I'm buying a new (new to me) bay boat and need to replace the existing 5" display. I primarily fish freshwater but plan to use it in the Gulf a few times a year. The unit will be mounted in the dash so I'm limited to a 9" display. I'm looking at a budget of $1K to $1.2K including the transducer. I've had the Lowrance Ti9 Elite recommended. Anyone had any first had experience with this unit. Anything else I should be looking at?

Bump your budget up another $100 and get a Helix 9 Mega. You can't get better imaging than that.

I would wither recommend the humminbird with the mega or take a look at the new garmins, there stepping the game up to

I bought 2 Hummingbird helix 7's . before the mega imaging came out.

the helm is side imaging and gps. the bow is down imaging with gps.

they both have lakemaster maps. 

they work great.  although a 9 inch would have been better when using split screen.

If the mega imaging was available when I bought them, i would have upgraded to that.

 

 

11 hours ago, Jm526 said:

I would wither recommend the humminbird with the mega or take a look at the new garmins, there stepping the game up to

What is Garmin doing to step up their game? The price and mapping is there, if they had a little better images I'd lean that way. Obviously nothing is really going to compete with Humminbird's MEGA imaging, at the same time I don't need to see every fine detail on a rock pile either. If Garmin could come up with a transducer that was comparable with HB's HDSI ducer at a reasonable price I'd be all over it. 

Don't forget Ray Marine products.

 

Cost less and they are excellent.

For me mapping is the most important aspect so that's why I said garmin