With side imaging can you see them suspended around pilings? I haven’t had a working depth finder in years and I’m thinking of getting something in the 300 range.

Yes sir. If I were in the market for one, I'd check out bass boat central. You could get alot more unit for the price of a new one.

Nothing shows crappie like a garmin panoptics. It is a game changer for panfish. You will be amazed how may crappie are under a dock or bridge piling

An wont bite nothin..lol

LOL @ CLIMBER

LOL ... Hurts a lot of feeling knowing they are there and you can't get them to bite don't it??

In all seriousness....that panoptix is undoubtedly the best medicine for tight lipped crappie...because...if youve fished for them enough..you know that crappie will bite its just a matter of what mood they are in..what the water is doin..where they are in the column..the temperature and time of year...they will bite..eventually its just a matter of bein there when they do an feedin them what they want..if youve foundem with your panoptix...you gotem..they just dont knowit yet...then if that dont work just throw a cast net onem

I can usually find them and catch them but as crappie do they move around a lot and it gets tough. I was wearing them out one morning this spring and a bass boat idled by and said it looked liked a thousand crappie on the two columns I was fishing. I’m trying to figure if down/ side would suit me best.

I have a Helix 10 MEGA SI and don't know near enough about it to extract all it will do but the MEGA imaging is great. Easily picks out individual fish or schools. That being said, I went with Fur one evening on his boat and that Panoptix IS a game changer and the price has come way down. We pulled up on a school of crappie and could see our jig drop down into the school, individual and groups of crappie swim to it and just watch it sink. That was about 40 feet from the cooling fish and it was amazing.

I'd be glad to come up one day and take you in my boat and we could play with the Helix and let you see what it does as far as my experience will take us.

If your choice is between SI or DI, get the SI 100 times out of 100.



I still say that I was too busy that day guiding to fish! It's been a while since I went back to that spot. I went back this past Tuesday. That spot was loaded with fish. Many more than the day you and I went. Eva dern one of them that we caught was a white bass about 6" long!

Thanks y’all and I might just take you up on the offer Wiley.

Your also welcome to go with with me ridge. I'm up your way all the time anyways.

You won’t find a side imager for $300 that will show you fish other than shad. I’m not really sure you can get a side imager at all for $300. I have a helix 10 with mega si and if i trolling motor right beside a dock i can see every crappie on the end of it, especially in deeper water. It is truly amazing how many are under there and how few will eat though. I’ve been to piers and see easily 50 under it and only 2 or 3 will eat.

There is or was a factory updated Helix 5 SI on a FB sale page for $300 with a new/unused transducer from Humminbird. I'm not sire a 5 inch is worth it though. I have a 7 and 10 and the 7 is as small as I would spend new money on.

I looked at them today but didn’t buy one. I seen that I need to spend 2x what I was planning.

Does the lorwance hook 7x have SI? Academy has them on sale for $249.

no

Garmin 5sv. 5” screen, DI and Si. $299 at academy. I have the same thing but with a 7” screen. Great unit for the money