Sonar/GPS unit

[captpierre]

Hi gang.

 

The boss has given me the go ahead to get a new combo Sonar/GPS ( I owe her big).

 

At this point I have a black and white Lowrance sonar and a hand held Garmin GPS.

 

I'll be fishing the St Lawrence this summer for the first time and am worried about the rocks and my lower unit.

 

I'm looking at the Lowrance HDS line. The website makes them sound awesome. Does anybody have one or know anything about them?

 

They come in 5, 7, 8 and 10 inch models. I don't want to spend more than I have to, but I think the 5 inch screen might be too small.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

 

Thanks, Peter

[DRIFTER_016]

I think you can get by with the 5". I know I have for the past 15 years.

But when I upgrade, look out!!!

 

[ecmilley]

hds are awesome units, as for screen size get the largest you can afford, when you use the split screen for the gps/sonar it'll be a better picture

[pikeie]

The lodge im working at this summer got the Lowrance HDS for all the boats! i cant wait to see how they preform!!

[trapshooter]

I'll start by saying that I'm Lowarnce guy.... but I've heard (however, unconfirmed) reports that Lowarnce is having problems with the internal antennas on the new HDS units. Something you may want to research more before you drop the big bucks on a HDS unit.

 

I agree with getting the largest screen size you can afford, and colour is not just a luxury - it's the real deal, totally awesome.

 

Look into a Lowrance X-37. It's not HD but it is one sweet GPS/Sonar combo.

 

Good luck!!

[sonny]

humminbird,,,,they have the best gps/sonar units on the market!

[Billy Bob]

I am also a big Lowrance fan but the HDS units are having a TON of problems. Some are even filling up with water when it rains. They are NOT compatible with Navionics maps. They are working on a software update that was suppose to come out in April.....now sometime in May. Here's a site that talks about the many issues the HDS units are having.

 

http://bbcboards.zeroforum.com/zeroforum?id=13

[scugpg]

If you can find a LMS 522igps get one of those!

[Billy Bob]

If you can find a LMS 522igps get one of those!

 

Or a LMS 520c unit, but good luck finding either right now. Lowrance stopped making them for the HDS units. I think I got the last 520 unit in April from Reeds for the bow of my boat. Just finished networking it to the 520 on the console. Great combo having both units networked together sharing waypoints and transducers.

 

Hopefully Lowrance gets all the bugs out of their HDS units but they should never have released them with all the problems they are having, especially when they knew they had a software problem of not being able to read Navionics maps.

 

Now the one good thing about the HDS units besides the fantastic clarity is that sometime this year they are releasing a add on that will make the HDS units into side scanners just like the VERY expensive Humminbird units. How much this add on option will cost is anyone's guess. I heard that they purchased the technology from Humminbird.

 

Bob