H/B 898 vs. 998 SI

[bigjc]

Ok this may sound like a silly question, but...I am shopping Humminbirds right now, and I am torn between the 898 and 998 ci HD SI???

Now I know that there is a school of thought that says buy all that you can afford, but bottom line is this.  There is about a $400 - $500 difference in the two units, and the only difference that I see is ONE INCH in screen size.

Any advice?  Has anyone used both???  or am I missing something else?
$400-$500 seems like a lot of money for a one inch larger screen.

PLEASE SHARE ANY ADVICE...

[Mike S.]

That does seem like a lot of money for one more inch of screen.  But, the more screen you have, the better your view when you run your split screens. I say get the biggest one you want to pay for. I bought the 1197 last year. Still learning how to use it, but it is awesome.

Shop around. There are lots of places to buy from. Check with any place that sells them, even online. I got mine from eBay, brand new with full warranty, and saved a good amount of cash.

[motocross269]

My new boat has the 900 series both front and back...They are nice no doubt.....

My last boat had Lowance X28s..They were about the same size as the HBIRD 800s....I thought they were fine....

If it was me I would save the 500 bucks and go with the 800s.....If you were a Pro and counted on Electronics to cash checks it would be a different story..The 800 series will do everything you need it to do at our level....

Take the 500 bucks that you saved and take a couple of extra days off to fish....Or just go buy more tackle at the show..

[bigmojet]

I bought the HB 798 last year. After researching, the 800 series was a bigger screen, but the majority of  the screen size increase on the 800 was for information shown on the border and not actual fish finding screen.

I wish I could of got the 900 but was to much  price differential.

I am very  happy with the 798 though as it has found cover/structure with the si I never would have known on my local lakes.

[Bender]

In the next month it seems that HB has a software upgrade coming out that will extend the SI image to cover the whole screen. I REALLY want this update to cover my 997 too: http://www.crappie.com/crappie/fishing-electronics-trolling-motors/197388-humminbird-2012-software-release-removable-readouts-898-999-side-imaging-units.html
This may affect your choice because it effectively increases the screen size.

[djkimmel]

Please remember if you are thinking about buying from ebay, Basspro.com, Cabelas, Amazon, Walmart - any of those for electronics (or anything) and you are talking about it on here - give some credit to GreatLakesBass.com and help us keep the doors open by clicking through our links FIRST to these websites before you buy, before you put your item in your shopping cart!

Links for Basspro, Bass Tackle Depot, ebay, Amazon and Cabelas are on ALWAYS on the right edge of the forum above the weather box. I thank you very much if you remember to do that! This does not change the price you pay at all and sometimes we have access to unannounced, online-only special prices too!!

[SethV]

I went with a 998 & a 997 vs the 800 series.  Same size box, I wanted the big screen.  Fishing open water, the sonar is the most important thing on the boat.

[Firefighter Jeff]

  I had this same dilemma last spring. After using the 898 this past season I've come to this conclusion.  A larger screen would have been nice, but for me personally, not worth paying the extra money.

[djkimmel]

It's like the old recommendations I got as a beginner about buying a new outboard - always buy the most horsepower you can afford. A balancing act. Get the biggest screen you can afford. Regardless, it is amazing what side imaging does for finding things! Almost as much fun as catching fish off the things you find!

[REEL_MAN]

I have the 998 at the console and if I had the room up front I would get one up front. That "ONLY ONE INCH" is really big when it comes to investigating new areas. Go for the 998!

[fiker]

I have the 898.  Yes there is a 1" difference between the two screens, but it is a diagonal 1" which makes the difference even less. 

IMO there isn't $500 worth of difference. 

[LennyB]

Thinking you plan to make this your console unit, is the bow unit capable of being linked to the HB 898/998 so they can share waypoints. Is so, buy the most unit you can justify, either unit will be great. If you don't have a linkable gps up front, I would buy the 898 and use the extra cash to buy a HB GPS/fishing finder unit for the front so the two can share waypoints via interlink. This is a big plus to have.

[fiker]

That's exactly what I did.  Bow and helm are interlinked together.   
Plus the 898 can be swiveled around to become visible from the bow.  The only thing is everything I see is backwards, and about 6' farther back.

[bigjc]

For the bow unit, I believe that I have decided to go w/ the HB 597.  Not sure if they can be linked or not?