The wide side part is pretty lame. It kinda sorta gives you a feel if something is out there, but it doesn't really impress me. The regular down looking sonar works pretty good, but watch out for severe thermoclines that may show up as false bottoms. It wil look like the bottom, with fish swimming under it. And It's not real reliable at high speeds, might be the way my transducer is mounted ot the way my boat rides, but at full throttle, it skips, and blanks the screen, and I gotta slow down till it gets it brain back. Not a bad unit for a cheapie, but just not real high speed at all.