Fishing Equipment
Need Help Choosing New Lowrance Unit(s)
5/3/12 @ 9:41 AM
Hello,
I have a Ranger 620. I have been running 2 Lowrance 104c units since I purchased the boat in 2005. Well, one of the units stopped working and I am looking to upgrade. I will continue to run the one 104c that still works as my depth finder at the bow. I am mulling around the idea of getting a Hds-10 or two Hds-7 units at the console. The Hds-10 would be split screen for navigation and sonar. The two Hds-7 units would have one dedicated to navigation and the other for sonar. At this time, I am not interested in the downscan or sidescan stuff. Maybe at some point in the future that stuff will interest me, but it can be added later.
Thanks in advance for advice and opinions.
Bones
Displaying 1 to 6 of 6 posts
well was a hummingbird guy till i bought a new rig this spring, came with lowrance and i felt as if 5 holes in the back of the boat was enough and decided to keep the lowrance stuff. i have a hds8 and a 7 networked with structure scan on both units. do not now about headaches as the new hds's are extremely easy to use. i like the soft keys on the 8 and would love if they would add them to the 7's as well. i would go with a hds8 with soft keys, buy the base model and add the new lakemaster digital charts with 1ft contour lines. bought the hotmaps for the 7 and hate it. sold it and using the lakemaster on the 8 networked to the 7 also the structure scan and side scan are just as easy and just as comparible to the hummingbird i had on my last boat. was really kicking myself in the shorts for letting the dealer talk me into the lowrance units but after using them the last few months i have come to like the lowrance units as much as the birds. my suggestion would be to go to scheels or anywere that sells both units and go play for a few hours and buy the one you like and can figure out the easiest. good luck.
outdoorsguy is wrong about lakemaster also, they just came out with a chip i believe late last year or early this year. bought it 2 months ago. would rather have it than the insight maps. just mho
esoxbones,I knew that was going to happen.get what YOU want,I have both in my boat LCX 111 hd up front and a HB 898c si/di in the back.(tiller boat)
But if I were you I would get 2 of the HDS 7 and the LSS-1 and it looks like you would pay about the same for a HDS 10 w/o LSS-1.
If you are replacing them both, I would look at Humminbird. They bought Lakemaster and their units are now the only ones compatible with the Lakemaster chips. Lakemaster blows Navionics away as far as accuracy and the number of lakes they have actually surveyed themselves to get higher definition.
Also, when I ran Lowrance units I never had any problems with them but lately I have seen allot of complaints on various message boards about their quality and their customer service the last few years.
Displaying 1 to 6 of 6 posts


