I understand it's an exhausted topic... LiveScope. I just have to admit that I am close to pulling the trigger and buying it. From those who have experienced it, is it worth getting? Also, I've been hearing that there is some new technology coming out soon. Should I wait for that, or go ahead and roll with the LiveScope? Obviously, I'm conflicted and am trying to get some expert opinions. I appreciate y'all.

I love mine. I'm no expert with it, but I love mine. Its worth it. It changed the way I fish deeper water and structure. I'm probably 85% Bass to 15% Crappie fishing, and use it for both.
As for the new technology, I think that just goes with personal preference. I have Lowrance at the console and bow, and the Garmin also at the bow.

One thing I did do was get a master on/off switch that goes directly to the unit and black box, so when I'm not using it...it draws no power at all. Also bought the boat logix mount that is detachable from the boat, so if I'm fishing really shallow or know its not getting turned on that particular day, its not even on the boat with me taking up space. Just some personal preference stuff.

you brought up a question I have had about Live scope...…
Does it work in shallow water, how far does it look ahead in shallow water?

There will be three players in that market.
Garmin had the Panoptix, upgraded to LiveScope, and rumor is another upgrade.
Lowrance has LiveSight, and will have their upgrade to Active Target.
Humminbird will have their MEGA LIVE.

That gives you three choices for brands you may prefer. Wait for Spring of 2021 to see which suits you the best.

I have it and Mega 360 , thanks to Wayne^ I have my 360 working better than my ability to read it. I think for Crappie LS is incredible but I struggle trying to bass fish with it. If the bird product works well I will buy a second bow bird and their product.

you brought up a question I have had about Live scope...…
Does it work in shallow water, how far does it look ahead in shallow water?
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It does! But I'd say 5 ft and less its not AS effective. I do have the perspective mount, which does help when it gets shallower. (Although I haven't used it much as I'd like...looking forward to really dialing that in come spring time.)
I use it from that 6-10 foot range to mark grass lines and make more accurate casts, see additional structure, etc.
I typically have mine set on 60-70 feet out and don't have an issue seeing that far. I'm sure it could go farther out, but that's just what I prefer. I have the gridlines turned on, on the graph, so I can tell where things are in relation to the boat.

Hope this helps...feel free to shoot me a DM if you want to know anything else.

Jake,
My 2c. I was able to play with one last weekend for 3 days, I couldn't see my bait so I turned the gain up to about 78-84%. It took me a few cast befor I could see my crank bait show up on the screen( eye training) once I knew what I was looking for I could find it every time. It became very clear about 25-30ft out. I was ranged out to 80ft. Fish that were up close ( below the boat) were easy to see in open water with timber. The biggest issue I had was Video fishing. I could see fish my bait them chase the bait but not eat it. I did this for about an hour zero fish. Moved to docks, I could see the post but I couldn't dial in a setting to see if there were fish under them. The docks were in 6-8 ft. I'm sure like with anything the more you play with it the better you get at it. I on the other hand am about the instant satisfaction of turning on my graphs and making a adjustment to the water and conditions and trying to catch em. I'm a lowrance user but I do like the bird 360 for open deep water.

80 feet is a looong ways.

Think about it this way. The water is not clean clear etc.

If you took 80 slides stacked up could you possibly expect to see a single letter on the last one even if the first 79 only had a few pencil size dots in each?

@55’ has been about my max to see fish stacked up on a stick up and I only really saw them because they were 5-6.5# very clear water on kurth.

They weren’t fish shapes as about 35’ the screen is really stacking slides so you see a lot of white noise ish looking vertical lines, but if you see some movement in it a blob of white. that is fish.

I use Blue screen FYI

Watch Scott Martin's latest YouTube video with Jimmy Houston. He explains how he sets his and what fish look like with some decent shots of the screen. Pretty informative

Thanks Skipper for the heads up on the video. Awesome.
Best LiveScope sales demo I've seen.
Dang it. Guess I'm about to be $3K poorer.

Wayne P says I need to wait a bit. Not sure I can hold out till spring after seeing that video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxQzVv0ACmg

how is that fair in tournament fishing,...

Well everyman has his own ideas on "fair".
First, LiveScope is available to everyone.
Second, Martin says he has been using LS for years. . . . but look at his tournament record. He certainly hasnt been winning every tournament. (just finished125th).
Even with LS, you still gotta find em, keep up with them, and catch them. As good as he was with it in the video, he gets beat in tournaments by anglers without LS.

What happened when the first bass boat showed up at a tournament with an electric trolling motor? Thank goodness we didnt make them illegal.
Pretty soon, everyone had one and they were being made by several manufactures.

The same will happen with this type of sonar. Available from all manufactures and considered standard equipment on tournament rigs.

Jimmy didn't seem to be too particularly interested in LiveScope. He kept on casting as Scott was trying to show him how it works. Scott didn't seem too interested in kissing Jimmy's fish, either....

Wow what a nice place that is....JH has earned every bit of it. He's a fine, Christian man that has quite the obnoxious laugh!

Anyone ever fish Whitney? Just curious how that side view gadget would work on the bluffs in winter?