What fish finders have side scan?

[Ken07AOVette]

I watched a guy use one last year, said "there is a fish 70' to the left", I want that.

Are they only high end, or do can tire units do this?

[bobalong]

Just the higher end Humminbirds, and Lowrance has copied the technology, only they call theirs structure scan. Just available on their higher end units as well. I don't believe you will find them in Canadian Tire, not in the Edmonton stores anyway.

[Ken07AOVette]

Just the higher end Humminbirds, and Lowrance has copied the technology, only they call there's structure scan. Just available on their higher end units as well. I don't believe you will find them in Canadian Tire, not in the Edmonton stores anyway.

Chit :mad0030:

Thns Bob.

[chubbdarter]

bob...didnt the company who made the portable fish finder that took all the d batteries make a side scan?

[SushiUnagi]

They're called the Side Imaging on Humminbirds and Structure Scan on Lowrance.

Cheapest Humminbird that has it is the 796 ~$900.

Yeah they're pretty awesome because you can even pinpoint by marking the structure in that mode then flip to GPS to return to that location.

[chubbdarter]

googled...fishing buddy
and got side tracked
http://www.fishingbuddygirls.com/fishing_buddy_calendar_girls_2009

[bobalong]

bob...didnt the company who made the portable fish finder that took all the d batteries make a side scan?

That was BottomLine/Cannon, who was bought out by Johnson Controls which also bought Humminbird and owns Minn-Kota as well.

[Ken07AOVette]

googled...fishing buddy
and got side tracked
http://www.fishingbuddygirls.com/fishing_buddy_calendar_girls_2009

June November December not necessarily in that order, Rinse repeat.

[chubbdarter]

June November December not necessarily in that order, Rinse repeat.

you'll be out of socks before you get to month 4

[bearbait]

i have the hummin bird and it is awsome!! best way to find stucture bar none..like at slave lake to find dunes man u cant keep them off your hook... do yourself a favor and get one..best fish finder ever..
rob:sHa_shakeshout:

[Daceminnow]

i have the hummin bird and it is awsome!! best way to find stucture bar none..like at slave lake to find dunes man u cant keep them off your hook... do yourself a favor and get one..best fish finder ever..
rob:sHa_shakeshout:

at slave if your tubs in the water you can't keep em off your hook rob.

[bearbait]

true enough but funny how many blank out there every may long..lol..i leave at 10 am...hey i come wallys

[Big Red 250]

I had a portable, I'm sure it was by BottonLine. pretty sure I bought it at TFH several years ago, sold it with my boat 2 years ago. It worked great. I think I paid $249 or so, maybe even less. It took 3 "C" batteries, I think it did. I also think it went to 240 ft depth and 120 ft to the side.

[some guy]

Humminbird Fishin' Buddies 120 and 140 have side finders.
The side finders do not show structure, just distance to the fish.
They have the 120 on Can Tire website.

[stc77]

humminbird has it all built in, if you go with a Lowrance, you have to buy the finder and then by buy the structure scan unit separately and add it in. Humminbird is nice cuz its all included. Lowrance did just come out with the DSI version which has a down imaging sonar built into the unit, which is pretty nice. But id still go with the humminbird. I saw a nice one at wss in Calgary that was on sale for around 800 last time i was in there.

[Ken07AOVette]

Thanks guys, this is just for the little aluminum 'duck boat' so an expensive finder isn't going to happen. I was hoping there were cheaper models.

[stc77]

Thanks guys, this is just for the little aluminum 'duck boat' so an expensive finder isn't going to happen. I was hoping there were cheaper models.

Check out the lowrance 5XDSI... it's a little cheaper than the others, still offers some of the structure scan features. It's a nice little unit.

[CnRWalleyePro]

I use a HB 798c si that I picked a year ago from GPS central. I love it. I can honestly say that I have used the side imaging to locate fish,then used the arrows to move the cursor across the screen to mark the fish, then mark the way point with a button press, then use the go to waypoint feature to find the spot, then drop a line and catch fish. I've done that on slow fishing days and it produced some fish. I'll never be without one again. Great unit. The gps features also let you load your waypoints into computer software and import them to Google earth. Then with a little creativity and a bathymetry map you can mark drops and structure spots onto your SD cards and load them into your GPS fish finder without ever having to have been on the lake before. I use this feature often for lakes I've never fished. It gives you a good starting point anyway. I also like the navioncs maps features that this finder has. Really, for $800 you get a great finder with side imaging, a GPS, the ability to create your own waypoints and without ever being on a lake and for the exta $169 you can have the hotmaps lake charts.

I realize not everyone wants to spend $1000 on a fish finder but I'm sure glad I splurged on mine. Well worth it IMO. :)

[32-40win]

The fishin buddy is ok for letting you know there is something there in the area around you. It'll pickup out to about 60ft, but is unidirectional, have to turn it if you want to check the whole area around you. I have occasionally caught fish by moving over to a area it was marking fish in. And it beats 8-900.00 by a long shot. Works good on a pontoon boat, with a bigger boat you just have to go slow or pull it out to cruise.

[Slannesh]

I picked up a Fishin buddy 120 a month ago from TFH and am liking it so far. doesn't have true side scan sonar that shows structure and everything but it does let you know when there's fish out there. I'm liking it so far.