Originally Posted by
Marc Marcantonio
Depending on how you use new technology, and what you want from it, can determine how useful it is. A friend of mine added LiveScope to his previously all Lowrance system just because he wanted a competitive advantage for tournaments. It has not helped him, and I would argue it has hurt him for tournament success by his results. Now this could be that he hasn't made the necessary adjustments so I am not disparaging the technology; just making an observation.
He clearly has improved his crappie success, but his bass success has declined. I suspect the range is one reason, as he is fishing closer to his targets in order to see them, and maybe they are also now aware of his presence and are spooked. Having fished with him and his LiveScope, there is no doubt his system has the "cool" factor, and it is neat to see the fish swim. We typically fish deep water so shallow situations would be different, but I often catch more bass from the back of his boat than he catches using his LiveScope because I cast much farther to unseen targets, and likely to bass that don't know we are there. IMHO he tends to sit on bass he sees too long, with little to show for it.
Conversely, my LiveSight shows me fish also. Not as pretty as his LiveScope does, but I see more fish, and further away. I don't see the close-in detail he gets at all; no comparison. If I was fishing crappie and other panfish, his does a better job. But as a bass angler and also saltwater angler, my LiveSight is very useful and hopefully one day it can provide even more range. I do believe long range and fine detail are hard to obtain in affordable units. Personally because bass are such effective predators, I'll take range over detail any day of the week. Of course the ability to switch to long range (at the expense of detail) and back to close range with detail would be a welcomed addition.
As some have heard me say before, I also liked my SpotLightScan, and miss having it. At first I hated it, and realized that the problem I was having was my ability to control the scanning with my trolling motor. Once I adjusted my steering cable tension properly, and added a TrollTamer, and learned how fast to scan, it became a valuable tool. Unfortunately the complaints hurt the sales before we learned how to make adjustments, so Lowrance dropped it instead of improving it. Now the developer is doing it for the competition. It is all good in the end, as competition affects business models, and keeps ensuring manufacturers have to innovate to stay relevant.
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