Sonar help?

[Parasite]

Need to upgrade the sonar on my boat. I will be fishing the sound, lakes, and rivers. No open ocean. Target species: lingcod, salmon, sturgeon, yellow perch, burbot. I won't be doing ng any trolling. Any help? Some neat new technologies over the last 20 years. My boat came with a Lowrance HDS5x but I'm not tied to a particular brand.

[Bill W]

does your current fishfinder take map chips?  Unless you need (want) a bigger screen a high def map chip might be all you need.

[Parasite]

No mapping capability, hence one reason for wanting an upgrade. Limited selection at SportCo today. West Marine seem more focused on Raymarine and Simrad. And Cabela's and Bass Pro are closed.

[Stein]

How much are you looking to spend?

[Parasite]

Let's say up to $2000 for the time being.

[Stalker]

Let's say up to $2000 for the time being.

Check out the site below, they have some of the best pricing.  HDS system are pretty hard to beat for the $$ and should do everything you are looking to do. Plus they are pretty easy to expand the supporting links on your boat, i.e. connect your boats power systems to it to see fuel consumption, performance etc., and plenty of navigations capabilities, radar, chart plotter and such.

http://getfeetwet.com/

[Stein]

I have used Lowrance for about 20 years as well as a few other random units that came with used boats.  I currently have the 7" Ti and it's a great unit for salt and fresh water.  I have it hooked up to an AIS radio which is a great combo for salt water in the fog or dark.

For $2k, you could jump up to the 9" which gives better visibility from the front as well as the back of the boat and I would have done that if I had the cash and room on the dash.

You can get a 9" Lowrance HDS with transducer for right at $2k.  For salt, I would highly suggest also getting an AIS equipped radio, they start at $300.

Garmin units are also good, my buddy has one and I like using that one as well.  I think most major manufacturers are producing quality units, pick the one you like and learn it.

A few things to consider are stuff like autopilot, engine display, NMEA 200 stuff and what type of freshwater imaging you want to do.  I don't worry about any of that stuff so those weren't a concern when I bought and I don't have any advice there.

Finally, if you have a firm budget, make sure to pencil out accessories like electronic charts, installation stuff (fuse box, wiring, etc), radios, antenna (if going AIS), NMEA backbone, etc.  If all you want is the transducer and display, it should be just a few bucks to get it installed but if you want the other stuff it adds up fast.

[Wetwoodshunter]

Furuno 1971f
You can get one with a transducer for around $1,000. 9" display puts everything to shame other than Garmin. I have one on my sport boat and I love it 100x more than the multi thousand dollar unit on the charter I ran last year.

If touchscreen is not your thing don't go for it. But I love it because it works just like a phone. If you can think of what you want to do just jump through the menus and do it, everything is explicitly labeled.

My transducer is an Arimar P66. Also these take C-map not navonics so if you get a chip make sure you get the right one. My chip covers the whole coast and up like 60 miles into canada.🇨🇦

[Bill W]

$2K would buy way more than you need.  One thing I'd do when you figure out which you want is add a map chip to it.  Before you buy the chip make sure the lakes you want to fish are listed on the chip.  Navionics chips seem to be better for saltwater (in my opinion).  I like Humminbird fishfinders for freshwater.     Here's a link to a humminbird sale site:   https://fishfinders.factoryoutletstore.com

[blackpowderhunter]

get something chirp capable and then run a medium chirp transducer.
should be a good do all system for the most part.  you talk about suspended, and bottom fish though...bottom detail and structure you want low chirp...so thats why id recommend medium as a solid choice.
im a big fan of garmin stuff.  go with the biggest screen you can afford/fit.
something like a garmin gpsmap 942xs with a simple GT23M transducer would serve you well. and leave money for more stuff.
if you really want to target bottom structure/fish you need to start looking at dual frequency capable units or units that can run two ducers.  a dual frequency ducer that would be something like a high/low combo transducer...but the 1KW chirp dual frequency's are over 1K just for the transducer...not too many guys targetting yellow perch with a 1KW 
the GT23M is a 600W chirp, and should serve you fairly well in my opinion and is pretty affordable at 199 new.
when you say no trolling, are you mooching or jigging for the salmon?

[lokidog]

I've really like the Totalscan on my HDS. It has helped me to learn to read the regular image better.

[Parasite]

when you say no trolling, are you mooching or jigging for the salmon?

Probably just jigging. I've never tried mooching before. I just know trolling is just boring to me.