Humminbird vs. Lowrance...The way I see it.

[TnT]

I have been a Humminbird man for as long as I have been fishing. I always had the lower end models, but they done just what they said they would do and just what I have needed them to do. 3-4 years ago, I splurged and bought a HB 798 and I have been 100% satisfied with it. Last month I decided to give Lowrance a try so I purchased an Elite 7 HDI (Hybrid Down Imaging). The unit came with a 83/200 kz transducer that was not capable of using the Down Imaging (which I was unaware of at the time). I wasn't very satisfied with the it marked, or should I say, it didn't mark the fish. I had my HB 798 on the console and was comparing the 2 units. I noticed the maps on the charts didn't update very fast either but I was more concerned about the sonar and down imaging to pay that much attention. A fishing friend at Eufaula helped me figure out that I didn't have the correct transducer for the DI, and I just figured that I must have got a defective unit, so I called Lowrance. I wasn't real happy with the Customer Service, maybe I should say the Tech Support. Once they found out that I didn't have the latest update on my 3 day old unit, they pretty much slammed the door in my face. So, I packaged the 3 day old unit up and sent it back and ordered another Elite 7 HDI with the proper transducer. The very first thing I did was put the latest software update on it. I went and used it for 9 days and the DI on any unit don't do you too much good at Crescent Lake, but I compared it with the DI on my HB 798...HB looked better to me..I compared the regular sonar to the sonar on the HB won out again. But the Charts (GPS) really disappointed me. When I would zoom in or zoom out, it would take up to 30 seconds to update and display anything on the screen....HB took less than 5 seconds, usually 2-3 seconds....I will say the picture on the Elite 7 is awesome, tho. The higher end HDS units may be different, or faster, I'm not sure......So today I call Tech Support at Lowrance and told them the situation with it taking so long for the chart to update. His first question was, "Have you updated your unit with the latest software version?"..."Yes sir" I told him hoping that no doors would be slammed in my face again. His answer was this..."The processor in the Elite 7 is too slow to process the data any faster.".....Wow, I never saw that advertised when I was looking for a new unit. Makes me wonder how slow the Elite 5 is.. I asked "So, it is what it is and it will always be slow?"...He said "Yes, I'm sorry". With that we told each other to have a nice afternoon and ended the call. Take a guess what my next call was!!!

Side note: I did purchase an Eagle Intellimap GPS unit only, made by Lowrance, about 6-7 years ago. I never had any problem with it updating. To the best of my memory, it only took a few seconds.

[thespiderman]

I see it the same way. I had the same experience with the Elite 7 unit as you did. Your story is a mirror image of mine except I didn't get a second unit. For $100.00 more I got the Humminbird 859ci hd di. Haven't tied it yet due to the weather and waiting on my transducer that is made for the tolling motor (free swap out) to come. The 859 comes with a hard cover and 2 SD card slots, the Elite 7 did not come with either. The humminbird is a-lot easier to navigate between the screens and menus. If it is anything like the other hummingbird units I've owned, I'm going to be a very, very happy camper.

[TnT]

I at least gave them an honest effort to win my business...But I'm going back to Humminbird..And I do agree 100%..The HB is much easier to use....And don't you say a word, Danbo

[Shine Runner]

Honest try, and honest reply. Thanks.

[Slabby15]

Tim, use should have called your help desk person (me), I would have had your Outlook working in no time. Probably not the Lowrance though. LOL. Wes

[Detailman]

Come on Danbo give TNT a word PLEASE

[SeaRay]

Unfortunately I did the same thing with the same results. I did get the 4 way transducer and the DI works but the images are not clear. If I did not have the regular 2D sonar I would have sent it back. The slow update on the charts is a pain also. I found that I have to zoom out to .5 mile for it to keep up when I am running the outboard, otherwise I get a blank screen for 5 to 10 seconds or more waiting for it to catch up.
The image on the 2D is very good however. I bought the Elite 7 HDI because I could not find anything in HBs comparable to the screen size and features, but I have not found it to be nearly as easy to use as my HB units.
The update speed has never been an issue with the HBs.
Guess I will live with the Lowrance, but I won't buy another one.

[quick]

Hi Tim I feel ya ...but I will say thespiderman had a similar experience with his elite 7 and by the time I caught up with what he was describing as the problems I was in denial that a Lowrance could be that way only to find out just about word for word what you said about your unit.I have a 12 and 8 gen2 and both are a dream they work flawlessly with some unbelievable detail...absolutely no issues with updating of the charts no transducer issues I would not trade them for nothing in the world for now ,just hope they don't brake as soon as the warranty ends. Unless we are all missing something here I can't see why Lowrance would market the Elite 7 the way the did to damage their reputation ..in short.. from them it ain't right. I know several gents who own the Elite 7 for the down image and love it,as far as I know that's all they wanted it for and did not feel the need to spend more.. but even at that price or whatever price you don't hide information or make the proper way to set the unit up for optimum performance so vague. You're not the first one by no stretch to be disappointed in the chart lag time amongst other things ...I'll keep a thumbs down on the 7 and hope Lowrance does better soon...here are some 8,9&12 down & image shotsName: 69 No crd.jpg
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Size: 30.9 KB...........Tim can keep the coordinates did not find and 2lbrs there

The pics are on the Florida forum

[quick]

Spider I should have read the Georgia first and would have seen what I spent all that time pecking the keyboard to say ...when you had already said it ....not to mention when I read Tim's post on the Georgia I thought I was still on the Fla and was wondering around trying to figure out what happened to my post

[Detailman]

The screen is bad on a few of those shots there are ink marks all over them