What a pain in the a%4 this has been. I've been doing my research and talking with guides and boat owners about which brands to consider. Needless to say, ask enough people and they will mention each brand. I settled down with Lowrance and was going to purchase the HDS 8 Gen 2 with the Structure Scan. Then I bumped it down to the HDS 7. There's two transducers and they have to be placed properly or your outboard will shadow on the screen. My Jones Brothers 19'10 LT has trim tabs so that eats up transom space......
I like a one stop store like **** ****** but really wish there was a dealer store or marine electronics store where you could bring your boat and find out which set up would work best...and a wet demo would be great. In the last week I have been in the store for hours and on the phone with both **** ****** and Lowrance for the same amount of time.
People take electronics of all kinds for granted, kind of like here it is, buy it......and if you don't like it just return or if you do like it it will be outdated in a year or two.
Hey, it's almost a $2,000 investment......I'm taking this seriously!