Replacing existing gps and trolling motors on my boat.

Since Lake Cumberland is where I find myself fishing most of the time.
I'm planning on upgrading my gps and trolling motor for my Lund 1800. Still have my original finder/gps unit and trolling motor that came with it new in 2003. I find myself fishing alone allot and with the new technology integrating the trolling motor and GPS keeping you on track while you set out lines ect. Looks like the way to go.Plan is to get a motor guide XI5 gps pinpoint 105 lb and a Lowrance HDS gen 3 .
They are offering a free spotlight scan sonar until 1/15/2016 if you by a gen 3 unit so it's time to get off the fence and do it.
There seems to be several ways to order them with or without transducers. There are several options for setting them up. It's all new to me anyone been down this road yet?
Also there seems to be a $800 jump from the 7" screen to the 9" and another $1000 to the 12 " screen. I am planning on the 9inch screens. Is the 9inch display sufficient in size. I currently have a 5" so anything bigger is going to be be an improvement.

Yes get the 9. I've had the 7 and the 9 is a big step up in my opinion. And if I were you I would look into the spotlight if you haven't already. A lot of folks not getting useful images at all.

Not sure what you are meaning, is there an issue with the spot light sonar?

Not really an issue I guess just more or less the images aren't good. It is very hard to distinguish the returns. I have a handful of images that have been ok but the majority you can't read them. Not sure if you are on bassboatcentral but they have a lowrance section that you can search and find out info on it.

I'm just trying to help not get your hopes up if it's not what you expected. You may get it and love it though.

Thanks for the input, I'd did a little searching and that's what people are saying about the imaging, maybe that's why they are giving them away free with the new HDS.

Larger screens make it much easier to see the fish and underwater structure items on the screen. Check out the screen in full sunlight to see how well it displays things in the sunlight.

I had to put a sun shade on my Sonar's Screen so that I could see the images better. Then I added an umbrella over the top of everything to see even more. Still in day light it's very hard to see the screen as compared to at night or when I make a recording and play the recording back on my big screen/computer at home in a dark room. The difference in the image is light day and night Literately.

A larger screen will make the smaller things on the sonar return bigger and much easier to see.

I've seen what the 12" screens can show and I now wish I had spent more money and gotten a larger screen size.

The price difference would have been about 2,000 dollars for the larger screen over what I paid for my sonar unit.

Humminbirds have the ability to map your own lake and use those maps with a Humminbird GPS/Sonar/Chart machine hooked up to a Minn Kota Trolling motor that will do a spot lock on a spot in the lake or you can make the trolling motor follow a certain depth contour on the map. Lake master Maps are used for this function or with the AutoChart Pro system.

One thing to remember when fishing by yourself is to have a good Coast Guard Approved life jacket. If you are letting the trolling motor/Sonar control your boat and you fall out of the boat the boat will keep on going without you. You may be in for a long swim back to shore. And if the winds are blowing and move your boat away from you after you fall out of the boat you may not be able to swim fast enough to catch up to the boat. Some lighter weight boats can be moved across the water pretty fast on a windy day. I once deployed an umbrella over my boat which acted like a sail on a sail boat and make my boat move faster on the water by the wind. I got lucky that the wind blew my boat up on the shoreline not too far away from me the day I fell out of the boat when fishing by myself. If the wind had been blowing from a different direction I would have had to swim to shore and walk around the 90 acre strip pit back to my vehicle to get help. Something we all should think about if fishing solo.