New member & sonar question

[Phishintn]

Hello All,
new member to the forum here.  Actually new to forums in general.  I live in Nashville and have been here a couple years.  I try to fish once or twice a week, more when the suns out long enough to fish after work.

Anyway, i am looking to get a sonar this year.  Not super expensive, but maybe up to $500.  I've gotten along fine without them, but I want something that i can track baitfish down a little easier with.  I used to have a humminbird tx something that came on an old center console i bought when I was at UT in Knoxville a few years ago, but didnt really use it for anything other than depth.  Dont have that boat anymore.  I use a 15.4 gheenoe and a jackson sup now if i'm not wading, so i'd want a smaller unit to put on the gheenoe. 

I fish rivers 95% of the time.  Do you think side imaging is worth the extra $$?
 
I really like the newer Raymarine Dragonfly units cause they use chirp and you can sync to your phone with blue tooth.
otherwise, i'd probably be looking at the Humminbird Helix with down and side imaging.

I dont really need gps, but if it comes with it, so be it. 


Opinions?

Thanks

[Phishintn]

thanks, i'll check it out.

I'm pretty much fly fish only unless i'm catfishing so I figured I'd check here first.  See what others suggest for sonars since alot of times we're in skinnier water than gear guys.

[Bfish]

Nick Brown (Chattanooga Kayak Bassers and TN Kayak Anglers facebook groups) had two Dragonflys for $400 each, which I thought was a pretty good deal.  Although, I know nothing about them, been 10 years since I bought one.  My old man has a newer Lowrance on his Carolina Skiff that he likes, I am clueless as to which model it is.

[fairweatherfish]

The side technology is great, but is not very helpful in the smaller units. In my experience they just don't have enough pixels to show you what you need to see. I've not seen the Helix so I don't know if it has overcome that problem.

[MikeA]

IMHO the base models are all the graph you need for locating baitfish. I don't even keep up with them anymore because they are all pretty capable nowadays. I can't see a need for side scan for rivers personally. You can spend as much as you like but if you know how to operate a graph just about any of them from $150 and up will do what you need.

[Phishintn]

roger that.  preciate the input.