# Is side imaging worth it?



## Gottagofishn

I have a HDS7 and Iv'e been tossing around the idea of adding the side imaging. It looks really cool in the pics but I was wondering if it helped in real life? Does anyone have any comments about a situation that it helped? Any Ah Ha moments that would justify the cost?


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## MAMA'S BUOY

Gottagofishn said:


> I have a HDS7 and Iv'e been tossing around the idea of adding the side imaging. It looks really cool in the pics but I was wondering if it helped in real life? Does anyone have any comments about a situation that it helped? Any Ah Ha moments that would justify the cost?


what kind of fishing do you do? lake erie or inland lakes? From the research I gathered, I found that for the side-imaging to be advantageous, the lake needs to be fairly flat....and as we all know, lake erie is seldom calm. I only fish lake erie, so I decided to go with the H-Bird 858c instead of their side-imaging product. If you do a lot of inland lake fishing, then the side-imaging would be great for finding submerged trees, bridges, etc. youtube 'lowrance side imaging' and it should help you out in your decision. However, I've never found a video where they were fishing a biiiiiiig lake, only inland ones with a lot of structure. Lake Erie, on the other hand, is a predominantly featureless lake.


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## reo

I have SI and fish Erie exclusively. The only times it has been too rough for SI to be effective it was too rough for me to fish.

That being said, if you fish stucture it an OUTSTANDING tool, imho. Pin pointing rock piles, soft to hard bottom transitions, weedlines and finding the 'spot on the spot' it is invaluable. Anytime you are targeting any type of structure, cover or edges.

If you are mostly an open water troller targeting suspended fish it would not be of much help.

Happy Thanksgiving!!


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## Gottagofishn

I fish Erie from March to November when the weather permits.....I fish locally when Erie is a #$%! or I can't find anyone to go with. I was wondering if the side imaging would help locate those fish off to the side at Erie and if anyone had real stories of how it helped them.......


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## reo

Gottagofishn said:


> I fish Erie from March to November when the weather permits.....I fish locally when Erie is a #$%! or I can't find anyone to go with. I was wondering if the side imaging would help locate those fish off to the side at Erie and if anyone had real stories of how it helped them.......



SI is much better suited for locating structure off to the side rather than fish.

If the fish are 30' down in 50' of water you will see this with traditional sonar. SI not needed. I do alot of open water trolling for suspended fish as well as other types of fishing on Erie. I have not found SI to be of much advantage in offshore (structure-less) situations.


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## bttmline

I have had A hummingbird SI for 3 years. As a crappie angler mostly it is a great tool. I fish almost inland lakes only. Mostly MWCD lakes. I love my SI and especially now since I have downloaded my down imaging. You won't believe what you will find out about your favorite holes.


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## K gonefishin

I talked to a couple guys with SI units both Lowrance and Hummingbird. In order to get the best picture on your SI unit, optimum speed is 3.0-5.0 mph with 4.0 being best from what I was told. For a walleye angler that is trolling it's pretty much useless since your going much slower, everything is elongated, now downscan it does a better job of showing what's under neath you at trolling speed. I asked Doc Sampson who is the lowrance guru about what advantages these units offer an open water fisherman...him and one other guy couldn't...at least for open water fishing, nearshore structure obviously it would prove usefull. Just a couple thoughts on why I feel I will never own one.


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## chaunc

For the panfishing that i do, my SI is great. I do a lot of slow trolling and it's helped me find quite a bit of very good structure. I mark it and come back later and check it out. I have around 150 waypoints on my home lake alone and a lot of them have produced for me. I was surprized to see some of the stuff off to the sides of my usual traveling lanes. If you're a structure fisherman or want to be one, get a side imager. I just upgraded to an 1197CSI and put it up front.  Like watching a flat screen tv.


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## Ruminator

Great thread idea Gottagofishn. :B

Thanks for all of the great detailed info. guys, I've been considering a SI unit for next spring/summer. 

Any reviews around that compare the Humminbird to the Lowrance that could help a decision of which to buy? !%


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## fished-out

Lots of spirited discusssion all over the net, with both sides pretty well dug in. The jist of it imo: Both units do a very good job. Consensus seems to be that Lowrance is better "out of the box", but the Humminbirds are just as good once you get them tweaked. Networking on the Lowrance is slightly better, but most folks don't use it that much and the Humminbirds will share waypoints or GPS antennas which is what many people want. The GPS in the Lowrance seems to keep its fix better at low speeds (less than .5 mph), which spider riggers value. The big one for me--Lowrance customer service has not been the best for several years and is unlikely to get better any time soon. Humminbird is the best, hands down. Lots of stories about the more expensive Lowrance units getting water in them and poor turnaround time in getting the units back from repair. Humminbird has a much better net presence, with several techs cruising the net and answering folks questions and complaints. They respond FAST !! Humminbird also has a lawsuit against Lowrance for patent infringement on the side imaging technology (HB came out well ahead of Lowrance on it and was eating their lunch, so Lowrance had to do something), but it'll be years before it's settled or I'd think HB will end up settling the suit in return for cash and a continuing license fee.


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## chopper

This is exactly what I was wondering. Is it worth it? I bass fish all inland lakes. I've heard that it helps locate fish like under docks. I wonder it it would show anything if you ran past pads to see if they are on the edge? I think that the down imaging would really help when you need to go deep also. I have started to look into it and find that the main difference is humminbird has better service. Other than that, I am looking for help. As a bass fisherman, where would you mount the unit, at the front or the console. I wish that you could have both. Thanks, Chopper


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## CARP 104

I would highly recommend it. You can't necessarily see individual bass, but you can definitely see schools of fish and baitballs, and I have the smallest humminbird SI unit. I'm sure the bigger units can see more if you have the settings right. 

I've found cars, boats, roadbeds, rockpiles, foundations, bridges, weedbeds, old dams, and more stuff I can't remember with it. I won't own a boat without it.


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## fished-out

chopper said:


> This is exactly what I was wondering. Is it worth it? I bass fish all inland lakes. I've heard that it helps locate fish like under docks. I wonder it it would show anything if you ran past pads to see if they are on the edge? I think that the down imaging would really help when you need to go deep also. I have started to look into it and find that the main difference is humminbird has better service. Other than that, I am looking for help. As a bass fisherman, where would you mount the unit, at the front or the console. I wish that you could have both. Thanks, Chopper


Side imaging won't do you much good on the front of the boat--needs to run 3-4 MPH to give decent images. Also, you can do it, but it ain't easy to pick out fish under docks unless the docks extend into deep water and the fish are suspended under them--and you could be looking at cats or carp (unbeliveable how many channels I pull from docks). Not much good in picking fish out on the edges of pads either, as the pads themselves show up in mass and confuse the situation.

If you're not going to use it to find hidden structure, I wouldn't invest the money--in other words, I don't think it's worth too much on lakes like Indian, but could be a difference maker on lakes like Alum.


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## Gottagofishn

Nice info. Thanks all for all the input. Anyone catching bigger or increased catches because of structure or cover youv'e located with it?


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## chopper

I was just wondering about seeing fish under docks and pads. I did not know that you have to be moving so fast to get a good image. What I really want this for the side and down imaging is to find good structure. Also to help with my deep bass fishing. Thanks again, I'm still trying to learn. Chopper


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## chaunc

Gottagofishn said:


> Nice info. Thanks all for all the input. Anyone catching bigger or increased catches because of structure or cover youv'e located with it?


I'd say so. Got these from a brushpile, just last monday, i found this summer with my SI unit. 








Was trolling an area of the lake that i hadn't spent a lot of time on when i came across the spot. Stopped my screen, cursored over to it, hit the mark button, and saved the spot so i could check it later. I have over 300 spots marked on my unit now.


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## Gottagofishn

Nice.....that's makin it pay for itself.....


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## MuskyHutch

I have a TOTALLY different experience with structure scan. I have the HDS-8 at the console and the HDS-7 up front. I get just as clear a picture from side imaging sitting dead still in the water (no elongated images) as I do at speeds almost fast enough to plane my boat out! So, 0mph to 15mph I get crystal clear readings. Once the LSS-1 is installed the units are linked as far as information sharing is concerned, place an icon up front, it shows up on the unit at the console too. Same with all the structure scan capabilities.

I also use structure scan up front while using my trolling motor and get a perfect reading at trolling motor speeds. And I'm trolling way below 3 mph!?! Is this the Humminbird everyone is talking about being restricted by speed??? Because the Lowrance is not. I also "heard" from a fairly reliable source that yes there is a lawsuit between Humminbird and Lowrance and because of this Lowrance is going to change the Navionics map cards so they will no longer work with the Humminbird units. (Lowrance owns Navionics) so who knows what'll happen then?!?!?! 

Now onto flat bottom lakes......I've used mine in small lakes, rivers both big and small, and resevoirs and can "see" everything on flat bottom as I can on 45ft drop-offs so I'm confused on that one. At Cave Run Lake I was in a cove and was able to mark the entire creek channel with no problems. And the water you can cover is phenominal. I use it below the dam catfishing and have increased my fish size because I can keep the bait exactly where it needs to be by using the downscan option. Also, as far as seeing to the left and right I can be in 40ft. of water next to docked barges 4 and 5 wide and I'm still able to see the bases of the mooring towers they're tied up to. Hell, for that matter I was back in a creek where a tree had recently fallen partially into the water (just a bundle of leaves from a few branches were only inches deep) and my structure scan picked it up without question......so it's getting right up to the bank. 

In all the Lowrance structure scan and down imaging has been WELL worth the cost. You'll find stuff you never knew was under the water where you fish all the time. If anything it has kept me from fishing non productive waters for sure!


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## MDBuckeye

Very good thread.
I was doing some research on these units and found a Humminbird website that seemed to have a lot of good info and "how to's".

http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/HumminbirdIndex.html

There's a lot of good stuff to read here on this subject. 
Hope it helps!


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## Nipididdee

I used ot spend hours into days griding portions of Erie to pinpoint various structure. That time was reduced to minutes with the SI unit couple of years ago.

Less time driving=more time fishn'. Big waters or small.


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## Gottagofishn

Are you finding fish relating to structure in Erie? More specifically...Walleye?


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## katfish

I may have another option for you.

Long before side imaging was introduced I saw the humingbird switches that were meant for people using transducers with different cone angles.

Using these switches you could mount additional transducers on trolling motors or even the side of your boat to use as sidefinders. On the trolling motors you could use them to look in all directions by turning the motor.

This would also be helpful following schools of fish or baitfish because when your view shows the scholl your boat is headed for the fish.


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## elkhtr

I have been told i would need 2 side imaging ducers if I want to use SI on the transom of the boat due to interference with the OB (I have an aluminum boat). I am considering buying a si unit and getting a quad beam ducer for the transom and mounting the si ducer on the trolling motor up front. I am considering this also based on si getting the best results when going under 5mph. This way I can use this unit on the bow or the console. I think it would be very versatile when used in this way. 

Any thoughts on this set up??

Great thread.


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## MuskyHutch

Hey elkhtr......are you talking about Humminbird or Lowrance? I have Lowrance and you can definitely use side imaging above 5mph!!! Also, with the lowrance.....if the xducer was on the trolling motor I think your images would be garbage when you started to steer your motor around. Long blurry images, etc. My xducer is mounted on my transom about a foot and a half from my other xducer and I can still see all the imagery on my front monitor. you just have to keep in mind that you're of by a few feet when fishing deeper cover.


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## elkhtr

Musky,

Do you have an aluminum boat? 

So you are saying you have your SI unit mounted on the transom and you get a good return when imaging on both sides of the boat? The outboard does NOT interfere? I was told by a few techs that the OB would cause problems when scanning to the side of the OB.

I am talking about a bird, not lowrance. For now anyway,due to cust. svc. record and cost.

I realized i will have to keep the TM pretty straight while using the SI to get good returns and clear images. I only thought of this because I will probably only use it when casting and looking for structure, or scouting. I will probably not use it when trolling for eyes on erie (what kgone said). I thought the 90 deg. cone on the quad would be more helpful in marking bait and big fish when trolling or looking for active eyes.


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## chaunc

I've been using a hb987csi on my trolling motor for a couple years and i've tried very hard to use the si but there's no way (I) can keep the boat running straight enough while watching the screen, to get good returns. Cant figure out why i can do it with the steering wheel but not the troller. I have one on the console too. I just use the down imaging up there.


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## elkhtr

chaunc said:


> I've been using a hb987csi on my trolling motor for a couple years and i've tried very hard to use the si but there's no way (I) can keep the boat running straight enough while watching the screen, to get good returns. Cant figure out why i can do it with the steering wheel but not the troller. I have one on the console too. I just use the down imaging up there.



Thanks. That was one of my concerns as well. Do You have any trouble with interference with the Motor and your side imaging return? How did you mount the transducer on the transom?


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## Gottagofishn

Ahhhh....Somthing I hadn't thought about.....If the SI ducer is off to one side of the Outboard can it still see the other side? I am refering to a Lowrance.


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## Flippin 416

The SI transducer needs a clear unobstructed view to both sides. You will see allot of people mount them to the jackplate to allow that clear view. This also gives protection to the expensive SI transducer. They use a thru hull transducer to read 2D at speeds.
I am new to all of the SI technology as well...and I am diving in with an 1197c that I just ordered. I will be reading and watching as many how to vids as I can until spring.....I can't wait to use it.


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## MuskyHutch

Hey elkhtr.....I have a fiberglass boat, 21 foot bass rig but I use it for multi-species fishing. I mounted my side-imaging transducer dead center of my transom on the "second step" if you know what I'm talking about?!?! I could see where the motor could get in the way on a aluminum rig though. Mine is actually right in front of the lower unit but far enough away not to hit the motor when it's trimmed all the way down.


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## chaunc

elkhtr said:


> Thanks. That was one of my concerns as well. Do You have any trouble with interference with the Motor and your side imaging return? How did you mount the transducer on the transom?


Took mine up to the dealer i got my boat from and had them mount it. I dont have a problem with viewing either side. I just trim the motor up a little. The only mistake i made was i didn't mount the antenna closer to the transducer and there's about a 3 to 4 foot diffrence when i mark a spot.


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## chaunc

Flippin 416 said:


> The SI transducer needs a clear unobstructed view to both sides. You will see allot of people mount them to the jackplate to allow that clear view. This also gives protection to the expensive SI transducer. They use a thru hull transducer to read 2D at speeds.
> I am new to all of the SI technology as well...and I am diving in with an 1197c that I just ordered. I will be reading and watching as many how to vids as I can until spring.....I can't wait to use it.


They'll have a dvd in there with it. It'll go thru everything you need to know about using that 1197. Got mine on sale from Amazon.com. $1000 off and it included the nvb package. That was less than i paid for my 997. They only had 2. Told my brother, 15 minutes later, the other one was already gone. These things are huge. Great for old eyes like mine.


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## Flippin 416

I picked up mine from BBG Marine...they were over $1000 off also. It didn't have the NVB bundle, but I purchased a Navionics Platinum card to go with it. I am waiting on a few more things to show up...then I will be in the garage installing it. You're right...they are HUGE!!! I can't wait to use it.


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## ls1

i got my 798si with the nvb last year close to the end of the season. I got to use it a couple of times though and let me tell you what a huge differnce it makes. First off when i had my unit on my john boat i had no interference from the ob unless i was going fast and same with when i put my unit on a bass boat. The down imaging is great if you are at your spot fishing and not driving around trying to locate fish. I can find the edges of the grass line 8 ft under and know exactly where to keep my bait. The sideimaging is a who other story! I still have only used this unit a handfull of times so im sure there are a lot of things i cant point out on the screen. I was easily able to stay in the middle of a creek channel and scan the whole thing going around points, spliting in half, and if a area seemed active. By far the best peice of fishing equipment ive bought although i am a bass fisherman. I cant see it paying for itself it your going to use it on erie though.


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## dmills4124

Last year Vic Vatalaro of Vic's sports center won $119,000.00 on lake dardenelle while fishing the stren series. He said in an interview on espn2 after the tourniment win, that he would not have won without his humminbird sideimaging. He found a couple of 6 foot concrete pipes some 30ft down with current flowing out of them that came from a pond quite a ways from the lake. He could tell when there was current flowing out of them because the bait fish would be on the outside of the pipe with flow and inside when it was not flowing.
As for ours, wow, we found boats, shell beds, rock piles, drop offs, ledges stumpfields and brush piles. Not to mention deep outside and inside weedlines with holes in the weeds with beds and fish holding just waiting for our jigs. Yep they work. We love our humminbird and really like the new downimaging for pinpointing a weighpoint and then useing backcast to get to it without running over it first. Just set the distance away you want to be and the alarm lets you know when you are there.
gotta love my humminbird
later ya'll
donm


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## allwayzfishin

this is a great read....thanks...but i was wondering about the "poormans side imaging?"

the quadra beam has been out for awhile and will work with my matrix 97. i would like to know if anyone has experience with this transducer? would be nice to try out and then put the matrix on the bow with a 1187 on the console.


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## duckguy234

allwayzfishin said:


> this is a great read....thanks...but i was wondering about the "poormans side imaging?"
> 
> the quadra beam has been out for awhile and will work with my matrix 97. i would like to know if anyone has experience with this transducer? would be nice to try out and then put the matrix on the bow with a 1187 on the console.



Poorman's SI: check out Fleet Farm's website. They have the HB 997 for $600

Not sure what the big difference is between the older 997 and the newer 998.

dale


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## duckguy234

One of things not mentioned, or I just missed it reading through all the replies.

Although it has a great advantage, SI is not just for viewing structure.

Your traditional view of your normal sonar: if you are fishing in 20ft of water, with a normal cone angle, your sonar is only viewing about a 7ft circle behind your boat.

The big advantage of side imaging is obvious that it allows you to extend your view as far as you set it to your side. So instead of 7ft you could have a 50 ft or more width covering a wider path.

dale


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## rickerd

So if you are using the side imaging, can you see the fish on the screen? Will I be able to say, fish at 3 o'clock and cast to them on the side? Or can I locate them and change my troll direction to get my baits over the fish?

Rickerd


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## Flippin 416

Yes you can see fish on SI. Of course where you have the transducer mounted will determine if you can just cast out to them. If the transducer is on the transom and you are on the bow...the fish will be behind you....on the trolling motor and they will be pretty close. HB just put out a software update for their units that add vertical distance lines on their SI units. Depending on how wide you are scanning, the distance lines will change. A very cool update if you ask me...I was thrilled to see it. 

There is a wealth of info and some great pics of SI and their capabilities on BBC.

http://www.bbcboards.net/zeroforum?id=279

http://www.bbcboards.net/zeroforum?id=280

I put the Quadrabeam tranducer on my 788ci over the winter. I have yet to try it out on the water but looking at it in the garage it adds a few screens to the selection. I am anxious to give it a whirl and see if i like it. I can't wait to get a chance to see what my 1197 will show me.


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