.  Lowrance has now jumped on the band wagon. Don't know about Bird.  Haven't checked

It's on their website.

After talking to several retired Navy Sonarmen I ordered one. It was shipped today. They all said pretty much what Todd has said above.

CHIRP.

 

When you look up the CHIRP system and how it works the extra money is worth it.

awesome...I think I will go ahead and order my next unit with CHIRP. thanks everyone

Read the product descriptions very carefully!!

 

Some units have CHIRP on both their 2D and 3D sonar.  Others only have it on their 2D with the 3D being regular non-CHIRP.  Often the summary descriptions are vague on purpose (cheap marketing trick) so as to imply they have CHIRP across the board when they actually do not.

I have now used my & several times in fresh water lakes. It works well and the vegetation really stands out with the unit. Have not had it in salt yet,. but will soon.