looking for some input on electronics

I’m looking to upgrade to side imaging units. My question is humminbird or lowrance. I’m looking at HB 1198 or lowrance hds10 gen2. Can you guys give me some insight?

I have an 1197 and absolutely love it. My opinion is that you get more for your money when you buy humminbird. You wont regret it.

Personally being a Lowrance guy I wouldn’t buy a lowrance product when I just comes out. Learned my lesson the hard way when the HDS gen 1 stuff came out. But on the good side it is on the GEN 1 platform and finally has the bugs worked out.

If your talking just imaging, the colors on the Lawrence really make the images pop.

More importantly there isn’t any adjustments to make when using StructureScan. Turn it on a go. It’s all automated.

I bought the 456 when it first came out. What a mess. Lowrance told me they were like all other companies. No real field testing before release. The market was just to competitive. That was about 10 years ago.

With the Gen 2’s they have field testers and I was lucky enough to be in the boat with one of them on P4 this last fall. The light bulb when off…and I don’t know why I haven’t had a imaging graph in my boat over the last few years.

Both are very good. If you’re more familur with one brand, maybe stick with it.
I have owned over 20 Lowrances and have never had a problem. Lucky, maybe. Very, very happy with Lowrance.
Current boat has 2 HDS 10’s & and 8.
You won’t be dissapointed with either decission… I hope.
Happy shopping!

I think Lowrance combos them up at a very similar price now so I think it’s just what you prefer. I like my bird because of the options I have like water level offset depth shading etc with the Lakemaster chip. But I like the 2d imaging better on the Lowrances. I feel like their arcs show more detail then the blobs on my bird.

I was a die-hard for Lowrance and made the jump to H/Bird. Still just as happy as the first day I was out with a 1197. Like any unit, regardless of Lowrance, H/Bird,….. the transducer placement/set up specific for your rig is the most critical piece of the puzzle. Just like having the new Quantum EXO rod, reel, and filling it with the cheapest rubbery mono. Too much detail would be lost to capitalize on the best of market place technology. I can tell you I am a analytical freak when it comes to fishing with electronics. I live and die by my h-birds and have the most confidence in them to depths over 160′ (searching for chubs or smelt in Lake MI for summer lake trout). I know of more people that have made the comment “I wish..” or much worse that have gone with Lowrance than people that have gone with Humminbrid. I think Lowrance was prematurely releasing their units in a desperate attempt to keep up, so more guys were running into issues with performance. Now that a few years have passed, I think they are starting to level out better on their platforms. If I was pulling another $4,000 out of my pocket for electronics again today, without hesitation it would be spent on the Hummingbird units again.

Quote:

---

I think Lowrance was prematurely releasing their units in a desperate attempt to keep up, so more guys were running into issues with performance.

---

In side tip. ALL companies were doing this… some still are.

Since we’ve strayed from imaging, the reason I’ve gone to Lowrance was because the way I fish. Mostly at night and I rely of my GPS to help me get 10 miles or so back home in the dark.
‘Birds routes can hold up to 50 way points compared to Lowrance’s 100. At 50 waypoint in a route, I would have to stop and start the second route to make it home.

Moving the information around on the data overlay for me was important too as well as adjusting the size of the displayed info.

Having Speed and Depth in large numbers at the top of the screen on the left and right side, then having less important info like voltage, time to destination smaller and lower on the screen. Having it your way so to speak.

It’s like I said in another post, there’s trade off’s to each brand to some extent, but the way both units are set up today, it’s going to be technology that will pull one ahead of the other.

Keep in mind that no matter what you buy, it’s going to be out dated in 6 months.

Thanks for all the input. I was leaning to HB but I found info there transducers keep breaking the mounts and realy dont like having to glass in another transducer for high speed readings. Looks like we’ll have to flip a quarter.

Keep in mind that if the mount is breaking it was mounted too low and is dragging big time to break. I see them mounted incorrectly all the time. They are the ones on the boat going across the lake with a water geyser spraying 10′ in the air or more.

Quote:

---

Thanks for all the input. I was leaning to HB but I found info there transducers keep breaking the mounts and realy dont like having to glass in another transducer for high speed readings. Looks like we’ll have to flip a quarter.

---

I would look at how long will each company provide service for the unit after the sale Lowrance was really bad about fixing legacy units ( hopefully that has changed ). Hbird gives prices for repair and still offers repair for units 7-8 years old.

I went from 30 years of Lowrance ( never had an issue ) to Hbird and I am not looking back. The birds menus are much easier to use and get accustomed to.

Good luck and have fun with what ever you purchase.

Edited to add I run the 1198 Hbird and I only run the one transducer for 2D, DI, and SI and get great returns in 2D up to 49 GPS, that is all the faster my boat goes on a good day.

Quote:

---

The birds menus are much easier to use and get accustomed to.

---

Someone needs to turn the light back on at the end of the tunnel for you Tom.

---

Someone needs to turn the light back on at the end of the tunnel for you Tom.

---

It get`s brighter and dimmer I wish I could figure out what makes the switch work.