Without Livescope, How Does Garmin UHD 93sv Compare?

[Greenhorn]

I’ve been a Humminbird guy for a while and have no experience with Garmin products. Livescope may be a few years away for me (but a possibility), so how does the sonar/side imaging, etc. compare with Humminbird? How about for ice fishing? Looking to upgrade from a Helix 7.
Thanks!

 

[Migrator Man]

I’ve been a Humminbird guy for a while and have no experience with Garmin products. Livescope may be a few years away for me (but a possibility), so how does the sonar/side imaging, etc. compare with Humminbird? How about for ice fishing? Looking to upgrade from a Helix 7.
Thanks!

Pretty awesome unit and that comes from a guy that has ran both Hummingbird and Lowrance. I haven’t used it ice fishing though. Not sure it would be better than the Helix. Cabelas has the Echomap ultra 106 on sale for $999 on Black Friday which is a killer deal. I would seriously consider that unit for the price.

 

[Captain Ahab]

They are good units. I've ran the non-UHD for 3 seasons and it's been good. Easy to update with the Active Captain app on your phone as well. I've had 2 birds in the past one was a Helix 10. Currently run both Lowrance and Garmin.

 

[Hamm's]

I love mine for ice fishing. I bought it with the idea of adding Livescope at some time.

 

[Allen Gamble]

I ran a bird on my boat/ice for a couple years. I actually preferred my Ice45 over my Helix on the ice. Seemed to have better live data, or a more timely return rate when jigging.

I currently run the 93sv UHD on my boat, it was my first season and I loved it. To me, there's no competition. Garmin wins easily, but I'm still relatively new to boat fishing electronics. I feel the ease of use is much better. The touch screen works amazing. It's much easier/quicker to navigate through the options of both choosing which mode you want to use, and then dialing that mode in for clarity. Like Ahab said, updating it is a breeze with active captain. That is a smokin deal for the 106.

I'm currently in the process of building my own livescope into an Apache box from Harbor Freight. When I bought my 93sv for open water last fall I knew there was no way I'd get to the ice without it.

Forgot to initially mention, the ice set up with the GT-10 transducer works well too. I used it last ice season. Response time was great for live action and easy to use with a split screen with the built-in Navionics maps when navigating. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR. If you buy the unit and get the GT-10 transducer, save yourself the money and build your own custom kit with a lithium battery. The Garmin ice shuttle sucks and is stupid heavy without lithium!

 

[Becker]

I was llooking to buy live scope. Garmin rep at Scheels ice show said h’bird is years behind on the live imaging. He said the next 3-4 years are gonna be a lot of new tech coming. Stuff is impossible to keep up with and who can afford new stuff every couple years. Gonna wait and see for time being. Can’t justify $3k for it now. Sad part is price will only increase.

 

[Kentucky Windage]

Going forward into 2021-2022 hard water and open water seasons, I’ll be running: an Echomap 73SV, 2 Echomap ultra 106SV’s, and a GPSMAP 1243XSV. This will cover mapping, chirp, down, side, and livescope sonars.

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I have a friend who is bird exclusively, and I think his down scan is set up better than mine. Other than that, I can’t go back to flip phones meaning: I play with touchscreen Garmins for flip phone bird prices and catch just as many fish. I was also lowrance prior to Garmin and I’m not disappointed.

 

[NDbowman]

Lack of touch screen on the bird is kind of annoying but Mega 360 looks pretty amazing for hard or open water but birds Mega live looks like it sucks compared to Livescope. Doesn't even look as good as the orginal panoptix. But Garmins perspective mode doesn't look all that great either compared to mega 360.

Mega 360 looks like it would fit my fishing style a little better but can't get one. Try to order one and its 2 to 12 week back order.

I really want one or the other for ice fishing but it looks like the ideal setup would be both. Mega 360 to find em, livescope to watch em as you catch em.

 

[Auggie]

 

[MuskyManiac]

That is a great video, and just from a few days ago.