Best Side Imaging

[TNTreeman]

I am in the market for a new gps/sonar unit.Would love some input on which brand to buy.Humminbird seems to be a bit cheaper,but if i'm gonna spend that much money,i want the best.Please help.thanks

 

[tnfatguy]

I love my humminbird. emoSmile

 

[m17glock]

there are pro's and cons to both . image wise they are pretty much equal . ease of install goes to humminbird with just the display,transducer and (if you get the external gps ) the gps puck.
with lowrance you have the display,transducer, gps and lss module (which needs a power hook up as well) .
add features goes to lowrance with the capability of on the water radar,xm satellite tv , weather radar (humminbird does have xm weather radar) and engine monitoring (if you have a 2002 or newer mercury)

the big one is customer service though which humminbird has and lowrance does not in my experience .

feel free to give me a call and i can go into more detail

303-8982
david

 

[Oldman]

h-bird

 

[Labman]

Probably either brand will make you happy. Just my recent experience with Lowerance customer service. I lost side and down scan on my front unit. It was still working at the dash, so called Lowerance and rep there told me to try a couple of things to isolate the problem, and that it probably was a bad ethernet cable. If after testing I felt cable was bad, call him back. Did that and he sent out a new cable that day at no charge. Had it in 2 days. So perhaps they are working to improve there service. I have been very pleased with my 2 lowerance units.

Regards, Labman

 

[fishnboy]

2nd on hummingbird.But if you buy the chip dont get the cheaper ones.I wished I would haved spent a little my money on my chip.

 

[Doug V]

m17glock - 10/24/2011 5:33 AM

add features goes to lowrance with the capability of on the water radar,xm satellite tv , weather radar (humminbird does have xm weather radar) and engine monitoring (if you have a 2002 or newer mercury)

Humminbird has Radar, and NEMA 2000 Compatibility (Allows you to monitor engine, fuel etc sensors on the graph) for 2012 so both of these can be added plus the New Ethernet Hub will allow multiple Ethernet devices to be hooked and networked together.

Like others mentioned Humminbird is all inclusive the Side Imaging unit give you Switchfire Dual Beam 2D Soanr, DownImaging, Side Imaging, GPS Mapping with a 50 Channel 4X per second refresh rate (Indusry leading standard equipment), 800, 900 & 1100 Series get 2 Year warranty when you sign up at www.humminbirdselect.com lots of features packaged in these Humminbirds as standard equipment...plus I like the simplicity to operate and added features like Favorite preset buttons with 2 button clicks you can view 9 favorite screens, 3 in one button click. Waterproof and they float too! And Assembled in America at Eufuala, Alabama manufacturing facilities.

If you have any questions let me know.

 

[bronzeback45]

I prefer lowrance but that my opinion. Get what you can afford. I have 2 HDS 7's and structure scan. With lowrance you have the fishing hot spots mapping which shows roadbeds and other stucture that navionics doesn't. I think the sonar is better too. You have a 2 year warranty too with no charge. Check out some of these screen shots on bass boat central. http://www.bbcboards.net/zerothread?id=463672&page=7

 

[churly]

My side scan image on my Lowrance is much easier to read than the hummingbird image that my partners 1197 puts up. I grew up using lowrance and the menu flows easier imo. Also, the map and the 2d sonar pics are much better, in my opinion.

 

[bass15]

I like my HDS10. The side imaging is so easy to read. Like Churly said the menus are gravy.

 

[bass15]

I like my HDS10. The side imaging is so easy to read. Like Churly said the menus are gravy.

 

[bronzeback45]

Wished I had the HDS 8 with themenu keys, It would make it a lot easier to fine tune than on my hd7's emoAngry.

 

[TNTreeman]

Thanks for the input.I have decided to buy a humminbird or a lowrance lol.It looks like they are both quality units.

 

[cast4bass]

If you buy the Lowrance go with an HDS8 like Bronzeback45 said either on the bow or console whichever location you will use the most because it is much easier to use the buttons on the 8 or 10 than the menu on the 5 or 7. Bronzeback45 helped me with mine and I can really see some detail. There is a sunken boat in CFP and I can see the seats and all. I just bought a chip so I can start saving some images and analyzing them at home. Good luck with your purchase. Also Tom Jr at Fish and Fun does a good job of installing and will give you some great on the lake training and customer service as well.

 

[hippi97]

Humminbird all the way..

 

[puddle jumper]

emoHijack
Not to hi-jack but on the same lines how good is the lake insight on the lowrance, or is it better to get a base unit with a chip???
Great info im looking at getting a HDS8 in the next couple of weeks...
Thanks,,
PJ

 

[bronzeback45]

I would get base map and buy the insight hd chip which 4 times greater zoom levels that the HDS with insight. Here is a linkfor you.</p>

http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Mapping/Insight-HD/Lake-Insight-HD/</p>

 

[cast4bass]

Rebates up to $200 available right now on Lowrence

 

[T Roy]

If I was going to buy me a upgrade today it would with be without a doubt a hummingbird Brian runs a 1197 on his boat an never had a problem with