Lake Houston Fishing!

Looking for some opinions. I currently run a Lowrance elite 7 with down scan only; transducer is on the transom. I'm about to invest in another unit with side scan capabilities, and I'm probably sticking with lowrance due to familiarity even though SK makes one heck of a case for those Humminbirds (they ought to pay you advertising SK). Here's where I'd like some opinions, or there may be some who are already in this position. Would you keep the down scan on the console/transom and run side scan up front on the trolling motor, or put the side scan on the transom and use down scan only on the trolling motor? My main focus is vertical jigging crappie just to clarify. Thanks

I'll follow along here...

If I could only get one SI unit it would for sure be on the console....
LOL HB should just keep me updated with the most recent biggest unit.....LOL
I only give facts if it's good it's good....
Low units get the job done also but their menues are not operator friendly....

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ENJOY THE HUNT OR STAY HOME

REGARDLESS OF HOW MANLY YOU THINK YOU ARE WEARING A PFD CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE....

Check Out Some Good Crappie Vids Here....
https://www.youtube.com/user/fishingorhunting

Thanks SK. I plan to eventually have it on both but I'm not ready to dive in to purchasing 2 units when I have one that works just fine...that is unless they decide to run a buy one get one deal at some point but we all know that isn't going to happen.

Like sk said if you only have one side image unit it is
best to have it mounted on the console. You can cover
a lot bigger area locating fish able structure with the
big motor going at the 3-6 mph that is best speed for scanning.
once you locate a brush pile with the side scan .
it will be easy to get onto the pile with the down scan on the troll motor.

but you should go to a store and play around with the units you may like
the humminbird better . I have ran both over time and for me the humming
is a lot better unit. Just my opinion

[quote="sticko"]Like sk said if you only have one side image unit it is
best to have it mounted on the console. You can cover
a lot bigger area locating fish able structure with the
big motor going at the 3-6 mph that is best speed for scanning.
once you locate a brush pile with the side scan .
it will be easy to get onto the pile with the down scan on the troll motor.

but you should go to a store and play around with the units you may like
the humminbird better . I have ran both over time and for me the humming
is a lot better unit. Just my opinion[/quote

I was actually taking a look to see when I could go somewhere and "play around" with a few to get a good side by side comparison. I know cabelas and bass pro are going to have a pretty large selection but does anyone have a recommendation to check some out on the north side (other than academy)?

While you may get to play with the settings in the store it will only be running in simulation and that won’t give you much.
Getting a good idea of what settings do what will come on the water as the units will need to be adjusted per lake and even by area of each lake.
So don’t expect to get what it takes to run these units from playing with the display units most of which from my experience is so jacked up from folks adjusting settings that they have no clue of what it does......just my opinion....

_________________
FISH BITE WET HOOKS

ENJOY THE HUNT OR STAY HOME

REGARDLESS OF HOW MANLY YOU THINK YOU ARE WEARING A PFD CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE....

Check Out Some Good Crappie Vids Here....
https://www.youtube.com/user/fishingorhunting

that is true sk but i put that up so he could see the difference
in the humminbird units vs the lowrance units he said he wanted
the lowrance because he knew how to work the settings on the lowrance
in store he can see how user friendly the hummingbirds are.
it would be much better if he had one on the water to check out.
I believe the Humminbird is the better units. But they are both
good units.

i've been watching some side by side comparison videos on youtube and weeding through the obvious bias that some have. It appears that the humminbird does offer a better quality view for the price. I'm still up in the air with no specific loyalty at this point. The lowrance elite interface is a touch screen in the 1k price range where you have to go with solix on the humminbird to get that feature(not a must have). Another plus I find is the ability to select specific page views and configurations is quickly accessible with having the pages button on the Lowrance and to my understanding the humminbird has to be scrolled through one at a time or set up by preference and saved to the presets if you want a certain setup with only one touch(I do like the presets). One place the humminbird shines is in how it's menu is set up and the display quality. The short of it is I still have no clue which direction I'm going yet but if I don't get held up today I may make a detour on my way home and see if I can go look at a few. It's obviously not going to show me everything in store but I at least want to interface with them personally just to see if there is one that I feel suits me more than the other. There appears to be a strong case for the humminbirds at the moment so if the functionality seems to be as awesome as I've heard I may have to stray from the low's.

The touch screen is very nice and you can get to things a lot quicker.
the presets on the humming birds help a lot with the split screens
i think there maybe enough presets to get what you want in one
touch. yes it is like $1799 for the solix 10 to get the touch screen .

I was discussing this topic with my brother who reached out to his wife's uncle that fishes a bunch of bass tournaments. His response; "I own a Lowrance but everybody tells me Humminbird is the way to go". The popular vote alone has me leaning at this point. I also heard the Low's are more the preference with the offshore guys. I guess there's something with the Low's that are better for the deep water but that's not anything I'm really familiar with, my deep water experience was work related, not fishing unfortunately.

You should really ask others about customer service and repairs under warranty or even not under warranty on both HB and LOW units. I have 2 HB's and have sent both in after Harvey and one was reconditioned and the other unit was replaced with a reconditioned unit and a better model than I sent in. I did have to pay since the units were no longer under warranty but it was way cheaper than buying new unit(s).
SK has helped me a lot with my units. Time on the water is the best teacher though. You mentioned pre set buttons. On the HB's you can pre set 3 different views. Just my 2 cents.

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I would rather fish than eat and I stay hungry all the time

REGARDLESS OF HOW MANLY YOU THINK YOU ARE WEARING A PFD CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE....

good point; I read where Sticko spoke very highly of Humminbirds support and service based on his experience with them. I have yet to hear someone tell me they prefer a Lowrance over the Humminbird. After work I detoured to the Humble Academy to see if I could get a side by side comparison but that didn't work out like I had intended. Their selection is a joke. They had a Helix 5 but it wasn't configured like the larger models. I'll tell you what they did have though, 11' B n M's! and while I was at it I decided I needed some more jig heads and a mustang pfd so I could ditch the vest and stay safe because like SK says, "real men wear their life jacket". I'd been planning to get the PFD anyway and after my outing last saturday, I figured it was time before one of those frat boys plowed me with his wake boat. Then I had to hurry home and ninja all my new goodies into the garage before my wife got home from my daughters dance class. I'm thinking its going to be the Helix 9 at this point, I can't see dropping 500 more just for 1" of screen.

OK, finally bit the bullet. Humminbird Helix 9 Mega SI is on the way.

I have read a lot of good reports on the 9 mega and saw
some really detailed side image pictures . I think you will
love that one. Prices vary a lot on the net today the
cheapest i saw https://www.ebay.com/i/323310438669?chn=ps