Hey Tim,

Right now I'm trying to figure out which technologies I should get and how much I need to spend. From what I understand sonar is most important??? After that is it GPS or DI? Or should I get side scan over down imaging? I was looking at Lowrance Elite series which offer a unit with GPS/sonar another with sonar/sown imaging and another with all three. The one with all three is about $150 more...Is it worth it? Or should I get the next bigger screen for the same price but with only 2 techonologies. Those are some questions I'm trying to answer now.

This is a great thread. It has helped me a lot in understanding how to use a graph to find fish.

Are there any similar threads in some of the other forums? Thanks.

This is a link at bottom to a hummingbird only site but all sonar units work on the same principles and you can learn a lot here. Ive found that once you become knowledgeable in the field you can pick up any unit any brand and make it work for you instantly. Its one of those deals where when it hits you it hits you! Your going to find everyone says get a Lowrance this just isn't so. all of today's units mid level and up imo if it says its there its down there! The problem is seeing it and detail of the screen. if all sonar units lets say had the resolution of a iphone or ipad you would miss nothing. I have used and installed many units for costumers and I personally like Garmin's the gps beats the others hands down and the resolution of the screen is outstanding. my 70 garmin puts my 999 hummingbird to shame! I can take my 999 on the water make a recording come home and watch the recording on my hi res. tv monitor and see tons of things I didn't see on the water! This is due to better screen not small screen! but most small screen sonar units are low res. screens and upper end units are hi res. screens! ever looked at a iphone? sure you have! have any trouble seeing detail? no! it high quality and high resolution.. coupled with high wattage quality transducer any unit has good ability with a good display. Learn study the difference between 800khx 455khz 200khz and 77khz how they work what they do. Also if your not black bass fishing and hunting white bass stripers or such don't see one or two fish on screen and stop to fish them. look for large schools but if they don't bite don't just think well my sonar lied to me. until you learn they could be school of gar carp or what ever! the old saying 90% of the fish live in 10% of the lake. think to yourself should the fish Im looking for be in this area? What brought me to garmin is a old bass boat I purchased to repair and resale had a cheep garmin on the bow and dang if it showed something was down there by gosh it was but the display was horrible look like a old game of pong! I think a lot of new users run there self to death on the lake they see a couple fish marks and stop and fish over over and over soon out of daylight and no fish. when you see a large school for the first time you will know it! also you need to be proficient at catching them when you do find them. also arc's if you are sitting still over fish they will look more like a bunch of straight lines going across your screen than a arch in 2d sonar. If your searching for fish or structure in side imaging and your using a smaller screen unit try just scanning one side left only or right only it will be easier to see things. think about it using just one side of a 5 inch gives the same size as half of a 10" and you will see more detail. also don't try and scan out to 100ft try 40-60 you will see way more detail because your not trying to squeeze 100 ft of information into a 5 inch screen. if your searching water for fish structure on a 2d sonar use it in 55-77 khz because you will be seeing largewr area of water below at 20 ft you will be seeing around 20ft of bottom when you locate them swith back to 200khz to target them under boat. Man I hope this helps a little Im tired of typing.
http://forums.sideimagingsoft.com/index.php?action=forum

This is one of the best downscan images Ive ever seen
hit link and scroll down a bit.
http://www.bbcboards.net/lowrance-garmin...-scan-unit.html

Reading these posts just blows my mind.I'm still trying to get all i can out of my x125

Nice Graphs! Hope I can get out to Arkansas this year to try some new Micro cranks on the slabs. We'll see.

Newbiefisher,

All of them will have the basic 2d sonar feature. The down imaging, GPS/Mapping, and side scan features are additional and are all are VERY useful. I guess the simple answer to your question(s) is to buy the model with the most features that you can afford. I switch back and forth between DI, 2d sonar, and side scan, all of the time. Sometimes I can see things better on 2D sonar, and sometimes I can see it better on down imaging... so I really cant recommend one feature more than the other.

Keep in mind that DI and 2D sonar basically look straight down. Side scan allows you to look to the left and right of your boat. So a lot of the time I will run side scan while I am looking over a large area for structure and fish. If I find something that looks like structure and/or fish, I will mark it with my gps and then drive back over the area using the 2D sonar/DI feature when I am right on top of it.

GPS and maps are also very convenient. Especially if you fish at night. I was always nervous about traveling across the lake at night because it was hard to judge distances, and see obstacles like tree stumps... with the GPS I could follow the exact path that I had already traveled. It's much safer in my opinion. You can also mark underwater structure that has no above-water reference points. If you are in the middle of the lake and find a great fishing spot - you can mark it with GPS and come right back to that same spot. A great tool...

Anyway I hope this helps. Let us know what you decide, and if you need some help understanding the images - let me know. Good luck,

Tim

Thanks everyone for posting this stuff. Very imformative.

the x125 is a lot like the eagle fishmark 480 greast unit.
get a 60 degree cone transducer
set bottom color to " bottom black"
sens 72
grayline 40
fish id on

Great info, on those scans

http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b570/setexfisher/shot001_zpsdb904e2e.png
http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b570/setexfisher/shot002_zps319e8c7c.png
http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b570/setexfisher/shot004_zps7664d6d2.png

What do you folks think? I didn't catch anything but lmb on these Brush piles.

My unit was Lowrance hds7 gen2 touch

Gene

Jacob645;
What did you do to make my images all display on one page?

You need to hit the image icon (4th from the left) and click "insert non-floating image". Copy the link into it (delete the http:// first).