best depth finder/ fish locator

[basshuntin]

OK guys Im thinking pretty seriously about gettiing me a higher end locator. Which one do you all think is the best for the money? Which bells and whistles do you think are necessary or something Id pay for and never get use of? Looking to spend 1500 or less. So many dollars,,,So many choices....I really want to get one Im gonna be happy with.

[smuckey41]

I would go with humminbird the best you can get for 1500 if you spend a little more like I did and get the humminbird 1197si combo you will not be disappointed I promise. I love mine and it will takevyour fishing to another level it's really your eyes under the water...

[basshuntin]

Im sure thats a great unit. But unless Ive been looking at the wrong one, that unit is way more than I can spend. Would be nice,,,

[hairball]

Lowrance HDS 7 with sidescan

[roughscott]

oh yes if it was a fish catcher unit i would spend thousands but its a sonar . use a small unit to figure out whats there and you will find the structure with fish for less than 200.00 .

[twise7]

Humminbird 898c SI is what I'm looking at getting...right at $1500 at Bass Pro...could probably get it a couple hundred dollars less if you searched it out online.

I've spend a lot of time talking to people who own Humminbirds and people who own Lowrance Side Imaging units and it seems that as of right now, the Humminbird brand is the way to go...much easier to use (though you will have to spend a LOT of time learning how to use it), easier to read what you're seeing, and customer service is much better.

Though I haven't done it yet, the best thing to do is go out with someone who has a Humminbird SI unit and let him show you how it works and what you can do with it and then turn around and do the same with someone who has a Lowrance SI unit. That way you can make an "educated" decision.

[Issy1]

I like the lowrance HDS8 & 10, if you are going to get structurescan unit, the HDS8 & 10 can split its sceen four way so you can view structurescan, down imaging, gps and color sonar at the same time. The lowrance unit has three (3) crystals and the humminbird only has two (2) which make the lowrance a digital unit and the humminbird anolog unit, so the lowrance unit will have better picture clarity. When I pick-up my new boat at BassCats factor, the sale rep I dealt with had just put a HDS8 on his boat, he use a Humminbird before he put this unit on his boat and told me he was using a jigging spoon in 110 feet of water and could see it on the sceen where he couldn't on the humminbird. Both are good unit but I like the HDS unit better, I have a HDS8 in the dash and HDS10 on the bow of my boat.

Gary

[psvec]

i just baught 898 unit, i love it, havent had time to use it(winter)but i found a guy on here that lives 10 miles away and knows everything about the 898 and is going to help me this year. i heard that if you get the lowrance unit you have to spend another 600 on a add on unit for sidescan

[olgreenboat]

I thought you had to buy the LSS-1 StructureScan unit to make HDS units work? If so that is another $600 bills on top of the hds units.
The new humminbird 596 and 597 look real good for the money and so does the Lowrance 5x DSI's.. I'm going to get one of the ones above I'm just not sure witch one yet.

[Olgrey]

It is my understanding that the Lowrance units require two transducers. If that is correct then it is one more than I want to deal with. JMO.

[Issy1]

You are right about if you want your HDS unit to have structure scan and down scan, you will have to buy the LSS-1 unit which has its own transducer. Most install a tru-hull transducer and install the structure scan transducer on the jack plate. The Humminbird has a external gps antenna, the HSD units don't, which I like so I don't have to drill a hole in my boat to run the antenna cable and mount it. Both have to have there trannsducers on the outside of the boat for the sidescan to work, so when on plane the humminbirds sonar will not work were as the tru-hull on the lowrance will up to about 65 mph, a good reason to have two. The cost difference between the to if I would have bougth the units, HDS10 & 8 w/LSS-1 $5100.00, humminbird 1198c & 998c w/interlink $4929.00, so thats $171.00 difference I would pay $171.00 not to put a hole in my boat to mount the antenna. I know not everbody will buy the type units I have but think the lowrance is a better unit and I dont think they are hard to use, but that's just my 2 cents.

Gary

[ToolMan184]

Issy is so far off he has no clue about the Humminbird units. Do research for yourself and you will see why MOST people go with the Humminbird units.