Sidescan, bow or console

[RH1]

Guys what is your preference.
If you can only afford 1 good side scan for your boat where would you mount it and why

[TroyBoy30]

Console cause that’s where I do all of my scanning. Unless you can mount the unit and spin it to see it from The bow

[Dan21XRS]

Console... On the bow it get's too distorted... the trolling motor is always moving in a back and forth way... Dan

[Fishysam]

console to learn for sure, trying to learn with distorted images would be harder and take longer

[TMG]

Another vote for console.

[akaslyguy]

Console

[Oldone]

I had a bow HB SV 598 on the trolling motor and never could get the interference out of it. I did everything except install a choke. I figured I had already spent $600 on the unit, I wasn't going to spend another $75 to try to get it to work! I wound up leaving the unit on the bow but moved the transducer to the stern. I also have a SV Garmin on the console. I really like the Garmin. What I have found is that SV is best for structure but traditional sonar is best for seeing fish. Just my opinion.

[RazorCat]

Console for side scan
Bow for down scan

[Jeffth]

Guess I'm the outlier here. I prefer sidescan on the bow, down on the console. I actively use the trolling motor to point the sidescan transponder at areas I'm interested in. I never found the smearing to be that big of a problem. I also haven't had any issues with interference, though I can see the potential to be problems there.

[WVBullet]

My side scan is on the console also. I do most of my sidescanning behind the wheel. Not saying I don’t like it on the bow, cause I do, but if only one, then on the console.

[Champ2005]

I have it both on the console and the bow. I find I do most of my side scanning from the helm. If I had to choose, I'd have it at the helm.

[kylemoodie]

Both! Use it way more on the helm though.

[Dh0ckey11]

Console if only one, it is nice to get the stern mounted transducer image on the bow unit though.

[Skunked again]

Is it an option to get spare bracket, power cord, transducer and mount it on bow? Then swap the MFD back and forth? With a Garmin 7x or 9x series echomap it's very easy to swap the MFD.
For distortion on the Trolling Motor, mount the transducer separate. Look at Podunk ideas.com, or fishing specialties.com, for some ideas.

[yanknbass]

good advice here, was wondering too.

[RH1]

Thanks for the advice guys.
I am leaning towards a swiveling gorilla mount and a bigger screen for viewing from the bow

[runt4561]

console only. side scan requires 3-5 mph for optimal scanning. the trolling motor can not sustain that speed for long.

[WWDIII]

Side Scan in the back. Down Scan in the front. I have a spotlite scan on my TM. its really doesn't work in spotlite scan mode, but great for down scan.

[Wayne P.]

If you get Side Imaging instead of Side Scan, it works very well at trolling motor speeds down to .1 mph. Just needs some movement for the Imaging pulses to scan. Distortion is not an issue at those slow speeds since you would have a very slow recording speed and you will turn the motor faster than it can be recorded. Side Imaging is adjustable for screen scroll speed.
I use Side Imaging a lot more at the bow than at the console since I fish at the bow. Side Imaging is a search tool and a fishing tool.

I turned the trolling motor several times in this screen shot while weaving through stumps checking for bass around bluegill beds. The three beds on the left are actually on the right, just had the motor turned 180 degrees those two times:



It is sort of useful at these speeds:



The DI image shows the shad changing direction when I scared them when I started the trolling motor briefly:

[TroyBoy30]

its def nice being able to control scroll speed of the screen