Looking to buy new GPS, possibly sonar

Our Lowrance GPS unit w Lakemaster chip finally crashed after 7+ years of use. Have an original Lowrance (read 2002 or so) sonar unit that’s annoying and not great.

I’m a tech/electronics guy in my main life with job and home electronics, but getting married in ’09 and having 2 kids since then has taken me out of the fishing “best of” lately.

What should I be looking for if budget wasn’t an issue? And is the Sports Show the best time to get a deal? Need a GPS unit for sure but some of the side scan sonar and other things sound pretty cool.

What’s a realistic cost to get one or both units? Don’t need top top top of the line as I’m not a tourney fisher or a guide, but I like good stuff.

Thanks, guys!

Do you want all the new techy stuff? Side imaging, Down Imaging, weather etc…. where do you fish mainly?

No budget recommendation

Great unit for a lot less!

Combo units are the way to go. You can use full chart to get to

your spots and then go split screen chart/sonar to find the fish.

Depending upon your budget, it looks like the new Lowrance Elite 7 could be a great unit. The Elite 5 is also a good unit, but it is much easier to see things on the bigger screen.
As far as buying things at the Sport Show, I’d say it’s the best place to buy at a steal of a price. While working at the ice fishing show, I know that most of us retailers were selling stuff just over cost. Just a little FYI

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Do you want all the new techy stuff? Side imaging, Down Imaging, weather etc…. where do you fish mainly?

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This boat is 100% Mille Lacs.

Are you looking to stay on the Lowrance side, or would you consider making the switch over to the Humminbird units?

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Are you looking to stay on the Lowrance side, or would you consider making the switch over to the Humminbird units?

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I’d consider it but I like Lowrance and a lot of stuff is already wired for it. Have a second boat that’s wired for the same Lowrance unit to transfer over. But that might have to change either way I suppose. I guess I might have to change GPS puck as well depending on what I get?

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No budget recommendation

Great unit for a lot less!

Combo units are the way to go. You can use full chart to get to
your spots and then go split screen chart/sonar to find the fish.

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Sweet! That top one is pretty money. So to be clear that’s a combo unit but it only takes Navionics chips?

On that note have there been any upgrades in chips for Mille Lacs recently? I have an older (7 years) Navionics and maybe 5 year old Lakemaster. Sme flats or other spots weren’t perfect but overall they’re very good. Preferred the Lakemaster one.

Lowrance Mapping Options

The Lowrance HDS units may fit your bill as well. They are the top of the line units in the Lowrance lineup. The units range from four different sizes (the 5, 7, 8, and 10) plus you have the ability to purchase Structure Scan at a later date. Whereas Humminbird, you have to purchase everything up front in order to be able to have access to Side Imaging. There are some very good deals and rebates going on for the HDS Units as well as the Elites that you may want to take a look at.

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The Lowrance HDS units may fit your bill as well. They are the top of the line units in the Lowrance lineup. The units range from four different sizes (the 5, 7, 8, and 10) plus you have the ability to purchase Structure Scan at a later date. Whereas Humminbird, you have to purchase everything up front in order to be able to have access to Side Imaging. There are some very good deals and rebates going on for the HDS Units as well as the Elites that you may want to take a look at.

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Noted. That might be right up my alley. What’s the structure scan cost as an add-on? What other costs are there and do the dealers do installs too?

Thanks, guys! Greatly helpful!

LSS 2 HD is around $599.99, but if you do some shopping around I bet you can get a much better price

Other costs could vary depending on what else you want to add on. Lake Chips are probably a near must which will be roughly $100 give or take a couple bills. And yes, most dealers do installs, but that will also cost you a couple extra bucks.

If you buy one of the new Touch units the SS Module is built in, you just need to purchase the SS Transducer which is about 290.00 or so. The SS transducer plugs directly into a the Touch Units

This weekend I ended up talking to a guy that runs in PWT events and he said he runs two 8″ units on his console – one for GPS and one for sonar. He dislikes the split screen.

That’s how I have it set up now and I kind of like the dual monitor setup and am worried that even a 10″ split display might not be ideal.

Any opinions on that?

A 10″ screen is like running two 5″ units side by side. It is plenty of real-estate for running split screen, but I think you will get the best use out of running two units if your budget allows it.