I bought a 798 for my first SI unit. When Lowrance came out with the side scan, you had to buy the head unit and the side scan unit separately. Cost was a factor. I now run an 1198 at the console and a 998 at the front, no reason to change. It is one of those Ford vs Chevy debates in my book. You can nitpick stuff to death, or just go fishing and enjoy it.

I've never owned a lowrance but they seem to have a better screen and 2d from just watching demos. My 997 NVB and 798 are still kicking after years of trouble free usage though. I went humminbird because I didn't want to have to buy the structure scan on top of the unit....HB's were all in one.

Humminbird customer service.

1199 has gps built in, less pieces to worry about linking and maintaining over time.

Clear out your PMs, you are maxed out.

I have some examples to send you.

That's kinda like asking, "Why Shimano?"

Aren't the Birds and Lowrance still neck and neck in popularity? I don't use Humminbirds because the Lowrance menu navigation and settings make more sense to me. Doesn't make the Bird a lesser unit, I just prefer a different brand's layout.

I have a new Lowrance unit on my pontoon boat. I have had problems with stumps breaking the transducer. I put a U clamp around the transducer to protect it from stumps. Will this cause any interference with the transducer?

I have always loved running birds, but when it came time for me to make a purchase I decided to go with garmin, I think they have the best deal going right now. Hopefully it is will last as long as my previous birds did.

Ford vs Chevy IMO

Talon vs power pole

People buy Fords too. The best product isn't always the one everybody picks.

this is why I went birds

This is not meant to be a plug, just good advice in my humble opinion. My buds and I are always back and forth between what is better Humming Bird or Lowrance. I am partial to Lowrance "Chevy", I run HDS 12 GEN 2 front and console but both brands are great in there own right. Being a bit of a techy when I bought my units I went online and researched ways to tweak and tune for the best resolution. I was able to increase the resolution to better than factory setting but then I heard about Slade Dougharty on this forum and decided what the heck. I set up an appointment with him on April 2nd (yesterday) and all I can say is OMG!!!! The quality is so much better, it is redonkulous. The detail is amazing, you could see the wood grain on an old wooden bridge....., best $250 I have spent in a long time. I guess my point is from what I have seen, all of the newer generation depth finders are awesome (alot better than the old school units I grew up with) but like any electronic devise they can be adjusted (tweaked) in order to put them on another level. You can spend hundreds of hours learning and tuning them or you can find some one that knows how to do that in order to get the best out of your units. Either say you can't go wrong. I am pumped about fishing this summer on some deep structure. In the past I have always run just down scan to locate fish and side scan to find structure (as every knows HB side scan is better than Lowrance??) but now with my tweaked units you can easily see fish on the side scan. After I told my buds what the image looks like on my Lowrances they are planning to come up here to Fork in order to get him to tweak there HB's.