New unit for the front?

OK guys. I have a 16 ft alumaweld and have a hds7 lss1 on rear that ive been trying to learn all i can about. I plan on now replacing my front unit(cheap HB) with another lowrance. my question is for the front is there much benefit with going with another hds unit over one of the elite models(besides linking the sidescan). My thinking is normall i would scan a bank and if theres anything go back and jump on front and fish. Am i thinking wrong? And what would you guys reccomend for a setup like that? Thanks in Advance. BTW its almost going to be solely for crappie(some catfish).

I'd watch Bassboatcentral for a used HDS 5 or 7. That way you could link the together since you got everything else.

That was kind of my thinking(and I have been watching it pretty close lately) and I just wanted to see. There is a guy at work that likes his elite 7 up front better than an hds and I just didn't see reasoning there but thought I might be missing something. I still have a lot of learning to do on whichever one I get anyway. Just trying to get some expert advice.

Several threads on this board about the Elite7. Some good and some not so good. I can't see it being better than an HDS unit. Know the charts if using GPS aren't as good.

I have HDS gen1 units on the console and the bow. I wanted units that I could link together so I could share info between the units. If I mark a waypoint on 1 unit I want to be able to see it at the other. I have no regrets adding the 2nd unit. The only advice I could give is get the biggest screens you can afford. To me it doesn't make sense to add anything except another HDS unit.

The big advantage of going with the HDS units in the 1st place was the fact that additional units could be linked together.

I'd go with another HDS, the biggest complaint on the Elite 7 is it slowing down with a map chip in it. That tells me the processor isn't up to the task. They can be linked to the HDS series using a NMEA network but it won't have full sharing capabilities like Ethernet does. Also I don't know if the gps in the Elite is up to snuff with the HDS.