Live scope? Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice?

After retiring last year, I’ve had time to get into upgrading my boat rigging and I’ve been eyeballing the Garmin livescope bundle. For you guys who’ve been using it and are familiar, is it really that useful and helpful? I chase bass, hybrids, and walleye on trips back to Wyoming. I’ve been fishing with sonar since 1987 and I’m slow to take up technology (one of my many, many faults).
So is it a “must have” or a “cool gizmo” that I could live without?
Your thoughts and suggestions are gratefully welcomed.

If you learn to use it, it’s very helpful. If you don’t learn to use it, it’s wasted money. I can say that I bought one and it paid for itself the first time I fished a tournament with it. I fish a lot of trees and boat docks. You easy see if there are fish there or not. Which pole or branch they’re on, how deep…it is that easy. The only hard part is making the right presentation to get the fish to bite. Sometimes you only get one shot at it. If you figure out what they will eat on the first pass, the rest of the day is easy.

Yep! If you’re not willing to learn, don’t waste your money.

Took me over a year to really learn how to best utilize it. I can now use it to its potential and its awesome! I use it for crappie, bass, white bass/hybrids/stripers. Can even see catfish on it. I hate when I forget to charge my livescope battery and it goes dead. Then I have to go back to just fishing “normal”. I’m in medical imaging so having a screen in front of me is second nature.

Well said. Would like to add is there's a learning curve to go along with it and watching that screen can cause fixation. I remember the first bass I caught on LS. I was so busy and amazed watching the screen I almost forgot to set the hook.

Thanks guys. All very helpful. It sounds like these units are definitely more than just a luxury item.
I’m looking at the 12” screen with the trolling motor transducer. Just need to find a good deal on one.

Wait until Black Friday, there will be big discounts.

Excellent idea.
It might even have cooled off enough for me to fish without frying eggs in my deck by then.

It's pretty much greatness! The newer LVS 34 is almost plug and play. For the type of fishing you do I definitely prefer the trolling motor mount WITHOUT the factory supplied perspective mount. I've had mine for over a year and started with the LVS 32. If you want to view perspective there are a couple of other aftermarket mounts that are supposed to be much better. Good luck with it, it can definitely be you best friend.

Thank you for the insight!
Plug and play sounds like my speed. I’ll read up on the LVS 34. I’m (obviously) brand new to all this, so the next few days/weeks will be spent researching and watching YouTube vids on how these things work.
I LOVE this forum and all the helpful folks here. THANK YOU again!

nailed it

The crappie are absolutely screwed thanks to LS! I would think limit numbers will be re-visited at some point in the not so distant future. And watching the smallmouth tournaments up north, it’s completely changed the game there too. If you’re not scope’n you’re hope’n.

With that said, LS is awesome for all kinds of fishing, definitely worth the expense.

I'd say it depends on what you are fishing for. For me, as a bass fisherman, the 360 was a much better tool. If you fish for crappie or whites, Live seems to be the preferred method. It WILL NOT make you a better bass fisherman and it is not magic.

For me still learning the bass game for crappie they don’t have a chance pretty magical to me!

I would guess that most guys who buy it wind up getting little value out of it. It's very difficult to use it effectively in a lot of situations. All a lot of guys learn is that there are a million fish out there, you can't tell what they are, and none of them want to bite whatever it is you are throwing. The Josh Jones thing is particularly hard because you also have to have exceptional hand/foot/eye coordination. All that said, you should get one, if you do put in the time and master it, it'll become the most valuable tool you have in the boat.

For crappie its magical. I dont use regular sonar up front anymore ever.

I have well over a 1000 hrs on the water with it. It is data, and if you get good with it you can get so much data from it. Locating bait, fish, scanning for brush, etc.. Is it for tourney fishing, that's a big "?" mark. If everyone has it, yes. If some have it, and know how to use it it's not fair. But to pattern fish, its a real good tool. But I have to turn it off and fish, I had to stop looking at the screen and just fish the way I like. If you like crappie, it should be outlawed... For finding many species its amazing. But it will not make them bite. It's cool to see how many fish actually follow a bait, but do not bite. If you can afford it, hell yes. I like it just a skosh more than the 360. I like fishing structure out in open water, and they both help me. But it's all about data.