Thread: Time for A New Finder

The Elite-7 is as good of a unit you can buy in that price range. I personally like lowrance an have a HDS-8 and HDS_7 on my boat. They are gen 1 so they are slow loading the map but I turn it on when I unload the boat and by the time I am ready to go it is ready to. It all depends on what you want in a unit and how much you are willing to spend. All units now a days are good reliable units.

Originally Posted by lawless

Was going to go for the lorwance elite7 but somehere seem not to like it for , slow map loading.. What finder /chart-plotter is decent and reliable..

Thanks for the input..

Check out the Humminbird859ci HD GPS Fishfinder Combo

Really good unit here and if you want DI you can pay about $100 more for this same unit with DI.

I switch from Lowrance to Humminbird 998. Best choice ever.

Im really liking the new Garmin down view, not sure if they are available yet but looks nice.

I would go with either the Lowrance HDS series or one the HBs. I have the Elite 7 and from what I have learned the processor is not fast enough to read the Navionics chip. Several have switched to the Fishing Hotspots map and it seemed to fix the problem.
It is not just slow booting up, you can actually "outrun" the map with your outboard. When the cursor approaches the edge of the map display the screen goes blank and it can take 10 to 30 seconds to bring up the new map. So you have run several hundred yards with no map before it comes back up. Also when you zoom in or out the same thing happens, it goes blank for 10 to 30 seconds,
When you are trolling or slow moving around the unit works fine. It is just frustrating to have the screen go blank each time you change the zoom level. I have this same chip in my HB on the front and it never had this problem. It was on my console until I get the Elite 7.
One more thing I would avoid. I did not realize the Elite 7 uses a microchip instead of the standard size chip. I don't take it in and out much, but that thing is so tiny it is hard to manage when your hands are cold, plus you have to keep up with the adaptor to do updates to it from your PC.
I am not talking blaziing speeds either, you run 20 to 25 MPH and you will outrun the update capability.
Apparently the Hotmaps chip is not as detailed and the DF can process it faster than the Navionics chip.
The screen display on 2d is very good and if I ever get the right settings figured out, the DI should be good also.

Countrytime posted this on another Elite 7 thread and it pretty much sums up the situation, The 2 seconds he is talking about must be with the Hotmaps because with the navionics chip it is 10 to 30 seconds, I've timed it to make sure I was not exagerating.

If you zoom in and out about 2 seconds compared to an HDS almost instanteously. You need to check your lake by going to Bass Pro to see if it shows the ditches and channels on the Hotspot chip, most of the ones I fish are. They will have a demo chip you can play with it on the demo Elite7HDI there. If this chip does not do it you can buy a Point-1 gps pluck and will make it super accurate but it is around $200.00. Let's add it up around 650.00 for the unit 100.00 for the Fishing Hotspot chip and 200.00 for the Point 1 pluck so we are at 950.00. This is why I say if one is a new potential buyer go with the Lowrance HDS7. If stuck with the unit these will unleash the unit to make it workable. If I was price shopping and someone already had a handheld gps like a garmin etrex just buy one without the gps for around $500.00 it is called the Lowrance Elite7xHDI. The down imaging to me is very good, not quite HDS but good enough, this way you avoid all the gps hassle and get the greatness of down imaging on a nice bright 7 inch led screen with 2d sonar for around $500.00, again bbgmarine is one good place to buy

Originally Posted by Handicrappie

Check out the Humminbird859ci HD GPS Fishfinder Combo

Really good unit here and if you want DI you can pay about $100 more for this same unit with DI.

X2 on this one.

From what i am seeing , and trying to take it all in prolly going to get a chartplotter /w side-imaging..