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Hummingbird side imaging?


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Fantastic, but who can afford the price tag?  I still use my Wide Eye by Humminbird and it is adequate for sidescanning up to 100'. Total cost - about 250 bucks with optional side scan transducer.

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I think it all depends on where you fish and what you are fishing for. For instance I fished saltwater for close to twenty years south of Houston,Texas along the gulf coast. You can go offshore close to 90 miles before you hit the 100 Fathom curve. In "deeper" water I can see definitely an advantage to the Humminbird 987 sidescan because you are looking for and fishing structure. It would give you a lot clearer view of what is down there and therefore aid in choosing how to fish the spot. That is why I am looking to get one because the very large clear reservoir I live near is pretty much all structure fishing as far down as 75 feet. Since I am new to the lake it would greatly speed up my learning where to fish instead of just following the crowd. Combine the fishfinder with a GPS/WAAS Chartplotter and I can return to the exact spot I have fished before and want to return to. Trying to triangulate a spot on a reservoir as large as Bull Shoals can be a very frustrating experience even if your GPS brings you back within 100 feet. WAAS brings that down to under 30 feet. Trying to find the exact spot with a conventional cone transducer can take quite a while. Been there done that and thus my interest in upgrading.

Now on the other hand when I was fishing inshore and especially in the saltgrass in narrow channels I didn't need a fancy rig. the depth would vary from 6 to 2 feet. At two feet I better stop or I was going to spend some time there especially if the tide was going out. There the structure I was fishing was easily seen protruding out of the water. I mostly used my fishfinder to make sure I didn't run aground. There was a cut in an oyster bar only about twelve feet wide. My GPS was simply not accurate enough to guide me to the exact spot but only close to it. The saying went "if you can see birds standing in the water then don't go there." I saw people try to follow that needed a lot of repair work to their boat because they were just a little off to one side.

So you see like most things fishfinders, chartplotters or GPS what you need is often dependent on where you are, what you fish for, and last but certainty not least your budget. I would advice buying the best you can and seek out advice from those with first hand experience with the unit you are looking to buy. That is why I contacted Triton_Mike and others using different units so that I could make at least an informed decision; especially at that high end price point. The bait monkey must still be fed you know.

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Why buy two???  My wife asked the same question.  This is my reply to her!

Honey, you know this is the first and last boat I'll ever have, I'm 51 next week.  I told you when you bought it for me (she hit lottery really big last year),  I was going to fix it up the way I wanted it.  I thought about putting one just on the consol where I could easily see it while steering the boat.  But how will I see the structure, especially with the side imaging, from up front while fishing???

She says; Your right, your eye site keeps getting worse. I can tell by how you drive the car lately.  I didn't see the point here,  :-? but this discussion was going in my direction and I wasn't going to question her.  I explained to her, that if I was driving along and came to a spot I wanted to mark on the GPS, all I had to do was push the Mark button and that location was saved for me to find again.  But if I was up front and found a point I wanted to mark, I would have to rush to the rear and try to hit the Mark button.

She says; Your right, with your bad knee and being that you can't move around too fast, and I wouldn't want you to fall in the water.  You see I'm just a little over weight,  ::) and I fell this past winter and tore my right knee up pretty good.  Sometimes it just gives out.

And last but not least I told her that if I found out I didn't need both units, I would give one to my son who would just love to have it.   ;D ;D

That did it.  Order them both, she said and I did.

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Hay BD:

Some people hunt for hawgs their whole life.

I plan on finding them!!!

$3,400 for both units.  Great price, wouldn't you say.

My wife spends this much in a week playing lottery scratch offs.  

Why shouldn't I enjoy some of it.

By the way,  heading for Vegas end of March for two weeks.  Can't wait to get to the BPS there.  She will be gambling and I will try to connect with Lake Mead.

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Ohio Bass Man, if you can afford it why not. I was all set to order one when I found out I am going to have a $4000 bill for new ductwork in my house. I guarantee you I would much rather spent the money on two 987s than that but it is but a temporary setback. :)

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If we don't get too much rain over the weekend I plan on trying them out.  Was an ordeal mounting the main one.  Had to fabricate a new mount because my transom is not staight across the back.  My Ranger has a built in step back that acts as a jack plate.

Then the consul isn't large enough to mount on, so I had to mount it to the right of the consul, but this isn't a very large area and ended up mounting it up on a pole.

The front one was relatively easy, just had to have a different transducer mount overnighted.

Will let you know!!

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Triton_Mike:

Tried out the dual 987C units Saturday.  Both work fantastic.  I found that if I turn the one on the trolling motor a little off center, I can look right under shallow docks, laydowns, etc.  You can see the fish move!

I didn't have a pole so I didn't catch anything.  Used the screen capture feature to mark some spots.

My wife says to go ahead and order my son his units.  Notice I said units.  I did find out that you can tie the gps units together into on antenna.

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