What I look for:
Diving/scanning for fresh water wrecks in New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee (found 11 this year, 20 in the last 3 years) and other lakes; Also dive/scan alot in the Connecticut River bordering NH/VT; With my Humminbird 1197 I look for wrecks, cars, objects of interest of any kind-big on history so horsebarges, barges, steamers; Also do some search work for bodies, outboards etc. once in a while; I use it when I scallop dive off Mass. only to pin down the gravel beds vs. rock where lobster is. Ocean as a rule is a bit too rough to get any quality images-heave is always a problem to some extent unless I;m in say a protected harbor like Gloucester; I think I have a plane in Buzzards Bay;
Depths:
For all of the above less than 150 feet; 150 is the max, most often more like 100 or less; No real wreck hunting in the ocean due to size limitation of my boat as well as present limitations of the HBird (hull-mounted ducer and all);
Budget:
I would have to say no more than $10K. I am a real fan of side-scan and it seems for a tow-fish-based system general choices are something well under $8,000 or well over $30,000 (this assumes new equipment v.s used) such as EdgeTech, MarineSonic etc.. I don't want a Fishers;
So far I haven't seen anything or know of anything that compares to the StartFish in terms of capability and price. While 990khz is way up there I do have lots of uses for that frequency and the range according to their specs for 990 is about 200 feet L/R combined which also works for me. The 400khz options are viable too but I won't buy anything until spring because I don't want the warranty to run while it sits in my basement thru a New Hampshire winter.
I would like to know about other towed systems aside from StarFish thank you!