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I have a 798SI and was speaking with a buddy this weekend that fishes alot of bass tournaments. He was telling me the Lowrance HDS units are very nice and he preferred it over the Humminbird SI's
Any of you go through this comparison? What were your thoughts?
I looked and played with both for over an hour last week at bass pro and couldn't really say one is better than the other. Lowrances have more what I call junk on em(stuff other than SI/sonar/maps). Far as the scanning of both, some of the images on the lowrances looked very good and some not so good, same as the birds. Humminbird still has the ease of use by a mile IMO. The biggest negative to me on the lowrance units is the price. The HDS8 unit is priced around $500 more than the comparable 998 humminbird and I do not see anything on the lowrance unit that is worth $500 more bucks. Another negative for the lowrance units is you have the buy the structure scan module that is quiet large I might add and mount it somewhere in your boat where as the humminbirds are one self contained unit.
Well I am like your buddy I prefer the Lowrance. But I started with the flasher and the X-15 paper graph. So operating a Lowrance to me is more comfortable. They are both good units. I am glad they are in such a heated competion for our business right now. I think it will result in a winning situation for the fisherman.
I feel the 2D is still the backbone of any unit and in my humble opinion that still goes hands down to Lowrance.(even with the upgrades to the HB)
I also like the LSS-1 module being seperate from my graph. The three ethernet ports are great and if it has issues I still have the graph in the boat. A lot of folks will disagree with me on this but from what I have seen this is my opinion. My boat came with HB and after a couple of trips I replaced with HDS units as fast as I could get them in.
How many screens can you pull up at once on that Humminbird 998? I do know that you can have 4 separate visuals all at once on the HDS8.I do like that feature on the hds8 better because the Hds7 only allows 2 screens up at a time.On the hds8, I can watch my gps/river channel ledge and my down scan, and side scan and the sonar all at the same time.Four pictures on screen all at once on the hds8. I will also say this about the hds8. I have gotten to where I can easily see a school of crappie on my down scan. They are much easier to catch when you are fishing over them too btw. Just my 2 cents. I almost bought the Humminbird and am sure they are good units as well. As the guy said a couple post back, Lowrance does have alot of things you can do with the unit and I almost learn something new every trip now with it. I just bought an sd card and plan on taking some screen pictures and posting them.
I have had both units, humminbird and lowrance, the lowrance has a real good structure scan and clear as a bell. easy to use, no junk, easy to use preloaded maps. and overall comparison lowrance 9 humminbird 4
Both are great units, but bird cant come close to lows 2D.
"Different strokes for different folks, said the farmer as he kissed the cow". If they all were exactly the same, life would be dull.:( I cut my teeth on Humminbird & Minnkota, therefore they're the best. Have owned Eagles, Lowrances, keep go'n back to HB. Have owned Motorguide & Johnson trolling motors, keep go'n back to Minnkota. I love my 788ci Humminbird & plan on buying another. :)Good fish'n.
Rich
I have HDS/structure scan and satisfied. Never owned a bird so I would not know, I am sure they are good units as well. My .02 cents
I've owned both. IMO the Lowrance is somewhat better as far as the DI. The GPS is much better and has no donut. I won't be switching back to HB, unless they want to sponsor me and put the units on my boat and pay some money. The biggest HB supporters you'll find online are the ones that are sponsored, and they will go on and on.
Normal people who have to buy the units, will probably be a little more honest.
If specs is the only concern, you can download both manuals and compare them or better yet, get out on the water with both. That's what I did.
If other factors like price, reputation, ease of use, space constraints etc are involved, then only you can properly weigh based on what is right for you. For me, I was limited on number of transducers that I could mount on transom. Difference in price had some bearing as well.