Fishfinder reviews/opinions wanted Lowrance or Hummingbird?

[Fish4Eyes]

I'm on the hunt for a new sonar/gps combo. Was looking at the Lowrance Elite 7 HD and Hummindbird 859 ci HD. Anybody here own these units? How do you like them?

 

I come from a Lowrance lcx 27C that never worked properly out of the box and completely failed after 5 years of light use. Very disappointed given it was a 1k investment. I am also reading reviews that the Elite 7's periodically shut off.

 

What has been your experience with these units and how long have you owned them?

 

I never really put my electronics to their potential. I am basically looking for a decent size screen, GPS to mark spots and reliability. I am open to other suggestions in the 700$ range.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Fish4Eyes

[Sinker]

I'm a lowrance guy thru and thru. I've never had an issue with any of my units. I have a bird portable that I bought this past winter, and it worked fine, but nowhere near as nice as my portable lowrance.

 

That said, I have no experience with eithe of the units you mentioned.

 

S.

[BillM]

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Shane. HB guy through and through, never an issue. I don't think you can go wrong with either brand to be honest. Although the birds seem to be a whole lot easier to run out of the box without any sort of setup.

[MrSimon]

If it's going to be hooked up with your trolling motor, then I recommend the HB as I think the Minn Kota stuff is better than Motor Guide.

 

But if you're only interested in the sonar/GPS unit, then it's totally a preference thing. Both are excellent units.

[adempsey]

I don't know much about these particular units, but I'd really look into what the maps are like and what the software can do for you.

[Dan668]

Garmins new units are nice for the price. Too bad the latest updates blocked navionics. Im partial to lowrance. I would consider an hds series just because they run quicker.

[DRIFTER_016]

Another Lowrance guy here.

Don't have any experience with the model you are wanting but I have had other high end models forever and they have always run well. I am still using my trusty LMS-350A that I purchased back in the mid 90's. Before it I had an X-16 paper graph which never gave me a problem either. I also have a Mark V-DSI on my boat that has run perfectly fine.

Another unit I have had for a while is a lower end Garmin which is also a good unit.

[BassMan11]

If you wait until after this weekend I will give a quick review on the Elite 7 HDI as I picked one up earlier this year. From what I have read yes, some of them do shut off sometimes but other run fine with no issues. The big issue is if you are really going to use it heavily for the GPS mapping with Navionics that it might not be the unit you want. Lots of reviews say that the mapping is super slow and the maps take a long time to load while at top speed (excess of 25mph). The rest of the unit seems to work great and gets good reviews.

[porkpie]

If I had to choose between either of those units, I would go humminbird. I have used the elite 7 quite a bit on several boats. Nothing wrong with it, but I find the humminbird easier to use, and have had good service from my humminbirds, with excellent sonar quality and good mapping. I haven't used that particular bird The only problems I've ever had have been transducer related, and it's happened with both lowrance and bird. I got a new unit this winter, and I went out on a limb and bought a raymarine. Time will tell if it was a good choice.

[cram]

I have humminbird and really like it.

Friends have Lowrance and think the same about theirs.

 

The Raymarine and Garmin models at that level are pretty good as well. If I didn't want side imaging, probably would have gone with one of them.

[kickingfrog]

I have both. I find the humminbird easier to use for what I want to do. If you can go to a store and talk to someone who isn't pushing one or the other then discuss how you are going to use it. Lots features are nice but if half of them aren't going to be used you sometimes have to navigate past them to get to the ones you need.

 

The other big factor for me would be compatibility with the trolling motor.

[Fish4Eyes]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I might go with the Hummingbird. 730$ with Navionics at Bass Pro. I want a Terrova eventually too which will really come in handy for working the weedlines on Rice.

[landry]

I bought that exact same bird unit at Fishing World this spring. They had the best price by far! I like the unit. Took a bit to get dialed in as I was a lowrance guy but I have it linked to my new 899 and I love the new setup. The elites cannot beinked so that would push the 859 to the top of the list for me. I owned the elite5 and it was a good unit for me.

[Paudash]

I was in same position earlier this year and I ended up going with the HB 899 because of the side imaging and a great deal I found. Basspro had them on sale in March for $840 with the Navionics card. Now I just need a nice warm day trolling to figure out how to use it