Humminbird Side Imaging opinions? - The Hull Truth

highland61 · 01-08-2007, 12:55 PM

I'm in the market for a 5 to 6" GPS/Sonar combo unit. Would like some feedback on the Humminbird Side Imaging units. I usually troll or drift saltwater under 150'. Also, do these untis work well at plaining speeds?

shadboy · 01-08-2007, 10:13 PM

http://www.dougvahrenberg.com/photos.html

Don't much about them but found some of these images. Almost like looking at a picture.

trapit · 01-09-2007, 11:31 AM

It does look like a picture. If you do any kind of wreck fishing in the under 150' (under 100' is more ideal) get the side imaging. I have it on my Donzi and it is going on my next boat too. I've had a porpoise coming toward my boat and it looked like an underwater camera taking pics of him. There is also parts of a bridge that is now used as an artificial reef where I fish and you can see the rebar coming out of the concrete.

samiam · 01-09-2007, 03:18 PM

i like mine but 150ft is a bit much for that unit. 100ft or less is best. i have picked up lots of spots with the si and it works great for picking up fish attracters that folks deploy.

benmatloc · 01-17-2007, 11:55 PM

i just had my 900 series installed on my boat before i sold it, just got a new boat and im kicking myself for not keeping it. now i need a new one because that machine is awsome. i just hope the 700 series is as good.

kerno · 01-19-2007, 01:54 AM

Great unit and I love mine. Real depth limit is about 100 feet. Planing speed makes too much noise for the unit and the image degrades.

FASTFJR · 01-19-2007, 11:15 AM

I did a sea trial about 2 months ago. I was on the dealers own boat and he had the 900 series. Very Cool... The side scanning sonar seemed to work up to about 7mph. I was almost like looking at a B/W video, it was really that good. It was pretty cool seeing all the sunking stuff.

highland61 · 01-20-2007, 11:30 PM

Thanks, good info. Still deciding....

solarfry · 01-21-2007, 12:32 AM

The 987 has been replace by the 997 with an 8" wide screen.

I should be getting one about March 1st.

Cooper · 09-27-2007, 07:24 PM

How are people liking these things? It seems the vertical signal should be fine at speed and depth, and only the side imaging degrades. Is that right?

O'Man · 09-28-2007, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Cooper - 9/27/2007 6:24 PM

How are people liking these things? It seems the vertical signal should be fine at speed and depth, and only the side imaging degrades. Is that right?

Ed Zackery

I have a 797 & the dual beam is fine for running speeds. I use the side imaging for trolling and fine-tuning a drift or an anchoring. Humminbird has a setting to select fresh or saltwater on this unit, and it seems having it set properly makes a difference. I like the side imaging. It's really something to run along side a jetty and see all that you can see. There are times when I wish I had gotten a 900 series, because of the wider screen, but my space, and budget, had their limits.

I also like the "real time" feature. Excellent product.

DoubleG · 09-30-2007, 08:20 AM

I tried both the 997 & 9673D. I like the 3D unit better because of the 3d grid pattern & you can view 6 different transducer signals onthe same screen.

DarthBaiter · 10-01-2007, 12:28 AM

How much or what is the difference in side imaging picture qulity between the 997c SI and the 797c2 SI?

I see that the 997 has HD side imaging and the 797 does not...how much of a difference does that make?

Cooper · 10-01-2007, 08:53 AM

DarthBaiter,
Without side imaging, it's just another fishfinder/chartplotter. And it's a Humminbird on top of that.

DarthBaiter · 10-01-2007, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Cooper - 10/1/2007 7:53 AM DarthBaiter, Without side imaging, it's just another fishfinder/chartplotter. And it's a Humminbird on top of that.

I have a Humminird and I said to myself "no more HUmminbird...ever!"... but this side imaging is soooo cool..lol.

Cooper, sorry, I wasn't clear...the 797 has side imaging too, but it just isn't HD and I can't find outwhat the difference is.

I'm on hold with Humminbird right now trying to find out what the diff is.

a non HD side view machine...

I've been on hold for over 20 min by Humminbird.

Gonna call em back later and see what they say.

I'll end up getting the smaller non HDone, anyway, as I don't think Ihave the space tomount the bigger one.[img]../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-frown.gif[/img]