I don't have one, so I can't say first hand - I have played with the humminbirds and they are sweet. From what I hear the Lowrance with the downscan/sidescan has it's perks over the HB's. I just can't justify the cost yet, and think the price will drop (hopefully a little at least) over the next few years. I know they take a little getting used to in terms of figuring out what it is your seeing, and getting the settings just right for the general lakes and depths you are fishing.

I am sure they have their benefits on most lakes if not all. But fishing Ky and barkley mostly, I am fishing more structures and contours that I can pick up with a regular sonar and good map. But it would be sweet to find isolated brush/cover on a deeper ledge with a sidescan that I would normally overlook on a regular sonar.

I am pretty pleased with what I can find with my lowrance 520 and 135. If I fished for bigger money I would invest in one of the HD's.

Another way I think they get you to spend more money is the size of the screen. If you have the sonar, sidescan, and downscan all running - it is splitting that 5 inch screen up to where you will only get two of those at 25% of the screen size. It would be hard to take all that in on a 5 inch screen - so if or when I ever get one, I would cosider the HDS7 at the least.