hey guys.....sadly I sold my bigger boat and I let my 998c SI go with it as I didnt care for the screen, it was almost 2 yrs old and I got good $ for it. I love the 958HD on my bow so I planned on upgrading anyway and selling it. I am gonna order a replacement 99x and Im leaning towards the 998HD model. Its over a 100 cheaper, and also comes w a GPS puck, I dont wanna use the internal gps even if I end up w a 999. I prefer to have my puck above my ducer for accurate spot marking, and thought I could even upgrade to the heading sensor w the 998 w little cost vs almost $200 w the 999.
My real question is on the 2D sonar quality. On my 998ci I ran a year old version of software to avoid the really pixelated 2D sonar on newer software versions, the SI was still very good w that software. I have installed some newer units for others but havent had them on the water, how is the 2D sonar in these new units? I realize I could never run that old software because I cannot go back to previous versions older than unit shipped with. I use SI only on reservoirs for locating schools of bait and wipers, otherwise its a dedicated chartplotter and sonar split unit for me. I thought about going to a 119x unit but Im going to just add a 85x unit over winter to maximize screen layout and size, its just the sonar quality that bothers me. Id really hate to go back to the pixelated hell of the current software on that older 998 unit. I almost wanna goto lowrance for the console but cant bring myself to it, Id get a 1159 in a hearbeat if I didnt need the SI but I do once in a while.....thanks in advance