Quote Originally Posted by jp View Post
I'm looking at Humminbird and Lowrance to determine which is best. I'm willing to spend about $1200, but it is difficult understanding all the features. I like the Humminbird 898C HD SI, but need to determine the value of side imaging. What about the Lowrance HDS7. Lastly, is it worth the money to upgrade or should I just stay with a 5" screen which would be a little less.

I'm sure this is a frequent question, but would appreciate others input.

Thanks!
I love my Humminbird 898C SI unit and won't go fishing without it or something similar to that.

Some of the newer Humminbirds have a better screen display which can be seen easier in bright sunlight. I can see my unit when it's in the shade but it's much harder to see things on the screen in sunlight. I can make a digital recording and bring the SDHC card inside and put it into my computer and use some third party software to display the recording on my computer monitor and see much more detail than I can out in the field in the sunlight. As the room is darker than outside and my computer monitor is much larger than the screen on my Humminbird unit.

My recommendation is to get the biggest screen size and resolution that you can afford unless you are going to use it inside a house boat or something similar.