If y'all had to pick

[Catt]

Between down imaging or side imaging which would it be?

 

[GaryH]

That’s a tough one. Are we talking bow or console? That’s a good question because we’re spoiled with both.

[jbsoonerfan]

I use my SI a lot more than I do my down (at the console anyway).

[Dens228]

I use my side imaging to get a wide view of what's down there, the down to get more specific.  

Hmm, That's like asking which of my kids I like better.......

[Biglittle8]

SI saves a lot of time, that's for sure. 

[Shimano_1]

Si all day. Rarely use down imaging but id be lost without my mega side imaging 

[12poundbass]

I’d pick Side Imaging, because if you have Side Imaging your unit will have down imaging. ??

[Catt]

12 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

I’d pick Side Imaging, because if you have Side Imaging your unit will have down imaging. ??

 

Depends on which unit ya buy

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

 

Depends on which unit ya buy

I may be wrong but I’ve never seen a newer unit that had side imaging but no down imaging. 

[Catt]

56 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

I may be wrong but I’ve never seen a newer unit that had side imaging but no down imaging. 

 

I know that ?

 

The question is of the two which could you do without?

[12poundbass]

4 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

I know that ?

 

The question is of the two which could you do without?

Oh I know, just having a little fun. 
 

I could live without down imaging. You can cover an area more efficiently with side imaging. You could potentially find several pieces of cover or structure at once with side imaging. Set your waypoints and fish away. 

[Catt]

3 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Oh I know, just having a little fun. 

 

Yes but not with y'all ?

 

My son is looking to buy a Helix 5 with down imaging, I'm telling him he will like side imaging.

 

FYI he's reading this 

[12poundbass]

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Yes but not with y'all ?

 

My son is looking to buy a Helix 5 with down imaging, I'm telling him he will like side imaging.

 

FYI he's reading this 

I really think he’d be disappointed with just DI.  For the extra $100 or so twist his arm and have him get the Side Imaging. 
 

It’s better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it. 
 

Here’s a question for him, does he need contour maps? 

Actually Cabelas has the Garmin Echomap 73SV UHD  on sale right now for the same price as a Helix 5 SI. A 5” unit is pretty small (I used to have one). If he’s not familiar with them have him turn a coke can sideways, that’s the screen size of a 5” unit. 

[Catt]

36 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Cabelas has the Garmin Echomap 73SV UHD  on sale right now for the same price as a Helix 5 SI.

 

Road trip to Gonzales!

 

Thanks guys ?

[Way2slow]

A few years ago I was in Walley World and they had a Lowrance Elite-4xHDI with the DI Xducer on clearance for $56.  At that price, I couldn't walk off without it in my hand, and asked if they had any more.  Figured that would make a great little unit for my 1436 Jon.  The thing has a very good DI but I almost never use it, just never saw where it made that much difference over the traditional image.  I have the Lowrance HDS-10, 7, and 5 with the Side Imaging.  I used SI all the time, very rarely ever used the DI.  Sometimes I will go from the traditional view to the DI just to verify something I'm seeing but that's rare

If the DI in a unit quit working, and the SI worked fine, I would keep on using it.  If the SI quit but the DI worked, I would be buying a new unit or getting that one repaired.

I've been playing with these Garmin Echomap UHD since the 11th sitting at my desk learning them.  They have a great DI in them, but again, I don't see where it's that much better than traditional view.  I will definitely be using the SI on them a lot though.

So to make a long story short, I can do without DI, but I definitely want the SI if I had to pick one over the other.

You've already missed the Echomap UHD 9sv with the GT54 Transducer, they had that one for $650 back on the 11th and 12th.  I picked the 9 and 7 up for me and a 7 for my brother.  They are nice units for the money.

 

One note, if you make your road trip, pick you up a 32GB class 10 micro USB also (32GB is the max the unit will hold so don't get bigger and a class 10 will have a C on it with a 10 in the middle of the C).  You will need it.  One, for the extra storage memory, two, if you want to use the Active Captain app, it's required and three, both of the 7's I bought needed the software update, they had 4.6 and the new version is 5.1, and you need a micro USB chip to do that.   Just do the update first, because it's going to erase everything on the chip.  After the update is done, you erase it off the chip and use it for the extra memory

[NHBull]

Wow.....initially thought SI and still think so, but thinking about how I fish DI is the crutch I rely on in more in the spring and fall.  Good thought provoking question.....The short version.....I could SI to get the info I get from DI but not the reverse

[Herbert Lorenzo]

Depends ...not all side imaging units are equal as far as the information you gather from the image quality. Seems that's not the case with down scan images. 

[TOXIC]

Since he will have both?, he will soon find one will fit him better.  My fishing partner likes SI and I like DI so we are always looking at different perspectives.  Sometimes he sees things I miss and sometimes it’s the other way around.  Now throw all the new 360, active imaging and front looking sonar and you will have some discussion points.

[Catt]

23 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

Since he will have both?, he will soon find one will fit him better.  

 

Kade (my son) isn't a tech geek but he does have the latest iPhone, iPad, Iwatch, Gopros. 

 

His original choice was PiranhaMAX™ 4, I told him ya don't need the top of the line but you don't want the baseline either.

[Dirtyeggroll]

Side. You can get close to a down imaging return between the boat and the bottom with side imaging

[TigerBassAU]

At the console, SI without a doubt but it would be a sad day if I did not have both! 

[Bankc]

Side imaging.  The regular sonar is usually all I need, or even use, for seeing what's below me.  It's not as accurate as down imaging with all the detail, but if you know how to read it, you can figure out most of what you need to know. 

[TOXIC]

Also remember the type of water he will be fishing will determine which he uses more.  Fishing the Potomac in 4 feet of grassy water makes side imaging useless.  Deeper open water is a different story.

[WRB]

My generation learned to use tradition down looking 20 degree cone flashers, black & white paper graphs, color pixel sonar, GPS, HD down looking, side imaging, scanning and forward scanning. As technology keeps changing and bass anglers still have days they blank to good days regardless of the electronics on the boat.

Always said get what you can afford and learn to use it.

Catt, good choice.

Tom

[Boomstick]

Probably side imaging. It depends on the lake and time of season as well.