Need Help Choosing New Lowrance Unit(s)

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.

I wouldn't buy any Lowrance unit. Unless you want headaches!

I would go with two 7s. I have a 7 gen2 and a 5 . I would buy one 7 for now and get the LS1 before another unit. The side imaging and down scan are unbelievable then next year get another unit. I will post some side and down imaging pics.