Lets talk fish finders

[Lunker777]

So I have been trying to decide which brand , Lowrance or Humminbird, and I cant seem to come to a decision.

 

I have been comparing the 700HD SI/DI Humminbirds vs the HDS5..... and the 800 series vs the HDS7

My first decision has to be screen size obviously.

I really can't see my self staring at a 5 " screen trying to decipher Side scan and down scan images.... Is anyone running the 700 series SI/DI humminbirds or HDS5 w/ LSS and have any comments on the size of screen ? Is it taxing after a day of fishing to look at a screen that size ?

 

I have found a close out sale on some HDS5 Gen 1 units.... and I can pick up a HDS5 F/F AND a HDS5 F/F../..Chartplotter for around the same price as ONE 700 humminbird with SI and DI. Essentially two for the price of one. I wont be able to read GPS at the bow... but I can always swap head units from the bow to the stern depending on where I will be fishing.

 

My other option would be ONE 7" screen.... Its getting on the higher side of my budget. I know on a 7" screen its alot easier to read and understand what you are seeing. BUT... your starting at around $800 for a 7" unit.

 

Would you rather have TWO 5" screens... or ONE 7" screen ?

 

As far as structure scan goes. Lowrance.... it will cost you minimum... $1000 for a GPS, FF, SI/DI unit(HDS5 w LSS).... Humminbird you can get into for around... $800

I need to base my decision on how I will feel at the end of the day looking at SI/DI images on a 5" or 7" screen.

 

Let the conversation start

[moose]

I have hummingbird 597 great unit for ice fishing

Portable

And hooking up on my new kayak

[grt1]

a year or so when i was shopping around for a new unit, i really had my heart set on a new lowrance hd unit, but after talking to the guys at cabelas, wholesale sports and pro am tackle in winnipeg i decided to go with humminbird. the dealers all told me the service from humminbird was FAR superior to lowrance, in fact they stated when the called lowrance for srvice on units they have sold, their calls were seldom returned. they also told me that for the money, humminbird had more features. i ended up with a humminbird that has side scan but not down scan. i seldom use that feature. but mine has a gps and lots of split screen options that i constantly use.

 

i guess everyone has their preferences, but at that point in time, i went humminbird, someone may tell you to go to lowrance based on their experiences, just compare their options and how you want to use it.

[scugpg]

5'' screen and side imaging will not be enjoyable at all. You really need to have a few windows to take advantage of what's below and a 5'' can't do that.

 

If you have room for the 10'' long transducer the Lowrance LSS-2 puts out some really nice images from what has been posted on the net. LSS-1 has a nice rebate if you can find one

[BillM]

Side imaging on a 5in screen is fine. Buddy of mine has a 798ci HD DI and it's an awesome finder.

[Billy Bob]

Depends on the lakes you fish.....side can with a weedy lake is not much good.

 

IMHO I think we are all spending WAY to much money on this stuff.....side scan, down scan, up and over scan all amounts to the same...if the fish are not biting, your not catching....

 

Good Luck on your decision,

 

Bob

[coreyhkh]

I have a 700 series with down-scan and gps its works pretty good I dont really have much to complain about. Mine has 3 quick access buttons so I set them up to the screens I want and its is simple to get around. If I had unlimited budget I would get the new HDS Gen2 but they cost to much.

[mike rousseau]

i have a bird 597ci hd di that has 5 inch screen color gps dual beam sonar and down imaging...

 

 

from cabelas to my door in canada was about 700 bucks... then another 200 for the icefishing portable kit with transducer....

 

the down imaging is a 100 dollar feature with humminbird.... but to be honest...i dont use the down imaging very often... but maybe i havent figured out the best situation to use it yet...

 

5 inch screen is fine for split screen gps/sonar... but i have 20/20 vision...

 

anyways.... loving the unit...and being able to use it on the ice was a huge bonus... i sold my vex for the ice kit with no regrets...

[Terry]

I found that a 5 screen was useless for side scan

if you have gps screen and normal transducer and sidescan each box is so small , it's a joke then if you want downscan and 2 frequencies too on the screen....LOL

 

I now have the 8" screen and I still have a 7" unit beside it for the gps, so lots of room for side scan now

[kickingfrog]

I really like the idea of side imagining, never thought about it on ice. May have to switch it in for the ice 385ci Combo I picked up this winter.

[Terry]

I don't know how it would work on the ice as 5 mph is the best speed for it to process the info and put it on the screen so 0 speed can't be good

[mike rousseau]

I really like the idea of side imagining, never thought about it on ice. May have to switch it in for the ice 385ci Combo I picked up this winter.

 

Ice ducer doesn't support imaging....

[JoshS]

You can probably find a good deal on a used LSS1 in a few weeks when LSS2 comes out. I was shopping around yesterday a bit in the same situation as you. Also gotta factor in the gps chip too if you don't already own it.

[kickingfrog]

Ice ducer doesn't support imaging....

Would the new unit with side imaging not come with a ducer that does?

Edited April 26, 2012 by kickingfrog

[kickingfrog]

I don't know how it would work on the ice as 5 mph is the best speed for it to process the info and put it on the screen so 0 speed can't be good

Good point. Has anybody tried? I may start another thread.

[dave524]

 

 

My other option would be ONE 7" screen.... Its getting on the higher side of my budget. I know on a 7" screen its alot easier to read and understand what you are seeing. BUT... your starting at around $800 for a 7" unit.

 

Would you rather have TWO 5" screens... or ONE 7" screen ?

 

 

Let the conversation start

 

I've been looking too, my take on the HDS7 vs the HDS5 is that solely as a fishfinder there is no advantage, both screens are the same physical height from what I can see and the same number of pixels high, therefore would have identical definition of images. The only advantage of the HDS7 is the screen is physically wider and 640 pixels wide compared to 480, which would be better if you intend on running the gps screen along side of the fishfinder screen, solely as a fishfinder I don't see paying the substantial increase in price.

[mercman]

a year or so when i was shopping around for a new unit, i really had my heart set on a new lowrance hd unit, but after talking to the guys at cabelas, wholesale sports and pro am tackle in winnipeg i decided to go with humminbird. the dealers all told me the service from humminbird was FAR superior to lowrance, in fact they stated when the called lowrance for srvice on units they have sold, their calls were seldom returned.

 

X3

 

Since these units are ''relatively'' fragile, as most electronics are these days,after sales service is

or should be your number 1 concern.

Lowrances terrible service, not returning calls or emails, is real.I lived it, and now i own Birds.

Had a small issue with my GPS/card reader last fall.Contacted them, they sent me a Puro tag, replaced the card reader, touchpad and display, and had it back to me in 7 days zero cost to me.

Now thats what you need to think about above all else.

[mike rousseau]

Would the new unit with side imaging not come with a ducer that does?

 

Yeah... But it scans the bottom as you pass over it...

 

So if your sitting still you won't have a clear image of the structure...

 

If you check out some YouTube videos showing how it works you'll see it wouldn't work well on the ice...

 

It's like a photo copy scanner... If the scanner light didnt move across the paper... You'd only get parts of letters on your copy...directly in front of the scanner light... You wouldn't get "the whole picture" so to speak...

 

I think anyways...

 

 

 

 

...

Edited April 27, 2012 by Musky Mike

[Garnet]

Yes 2 5's is better than one 7. Moving finders around is just a pain.

 

With my 8 if I'm side imaging I use the whole screen and then go to finder/gps screen when going back over a GPS pt.

 

I've been in boats with 10's and on 4 screen split then are useless.

 

I also have a 798si bird that I used the same way full SI or GPS/Fish Finder. Will be selling the bird soon just need to up date 798si to include down imaging.

 

So having used both Lowrance and Birds the manuals and the menus for the bird are much easier to understand the Lowrance has better graphics.

 

And nobody should spend 1000's of $ and deal with Lowrance Canada just call U.S. customer service.