Humminbird or Lowrance

I'm about to buy a new fish finder. Its the time of year when I treat myself to a birthday presant from BP:D. I've always used humminbird. I have a 727 with the 150^ wideside ducer. The ducers broke.
Its time to upgrade. I want color in the $600.00 range. What would you get and why.
Which has the best picture? I fish oxbows mostly. Shallow is common is one better for wide scanning. I'm gona use your feedback to make my purchaseHands Clapping. I'd like to impress my fishing buddy with its capability.
Thanks for your support.
FIN

The best thing for you to do is see both side by side and make the decision. Its a chevy ford thing. The side scan on both are very good. Low will have the better down scan. The hardest thing with both brands is learning the terminology of the companies. When I first read the book, I read one page 3 times and was wondering what they were saying. Had to go out in the boat and re-read it. Then I was saying, why didnt they just say that, it was very easy. duhhh IM cane pole, I believe he has both brands.

I imagine you are purchasing a 2D sonar only at the price range you are looking at. Not sure about Lowrance, but H/B has the dual beam transducer, 200/83. The 83 mode gives a wider bottom coverage which is better for shallow water. With the mount and powercord from your old unit, you could have a set up on the bow and also the console with another transducer. I have a 778C and find it to be excellent for my needs. Personally I stay away from combo FF/GPS units, that's why I liked the 778C.

Lowrance units have 83/200 also. Do yourself a favor and go to a store and see the units.

At the least, please have a unit in mind and ask for responses about those units. You'll get actual information about the units, and not guessing or blanket personal opinions. If you want a Fishfinder/gps combo, and you only fish oxbows, the HB GPS donut shouldn't affect you too much.

GPS isn't worthanything to me. The 727 is handy but lacks the color As a matter of fact if I could get a HB with color like the 727 that would be great. using the 150^ ducer I only need to lean to one side of the boat to get 180^. Is there a color model that is able to use the 150^ wideside ducer?

The 778C will use the same transducers as the 727. If you had a ducer you liked with the 727, you can use the same with the 778C. I have a 718 also, and the difference between it, and the color 778C is worlds apart. Here's a couple pictures, one bouncing a jig, and another of fish.Attachment 58390Attachment 58391

FIN,
If you are looking at the 788c that Shelback recommended, than see if you can get a last year’s model 778c and not this year’s model 778c HD. The difference between these is that the newer “HD” version has an Ethernet connection on it, which unless you are going to link it to a second unit, you don’t need and could possibly still pick up one of the older non-HD models at a sale price.

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Originally Posted by Humminbird_Greg

FIN,
If you are looking at the 788c that Shelback recommended, than see if you can get a last year’s model 778c and not this year’s model 778c HD. The difference between these is that the newer “HD” version has an Ethernet connection on it, which unless you are going to link it to a second unit, you don’t need and could possibly still pick up one of the older non-HD models at a sale price.

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I like the way you think.

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Originally Posted by Shellback

The 778C will use the same transducers as the 727. If you had a ducer you liked with the 727, you can use the same with the 778C. I have a 718 also, and the difference between it, and the color 778C is worlds apart. Here's a couple pictures, one bouncing a jig, and another of fish.Attachment 58390Attachment 58391

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Shellback, on the one with the jig do you have the switchfire set to max mode?

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Originally Posted by Kenny

Shellback, on the one with the jig do you have the switchfire set to max mode?

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No, I find the switchfire is too cluttered in shallow water, but I do have the sensitivity turned up.

Lowrance 2d is nothing short of amazing. Thru hull transducer.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/attac...ngview-dam.jpg

In the $600 range, you should be able to find a color unit that has down scan to boot. I don't know if the Lowrance Elite 5X has sonar, but, with downscan, sonar is really not needed especially in the shallow waters you talk about. Humminbird I believe has a unit with sonar and down imaging for close to your price range. Either way, it's a whole new world of graphs out there these days. You can drive yourself nuts shopping them.

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Originally Posted by Crappie Reaper

In the $600 range, you should be able to find a color unit that has down scan to boot. I don't know if the Lowrance Elite 5X has sonar, but, with downscan, sonar is really not needed especially in the shallow waters you talk about. Humminbird I believe has a unit with sonar and down imaging for close to your price range. Either way, it's a whole new world of graphs out there these days. You can drive yourself nuts shopping them.

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Agreed. Given the choice I'd never use 2D again. DI is it.

Might want to take a look at the Humminbird 596c HD DI.

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Originally Posted by Kenny

Shellback, on the one with the jig do you have the switchfire set to max mode?

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I use switchfire max mode deeper than 10 ft of water and turn the sensitivity down to my liking....( max mode really makes brush "pop" out on the screen but it's just to sensitive for shallow water..)


I use switchfire clear mode in less than 10 ft of water and turn the sensitivity up to my liking...

Rickie

I'm really liking the HB 596C HD DI. It can be purchased for 549.99 all day. It really looks good on paper to me, and am seriously considering purchasing. This unit has just been out like 6 weeks or so.

I have the 596c HD DI and I love it. It has 2-D sonar as well as DI. The Down Imaging is really awesom.

The 596c HD DI is awesome so far. I am still learning it.