Northwest Fishing Reports

Technologies really going nuts in the fishing electronics world. Couple years ago the side imaging came out, recently the down imaging. Now this, heard it was going to start out at $1500, wish I had the spare cash.

http://www.humminbird.com/leading_innov ... d_300x250/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very interesting.

Lowrance will copy it, they will get sued and then they will make it even better like they did with the structure scan.

Amx wrote:Very interesting.

Great, now I've got Arte Johnson's character on Laugh-In saying, "very interesting, not very funny, but very interesting" stuck in my head.

Looks like a neat shallow water toy. With only a 150' range it has to be operating at an abnormally high frequency. I'd like to see how effectively it can punch through our thermoclines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QczyNaIu9Mo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

kzoo wrote:Technologies really going nuts in the fishing electronics world. Couple years ago the side imaging came out, recently the down imaging. Now this, heard it was going to start out at $1500, wish I had the spare cash.

http://www.humminbird.com/leading_innov ... d_300x250/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have been looking at electronics for about a year now, I have a few grand, but not committed and now even more
confused. I have an old Lowrance at the helm and a Hummingbird 3D on the deck. I need to update but what??

Remember the $1500 is just for the transducer,, you still need to buy the humminbird unit for another 1500-2500 .

spindog wrote:

kzoo wrote:Technologies really going nuts in the fishing electronics world. Couple years ago the side imaging came out, recently the down imaging. Now this, heard it was going to start out at $1500, wish I had the spare cash.

http://www.humminbird.com/leading_innov ... d_300x250/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have been looking at electronics for about a year now, I have a few grand, but not committed and now even more
confused. I have an old Lowrance at the helm and a Hummingbird 3D on the deck. I need to update but what??

If you have few grand to play with, check the 360 out, looks to be a cool toy.

Hmmmm Bait Monkey wants one Im looking at units currently and this could be it.... Sure looks speandy though

The 360 is an add on to any Hummingbird ethernet ready/side finding unit. First step would be to choose which one?
I would go either with the 1198c or the 998 SI, then the 360 deployable ducer could be purchased later.

Again I will wait until Lowrance copies the technology then vastly improves it, (after they are sued by Humminbird first of course.) Lowrance has improved on everything Humminbird has come out with. You want to see a clear down image or side image take a look at the HDS series with structure scan.

deepbuzzer wrote:Again I will wait until Lowrance copies the technology then vastly improves it, (after they are sued by Humminbird first of course.) Lowrance has improved on everything Humminbird has come out with. You want to see a clear down image or side image take a look at the HDS series with structure scan.

Deepbuzzer has a valid point!

I would never buy HDS , anyone I know is sorry they bought it. Add that the Service absolutely sucks.
Hummingbird won the ICAST 2011 hands down.
Side by side there is no question, also Hummingbird is way more user friendly.
I've also heard of units getting water in them? [Lowrance}
Lowrance menus are jacked up, no thanks. 14 buttons and a knob, maybe that's why they sometimes leak?
All this adds to the confusion of brand/model?

deepbuzzer you soud like a sales rep, what kind or model do you have?? Any problems?

goodolboy wrote:

spindog wrote:I would never buy HDS , anyone I know is sorry they bought it. Add that the Service absolutely sucks.
Hummingbird won the ICAST 2011 hands down.
Side by side there is no question, also Hummingbird is way more user friendly.
I've also heard of units getting water in them? [Lowrance}
Lowrance menus are jacked up, no thanks. 14 buttons and a knob, maybe that's why they sometimes leak?
All this adds to the confusion of brand/model?

deepbuzzer you soud like a sales rep, what kind or model do you have?? Any problems?

Do you have personal experience with the hds units? I do and know lots of people that own them. Your statements were very early issues in the first production run. Customer service well I wouldn't know never needed to use them. Yes I heard in the past they had issue maybe 3-4years ago, they were going through some changes and overhauling the company. There units are easy to learn as I jumped right in and went to the HDS 8 and 7 with LSS1 and networked together. Just calling it like I see it. Before you know the facts you should research the topic. It would be fair fir you and others. Also the updates 4.0 had a few glitches then the 4.01 had some fixes. I chose to not use the updates as I don't have problems with the original. Gen2 models have a few issues but what electronics don't when they first come out. And as far as customer service I think you should ask around because they get some big thumbs up now. I owned a color bird once....once!

I'll put my personal experience on the subject. I bought a lowrance elite 5s few years ago. Didn't seem too complicated to use, I got the hang of it pretty quick. Then I fried it, didn't install it correctly. The warranty expired, but I still contacted the support service. Never had issues with customer service, I remember I was on the line for a little bit for one of the calls, may 10 to 15 minutes. The service guy was pretty professional and seem to have good knowledge of the units. I tried some recommendations and it didn't work. He told me to mail it and they'll take a look. They called me back a week later and told me it was cooked and they'd give me a 5hds for half the cost. So I paid it and got the 5HDS (No SS package). I installed it correctly and never had issues with it. I was satisfied with their customer service and overall the product.

I do want to bring up when I searched on line on other forums, and the comment sections for Bass pro and Cabelas. I found a few similar comments of what SpinDog commented about.

I find it interesting that someone would pay that kind of money to locate fish. You still have to entice them and make em bite. If you aren't in it for the big bucks, as in the Elites, then why? It's just fish. Is it necessary? Granted I want to maximize my time and efforts on the water and catch fish, but at what cost? I'm just a low budget float tube guy, but if I had a boat, I'd spend the cash elsewhere. Just me. I think there is too much emphasis on spendy boats, motors, electronics, $500 rods and reels, etc. I catch plenty of fish and have a great time doing so in my tube without the crazy costs. Just my .02

To answer spindog's comment I am not a rep for lowrance but have been a loyal customer for over 15 years, I still have in my garage two X85 models and they work to this day. I currently have an HDS10 at the console and a HDS7 on the bow for my trolling motor they are both GEN2 with structure scan networked together,.BassDood, I do not call them a fishfinder, these units are not for locating fish they are for locating structure, hidden cover, schools of bait, points, creek channels, humps etc. If you are constantly just pounding the banks and docks you are only fishing for 10% of the fish, majority of your larger fish will always be located on offshore structure, ledges etc. Notice how when spring hits everyone starts showing large fish being caught, of course this is called the silly season as bass are either spawning or starting to spawn and they are hungry. This time of the year everyone thinks they are such great fishermen. Now post spawn and summer starts, if you are still pounding the banks and docks you will occasionally catch a nice fish but normally not consistently. This is the time for a depthfinder to locate the structure and hidden cover where the big girls have gone. You do not need to be an Elite pro to use this type of equipment just a guy that enjoys his sport and maybe wanting to cash a check every once and a while on a weekend tournament.

spindog wrote:I would never buy HDS , anyone I know is sorry they bought it. Add that the Service absolutely sucks.
Hummingbird won the ICAST 2011 hands down.
Side by side there is no question, also Hummingbird is way more user friendly.
I've also heard of units getting water in them? [Lowrance}
Lowrance menus are jacked up, no thanks. 14 buttons and a knob, maybe that's why they sometimes leak?
All this adds to the confusion of brand/model?

deepbuzzer you soud like a sales rep, what kind or model do you have?? Any problems?

Odd, moisture intrusion is why I stopped using Humminbird products. The darn things always ended up with internal fogging and became intermittent. The higher end Lowrance product menus do take a bit to get used to, however once you understand the layout it becomes second nature. I very much enjoy using my HDS7 and my previous Lowrance LMS527C has been installed in my father's boat, replacing yet another flaky Humminbird. One thing for sure is that you get more bang for your buck with Humminbird, I just think it comes at the cost of ruggedness. I'd be interested to hear how many folks who fish the salt regularly have them installed on their boat. Most folks I know that fish the Sound often use a Lowrance or Raymarine sonar system.

I have been doing serious research for the past year or so. I have found that the country is divided, Hummingbird
in the mid-west, all of Minnesota, Lowrance in the west and coastal areas. Both with diehard supporters of each.
Big names promoting Hummingbird, and Structure Scan. I've owned older units of both brands and never had any
issues with either. I just feel like no matter what I buy I'm gonna wish I went the other direction.
On the 2D view with Lowrance the screen seems a little busy. [traditional view]
Hummingbird you don't need the lss-1 as a add on, it's a one transducer system.....
I'm about nuts.
Last spring I took my sonar money and bought a new 14 ft boat for the smaller lakes, because of this
same stuff. Completely baffled

Where'd goodolboy go? I came back to look at his reference bass forum for electronics, all his comments are gone.