Need Advice Re Humminbird vs. Lowrance Fishfinder for Lake Fishing

I need to get a new fish finder for boat fishing on Lake Almanor. I'm hoping that someone  who also uses a boat might give me some input.

I had transferred my Humminbird FF from Kayak days to my used boat.  But in the very wet year of 2017, when Oroville Dam almost blew, my RV flooded while stored near Lake Almanor.  While it was being repaired in Redding, my FF was stolen from it.  A friend gifted me a Garmin Echomp Chirp 735V.  I've been using it since then but I want to upgrade to something with better imaging and that can use Navionics charts.

I have been looking at either the Lowrance or Humminbird units:

          Humminbird HELIX 9 CHIRP GPS G4N Fish Finder/Chartplotter
 
          Lowrance HDS LIVE 9 Fish Finder/Chartplotter - Amer XD AI 3-in-1

I really haven't had time to study fish finders in depth and I want to take advantage of any sales that might be available at this time of the year. So, I am hoping some of you who have already studied the important considerations involved can give me some advice or pointers on what I should be aware of in terms of the pros and cons of these brands and units.

Thanks,

Doug

Both brands make good units, I can’t speak to those models. https://www.thegpsstore.com/ has had good pricing over the years.

For the Humminbird are you planning on linking a trolling motor, multiple units, downrigger, 360, or mega live imaging?

If not you don’t need the G4N. The N is for networking. You can get the other models cheaper.

EDIT. It looks like the 9 only comes in the networking model so ignore what I wrote.

Thanks for the input.

I'm not planning all those connections. My boat is an older used Tracker that doesn't justify adding a GPS guided trolling motor, although I would like to have one.  I decided to just try and invest in a better fish finder to make my ability to target fish more precise.  I do have a lot of input from others in my RV camp that aids my fishing efforts.

One reason to upgrade is that my Garmin doesn't accept Navionics charts so I am limited in fishing certain parts of the lake.  I did invest a lot of time mapping the west shore and the opposing shore of the peninsula, but that leaves me blind for a lot of areas in the lake where knowing the depths is crucial, especially for trolling.

I would like to get some input on how valuable the down imaging vs the side imaging is. I had both features on the Garmin unit but I found the resolution was not very good so I never really learned to use those features.  I think I'd like to invest the time to learn how to use these now if it's worthwhile.  I know they seem very good for targeting bass but most of us target mainly the big browns and rainbows and we usually use bait, jigs or trolling spoons depending on the time of the year.

I would like to best my 11 lb brown, but I might start targeting small mouth bass as they are so much fun to play.  So learning to use my fish finder more precisely might be useful for that.

It seems like the cost of the units really increases when you try to get the SI feature.  The SI transducer for the Humminbird Helix 9 adds $300 over the DI transducer, so maybe it's not worth it for what I need.

Anyway, I'm sure there are enough of you on this site that know the value of these features so any input would be appresciated.

Doug