Electronics Confusion

Slowly but surely getting back into the game after about a 7 year break (sold my boat and all my tackle...dumb right?!?!)

Looking to purchase a boat hopefully in the near future, however I'm a bit overwhelmed at the latest graphs and electronic technology that I have the option of adding to a boat I purchase. Side imaging, down imaging, down scan, livescope, 360, yada, yada, YADA! I know a lot of this has to do with the brand and that's pretty much where I'm at...trying to choose between Humminbird, Lowrance, and Garmin.

Is there anyone who can point me toward to any material or videos that might help break things down and help make some sense of things for me? I really want to get this part right, because I intend to totally reinvent the way I fish. My whole life until I stopped fishing I was a bank beater but I really want to grow as an off shore, deep water fisherman - so I intend to scale back a little on the boat in order to have quality electronics.

Thanks in advance guys!

Youtube

Done that...was hoping for something a bit more specific. Maybe you can share your experience with electronics or nah?

Hundreds of videos on YouTube showing these things. Lots of side by side comparisons. Look up Russell Marine on YouTube. They compare all of them.

garmin live scope is alone in that area..

humminbird helix g3 units have amazing imaging

mega 360 is also amazing if your fishing rock piles you need to find, isolated rocks, brush etc..



lowrance seems to be behind in all of it except people really like their mapping and they used to say their sonar was better but I think thats evened up with the g3 humminbird units possibly.

It will all change in a year or two, Ive had my boat since 17 and upgraded my units 3 times... g1, g2, g3 and std 360, now mega 360.. and two units for live scope.

my opinion take it for what it cost ya

Rest assured that if you buy the very best and newest Lowrance that in 6 months they will come out with another "newest and best" and stop support and warrantee for your now outdated unit...

Bird seems to have made idiot proof imaging right out of the box and mega only makes it better.

Garmin has brought an entirely new element and changed the rules with panoptix. It's worth it to take a guide trip with someone who is using this technology and learn from them before you buy

On You Tube check out Fish the Moment (Jonny Schultz) and TacticalBassin. There is also a good You Tube site about bass behavior on The Nature of Fishing. Of course this is only the beginning of sites as there are many very good sites.

PH

I ran nothing but birds for well over 30 yrs and recently went to garmin, trolling motor, 2 93sv plus and will add panoptix in the near future.

the panoptix and trolling motor were my main reasons, picture quality is excellent and the si/di/chirp sonar all are outstanding.

garmin customer service treated me really well after a problem with the first tm, whole new unit within 5 days of sending mine back.

have never cared for lowrance due to past customer service issues with a lot of friends.

I currently own Lowrance, elite Ti and Live. The live has ok SI/DI/Sonar and the Elite is meh at best on everything. I will soon replace everything with Huminbird as it seems their images are much crisper. Go to Bass Boat Central to the lowrance and Humminbird forums for a ton of info, Garmin too. I wouldn't mind having Garmin Livescope either.

BBC and Youtube can generally answer any questions you may have on electronics.

Anyone know if Humminbird is coming out with new models anytime soon?

Lowrance has better 2D and I need it for my 3rd party mapping software.
But, much prefer the DI and SI on my Bird up front.

Suppose, if I end up getting a Ghost, Lowrance would be easiest also.

Better list your budget before even beginning to choose wants. You can be $5k in real quickly and still not be happy. Livescope is the most advanced right now.

Humminbird with Lakemaster mapping cards are spot on for the lakes I fish. The lowrance with navionics may be off by 50 feet or more on creeks and road beds. I still run one lowrance on the console plus a Humminbird for lakemaster and mega side imaging. Run a 10" Humminbird on the bow to my min kota with built in mdi transducer. I like the ease of use and the factory settings are already great without messing with them.

Pro angler Jacob Wheeler turned down sponsorships to be able to use all three. Bought them out of his pocket or so he says.

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I followed up on some of the resources you guys mentioned....this was well worth the post! I have no problem admitting when I don't know something, and you guys pointed me in the right direction. Looking like I will for sure be looking into Humminbird DI/SI as well as 360. Would love to add Livescope at some point, but thats going to have to wait a while.

Thanks again!

You are going to drop a chunk of change so drop another grand and hire three guides that have different units. Have them show you how to use the units on the water and then decide which fits your needs the best and is the easiest to use.

If you're gonna get all new electronics try and keep it one brand.

I would say that Humminbird and Garmin are the leaders now. If I were buying new I would get two Humminbirds and one Garmin with live scope.

That depends on what you want to do. To get the best of both worlds I would go with Humminbird and Garmin.

I'd do what E.J. is saying! I'm probably going to put a Bird w/360 mega on the bow since it'll link to the Terrova on my little boat at the little lake, and put a Garmin UHD w/Livescope + Perspective View on the bow linked to another Garmin on the Dash w/transom transducer, that way the person in the back will be able to watch Livescope too when you get on a spot!

This sounds too easy!!
Big motor on, search and locate with the Garmin down view and side view with the transom transducer, drop the TM and use 360 Mega to search and mark the area 360° around you, drop an icon over a spot and set Autopilot to the spot. Trolling motor takes you to the spot and push Spotlock use the Livescope and watch the fish bite and load the boat from the front and/or the back.
Pretty good video below.

https://youtu.be/7IAfwdillxs

Lots of good info here. Thanks!