Hello Parole and welcome to the forum!
I bought my 981 last year in January and screwed it up on the first day. Not the unit's but my fault, because I tried to update and wasn't aware of the fact that the unit had to be reset to factory default before updating.
I was annoyed, but got excellent customer's service from G-Comm in the UK where I bought the unit. I had another problem when the unit shut off or the screen froze, but that was due to a defective battery on the boat. Another time I locked up the unit when trying to update, but could it back running by the help of some of the guys here on the forum.
After being a HB user for one year now, I state that my bird is a good and reliable machine as long as one is looking after it and knows how to update and handle it decently. All the problems I ran into were user related
. The only regret I have: I didn't get a 1197. Its bigger screen is something really like to have, but that isn't aproofed by my "better half"
.
I bought my Bird for wreck searching and I had to learn a lot about how Side Imaging is working, but being enthusiastic and committed, it didn't take long and I had success in wreck searching: Within the first two month on the water I found one missing sail boat and three other unknown wrecks. A fifth boat I discovered in August last year. Read more about it here:
http://forums.sideimagingsoft.com/index.php?board=56.0As for fishing I cannot give you advice, but reading posts of other guys here and in the other "unofficial" HB forum, I think that it's an excellent investment for that purpose as well.
The down imaging came out new and I guess this was HB's answer to L's structure scan. You can use the unit as a regular 2D fishfinder, sure. The SI can go out up to 360 feet to the side while the 2D cone is going downwards. Robert posted some explaining pics here:
http://forums.sideimagingsoft.com/index.php?action=media;sa=album;in=16and you can also check here:
http://www.humminbird.com/leading_innovation/humminbird-sonar/side-imaging.aspxI think you'll not regret buying a Bird and reading through here will give you a good start to learn more about Side Imaging. If you got questions ---> ask! There are a lot of people around here who are more experienced than me and willing to help with their expertise.
Regards from Germany / Harry