Lowrance or Humminbird?

[zimmy]

In the market potentially for some new electronics. I've been looking up the Lowrance HDS-8 Gen2 models to upgrade my old Lowrance units. Currently just have small units on the dash, side mounted for GPS, and another up front on my Stratos...all Lowrances. Seems lots of folks are using the Humminbirds now. Maybe better? Or is it just a Ford vs Chevy thing? I do know Lowrance's customer service has gone to crap the last few years.....
Thanks again!

[waterdog101]

In the market potentially for some new electronics. I've been looking up the Lowrance HDS-8 Gen2 models to upgrade my old Lowrance units. Currently just have small units on the dash, side mounted for GPS, and another up front on my Stratos...all Lowrances. Seems lots of folks are using the Humminbirds now. Maybe better? Or is it just a Ford vs Chevy thing? I do know Lowrance's customer service has gone to crap the last few years.....
Thanks again!

I have 2 Lowrance HDS_7 units with downscan on my boat, they have done a really good job for me, I did have one problem with the first one I bought, I was upgrading the software on it and the screen just froze up. I called Lowrance and told them what happened and they told me to send it to them, I did and they repaired it for free. when I sent it to them I kept the snap on face cover, thinking it may get lost for some reason, when I got it back, it had a new face plate on it. that was about 2 and half years ago, never had an issue with either unit again. I have read on fishing forums about Lowrance having bad customer service, and when I had to deal with them, I wouldn't ask for anyone to be any nicer to me. and as a satisfied Lowrance customer, I will add this, if I was buying a new unit today, from the screen images and fishing reports that I see on different fishing forums online. I would buy a new HB 1100 series unit. hope this helps.

[tgordon6233]

Went through this last year. Went to Louisville Boat Show and talked to reps/dealers from both. Came to the conclusion that Lowrance is popular in west KY and Hummingbird in the east and north.

I bought Hummingbirds. The customer service has been great and I love the Hummingbird Side Image Forum. There is a lot of Hummingbird info on UTube.

I'd say Lowrance may have the same, but never had the need to check.

No matter what you buy, the bigger the screen the better.

TG

[Fishin is life]

It is Ford vs. Chevy to an extent. I have SI DI 'birds and couldnt be happier. I've been in friends boats who have HDS units and can say for a FACT the birds are much more user friendly. Much easier to navigate from screen to screen. Do your research in depth to decide which unit and features fit your needs the best. Go to bassboatcentral.com and look at the humminbird and lowrance pages and youll be able to see shots guys have got with their units dialed in. Tons of helpful info over there for whatever units you go with. I did a ton of research before buying and couldnt be happier. For a SI unit the 5" screen isnt a lot of good. Go up to atleast the 7" and bigger if you can afford it

[zimmy]

Great advice..I'll look at bassboatcentral.
Thanks for the input everyone. Those puppies don't come cheap so never hurts to ask around a little first!

[JUSTINHALL]

I have an HDS-10 with structure and side scan. When I first got it, the first day out it messed up after a couple of hours of searching bottom with it. Called the next day and they sent me a new structure scan sonar but it did not fix the problem. Called again and got a new structure scan box which did fix the problem. All was good for about 6 months then the screen went white while in FL fishing. Called got and RA and when I removed it I could hear water in it so the seal was not good. It was flush mounted under my T-Top so not subjected to water at all, other than washing boat. They replaced it with a new one and while talking to them it was somehow an old very first edition one even though I had just bought it but I bought it online from cheapest place possible. (go figure)
Even though I did have some problems with it customer service was very good for me, no complaints what so ever. I have called in twice for tech support on how to do something and both times they were eager to help and helped very quickly. I have read many posts about bad service but of the 6 times total called had zero issues or long hold times.
When the first sonar did not fix the problem I needed the fix very quickly since I was leaving for FL. and they overnighted it to me. I didn't throw a fit or anything like that, just told her how bad I needed it and didn't have time to send the sonar back first. She said OK and overnighted it to me even though I had 3 days, she said incase it did not fix the problem they would have another day to fix the problem before I went. Was very happy with that service.
With all that being said after seeing different pics online I think the HB has clearer side imagine pics than Lowrance. But in the gulf looking for structure or sunken items it works flawlessly. A lot of times GPS points are close but not right on, you have to do some looking around for it and the sidescan makes it so much easier. I have a Raymarine C120 as well and use the side scan for Lowrance a lot. I fished in Destin a couple weeks ago out of a friends boat and he had a C120 as well and searching for points with that only and not in conjunction with sidescan made it much more difficult, I guess having both has me spoiled.
Either way you go a bigger screen is better for sure.
If you want to see one in action come on down to Lake Cumberland and I will give you a demo any time.

[zimmy]

Justin...great info. And thank you for the offer! I spoke with a couple guys I know recently who have the HDS-8 and 10 and both have been very happy. Probably what I'll go with.
Thanks to all that responded as always!

[SMonroe]

I switched from lowrance to HB. The HB is easier to navigate but if you are using Lowrance today you shouldnt have any issues. I would recomend that you spend a day or two on the water without rods and learn the unit. It is a waste of money to upgrade and then use the new system just like the old one because you dont understand the new features. I will say the basic maps loaded in the Lowrance are better than HB.

[Duayne]

I have the Lowrance HDS but I might would go HB if I had to do it all over again. The networking options on the HDS is a huge advantage IF you utilize it. I think the HB does a better job with suspended bait and schools, although the information is there with the HDS. You just need to learn what to look for. The HB now has the 360 radar thing that would be really cool. Being able to see what you are getting read to troll over versus what you just trolled over would be killer.

I suggest you write down the features that most appeal to you and rate them. Check off or number the quality that feature has for each unit. If one ends up with some can't live without features, you have your answer.

[RADRJP]

I have been amazed with the lowrance unit. I do have the structure scan and plan on adding the new spotlight when it comes out in february. I have seen fish on my unit that I have been able to go back to and catch. I haven't used the new HB's, but they look comparable. At this stage, I don't think you would go wrong either way.

[Duayne]

The down scan is one area I would look at hard. RADRJP jogged my memory on this and I agree with him. You can definitely see a separation between the bottom and fish close to the bottom on the HDS down scan. It is a 1000% improvement over the previous Lowrance unit I had.

I do not know if the HB offers that same definition so maybe some HB people can chime in.

[JUSTINHALL]

One other thing worth mentioning. The HDS I have is very slow when you toggle back and forth between the fish finder page and GPS page. Not a huge deal breaker but my Raymarine is much faster just push the button and you are there. My HDS takes a while to find location when I fire it up usually a 3-4 minutes where as my Raymarine is less than 20 seconds. Maybe because the antenna is built in to the HDS and its under a T-top and Raymarine is separate but it does take a while to load on my boat.
The toggle back and forth being slow drives me crazy though. Most of the time I use one on GPS and the other on finder but when I was in FL about a month ago I loaded a map in my Raymarine that was the wrong file and it messed up my gps had to do a reset. But I couldn't do that until I got home because I did not have a card to dump waypoints on with me. Anyways resulted in me using my GPS only on HDS and finder on Ray which is opposite of my norm and it was very slow to zoom in and out or to switch pages from side scan to gps. Drove me crazy all weekend, if I was used to that maybe not a big deal but since I was not it was very aggravating. Not sure if an HB is any faster or not to toggle back and forth but that would be one more thing to consider. Not only back and forth but zooming in and out is slow as well.
As DUAYNE mentioned, the down scan works really well for separating fish and baitfish the image is different that of 2D so you have to look at it different but it is very refined in separating the two. The two things I use this most for is the down scan and side scan. Side scan to find fish then structure scan to determine what it is or isn't.