Hummingbird Side-Imaging

[fishingfourfun]

Anyone have any advice about Humminbird's side-imaging depthfinders?

[Bud]

I have purchase one.  The guys I worked with last summer show me what it will so.  You will not believe how clear the image are.  great piece of equipment.

[Hookemdown.]

I saw it on a fishing show (can't remember which one)  What they showed, made me want to go rob a bank and buy about 50 of them.  Very SWEET piece of equipment.  I better stop dreaming now, drool is getting on my keyboard.

[Fedxpress]

They look really cool just can't justify 2 Grand for a finder. Maybe Im thinking of another unit but the big side one I have seen is that much. How much can it help if your in less then 10 ft of water. Has anyone had some experience with them.

Fedxpress

[DamnYankee]

I got one about three weeks ago (797 combo). I ordered it from an outfit in Maine; cost $1,100. I had a Lowrance X-65 which came on the boat when I bought it 7 years ago. I guess it was time to upgrade and I wanted one with color. I did a little research and decided I wanted a new Humminbird with side imaging. The transducer is HUGE. I mounted it on the transom of my Ranger R82 Sport. It reads the bottom EXTREMELY well under 30 MPH. Once I get over 30 it sometimes looses the bottom. According to the directions it reads best between 2 - 6 MPH (side imaging). My son, grand children and I went to Lake Mitchell this past weekend and it was fantastic. Between the 4 of us we caught over 20 bass (3 were at 3 pounds or a little better), a 5 pound drum, and several bluegill. All of us caught fish (grandchildren are 8 and 9 years old and we used artifical lures). We were able to find the channel up near the dam (under the bridge) and throw to 6 foot area and drag the lures over the edge into 25 foot area. You can spot humps, submerged trees, boulders, etc. The GPS works great also. I got my unit with Navonics loaded so you can follow channels while running 60 MPH instead of watching depths.

If I had to do it over I would have invested a "few" more dollars and bought the wider screen (grampa's eye's aren't what they used to be).

[Wayne P.]

Everything you need to know is at this site; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sideimaging/

[acar555]

These units are awesome and offer fish and structure finding like no other company can touch.   They are absolutely at their best in 2 feet of water to 125 feet.  Being able to scan out to the sides up to 360 feet in each direction is a huge advantage over traditional 20 degree sonar cone angles that will show you about 3 feet of the bottom at 10 feet.  With the 797 being introduced this year at a thousand bucks they are getting affordable as well.  It's the same price as a Lowrance Lcx-27c with a ton more features.  Awesome piece of equipment.