I am looking to buy a new unit for the front of my Triton boat. The humminbird 698ci hd is on sale this week. What is the opinions on this unit and is there a trolling motor transducer available for it? Thanks for the help. Im not very tech savy.

The 698ci HD SI Combo is a Side Imaging unit. The screen shape is not very good for Side Imaging. It is narrow which is just the opposite of you want for Side Imaging. Screen width is the most important for Side Imaging since the size of displayed subjects is based on the SI RANGE setting.

IF you want that unit, and want to use it at the bow with a transducer on the trolling motor, contact Humminbird Customer Service to exchange the included transom Compact SI transducer for the trolling motor PUCK version XTM 9 SI 180 T. It has extra internal shielding for a TM application.

If you want sharper images, you can upgrade to the XTM 9 HDSI 180 T which is larger and has longer SI crystals which produces a thinner SI pulse and sharper images. It's about $80 difference for the upgrade.
It has the extra internal shielding also.

Thank you very much Wayne. I appreciate the help. I actually looked at this unit last night and agree that the screen is small. I am leaning in a different direction now. I like the looks of the helix 5 and think it will do what I need it to do.
Have a great Thanksgiving Sir.

need a little help . just got a 360 transom mount and need a longer cable to get up to the onix 20ft will not be long enough. I believe the 360 was made in 2013 if that makes any difference on connectors. I think there is a extension but it is 30ft long ? I am only needing about 10-13 more ft. any ideas ?

There is only one length extension cable and that is 30'.

Substitute the 20' cable for a shorter one and then use the 30' extension or just purchase the 30' Ethernet cable if that will reach.

There is a 2', 10', 15', 20' and 30' Ethernet cable and the 30' extension.

ok thanks Wayne just wanted to make sure I was not missing another option

I update from 6.0 to 7.3 with no luck on the GPS
I opened the unit to see if anything was visibly wrong but did not see any visible issues.
Do you think my battery reading 12.4volts would have an effect on it. I called Humminbird and they want $225 to fix it. The unit has been running for 171 hrs

12.4V at the battery means it is not fully charged.

12.4V loaded voltage at the unit is great-have you checked the unit digital readout voltage?

12.4v is what the unit digital read out is measuring. When you go to the diagnostics screen

Question on the time it takes to acquire satellites. Maybe this has been covered previously.
I have a 798 CI SI combo connected to a Terrova IPilot link.
At times the sats will acquire in a few minutes, or it may take as long as 45 minutes or more. Any advice on how to speed up the acquisition, or is it just dependent on the daily conditions?

Having adequate voltage is the most important thing. Typically the GPS is the first thing affected by low voltage.

Thanks Wayne.
I have an isolated battery solely for the HB. I keep it charged after every use. Voltage always registers strong.
I could hook it to the TM batteries, (12v, hooked parallel) if you think this would be better. I'm baffled.

No, do not connect the unit to any trolling motor battery

The issue may be the fit of the power cord plug in the unit receptacle. It is sort of sloppy for easy removal of the display from the mount and you may not have a solid connection which causes resistance.

Try this:
Remove the display from the mount.
Locate the power cord plug.
Very gently and very little, adjust the two pins in any direction, use a pencil point. Before you do that, LOOK at the tiny holes in the display that have to line up with the pins.
Replace the display.

If that fixes it, you may never have to do that again. I did mine over five years ago and no issues since.

Thanks again Wayne. I'll give it a shot.

Before I went out yesterday, I did as Wayne advised. I couldn't tell that I had even moved the pins at all but apparently I did and it worked.
The unit acquired the signal from the birds within a few minutes.
Thanks again Wayne.