Hummingbird electronics

I’m in the market for a new depthfinder and have been looking at Hummingbird, Lowrance and Eagle. My son has an older Lowrance that I’ve operated(or tried to) and it is far from user friendly. I have a Hummingbird 101 that has gone the way of the dinosaurs, but I thought was user friendly. My questions are— (1) Are the new Hummingbirds still user friendly and reliable? (2)Are the newer Lowrance units more user friendly? (3)Are the Eagle units similar in operation to the Lowrance units, being that they are put out by the same company?

After just about a year, I have finally made a post on this great website. I hopefully will no longer be designated a “Lurker”. I was beginning to feel like Michael Jackson!!!

Thats funny Jim, welcome to the site,even though you have been around for a while. About your question ,all of those are good units ,its really a matter of which one you feel comfortable with, Wade (aka) Jolly ann Marine is really up on all the new features,and is great to do buissness with,Give him a shout and I,m sure he can point you in the right direction.

Jim,

Welcome to the site!!

I have a Lowrance LCX-15MT at the console and am in the process of getting my Humminbird 400TX put on the bow. I have had the 400TX for several years and the Lowrance for a season. The Humminbird is a great unit, but doesn’t compare to the Lowrance, with regards to features, etc. I paid almost as much for that Humminbird as Jolly Ann charges for the LCX-15MT. Granted the 400TX is a portable so it cost me $50 more for the box. I also realize the 400TX isn’t a current model, but it is extremely easy to use, and does a great job.

The Lowrance and Eagle are basically the same unit made by the same company.The big difference is how much power they put out and price.If you fish mostly shallow water say 100 feet or less and want to spend less money the Eagle is a good bang for the buck.If you are fishing deep water and money isnt an object I would look at a Lowrance.These are pretty easy to run but I wouldnt throw away the manual.I never cared much for Hummmingbirds and havnt used one lately so I wont comment on them.My third choice would be a Garmin or Vexilar.

Welcome to IDA Jim! That Mikey Jackson line cracked me up. Fishfinders… Everyone’s got their favorites and most likely it’s the brand that’s rigged on their boat. I personally run a Lowrance unit and find it very easy to use. Most important, it does it’s job. I can actually watch a 1/4 once jig in 25 feet on my Lowrance unit. Eagle units are made by Lowrance and tend to have the same menu setup and similar features as Lowrance. Humminbird… it’s hard to say how good these new Humminbird units will be. Humminbird is in a transition stage, with Johnson Outdoors (owner of Minn Kota Motors) recently buying out Techsonic Industries (former owner of Humminbird). Johnson does a darn fine job with Minn Kota so I am assuming we’ll see a good product from Humminbird. This next year will be very interesting. I’m looking forward to hearing feedback from around the country. Maybe these new Humminbird units are the real deal. In the meantime, I’m personally stickin’ with the ol’ tried and true Lowrance.

I have been on the water for a while now running two different Humminbird units. One is the Matrix 97 and the other is the Matrix 67. The 97 is a color unit and the 67 is grayscale. Both are WAAS GPS chartplotters and both have DualBeam Plus transducers. I must say I am very impressed with the ease of use, accuracy, and overall performance of these new Humminbird electronics. I wish I had a chance to play around with the 987 with side imaging technology. That high resolution image is very cool!

I think that now that Johnson Outdoors is associated with Humminbird, we will start seeing a lot more from these units.

Adam, Thanks for posting your experience. It’s really helpful to anyone trying to decide among all the choices in electronics. The Matrix units have been on the market for quite a while and I do hear some good reports on them. Our bass fishermen tend to like Matrix units for their wider coverage. I would love to see Johnson Outdoors take Humminbird to the next level. Competition is good for everyone. So far, it looks like they’re headed in a positive direction. Thanks!