HDS-7 gen 2 touch for ice fishing

I just got rid of my flasher and have been looking at getting a graph for ice fishing instead. Been looking at some HDS-7 gen 2 or gen 1. For those of you that have used them or have one, what do you think? How do you like it compared to a flasher?
If I got a gen-2 touch, how would the touch screen function in the cold? Laggy or no?
Typically how long does it last running on a 12v 9amp? Or do you use a different battery?
Mostly want one for the GPS capability but I’ve always wanted to try a graph for ice fishing.

I have used my HDS 5 ice fishing and really like using it. As far as lag goes, there isn’t any. I have said it time and again a graph is actually more informational using on the ice than ANY flasher ever will be. You can see a history across your screen where a flasher will only show whats going on at that moment. Take your eyes off the flasher for 5 seconds, fish swings through and you have no idea. On a graph, you will still see the line and can try and bring them back in. Also, its great to see how fish react to presentation, etc. You can see them aggressively chase or swim down so easy. Yeah, you can see this on a flasher too, but the extra visual is very nice.
I purchased a 12 AMP battery because I knew it would consume some battery and long days might be an issue. I have used it on multiple occasions and never ran out of battery for an entire day, but truth be told, with that 12 AMP battery it is a tank.
It is fine for sitting in a house, but hopping around from hole to hole, no way.
I have a 7 Touch and a 7 Gen 1 as well. I don’t know if I will use the touch unit this winter or not. The 7 Gen 1 gets mounted to my ATV and works flawlessly.
The only concern I would have with the touch unit is you would either need special gloves with the “touch” finger tips or have to remove your gloves for it to work properly. A Gen 3 touch would be better because it has a keypad as well.

I used to use a 332c for ice fishing and now I use a HDS 5 Gen2. I really like it for having the gps capability. You can use the flasher option but I run normal sonar with the scroll speed on 2x. I use a 9amp battery and never had a problem but I also always carry a spare with me.

The thing I have found with the touch screens is they need to be “grounded” in order to work. By this I mean my friend used one last year and he had to have the ice ducer in the water or holding it in his hand to be able to navigate the screen. Something with buttons such as the elite series or gen 3’s would be better because of the buttons on the sides.

As for batteries we found that to fish all day we needed to run one of the green batteries from Solar Sportsmen in the 10amp size. The 7amp would die 3/4 into a full day of fishing. I would guess a 9amp would work but ive gone away from lead acid and went to the lithium technology and Im very happy with them. Lighter and run longer = more fish caught.

Huh, I’ve never heard of that beating a problem. The navigating the screen part and the puck. I wonder why that would be. Has anyone else had that problem or can expand on that aspect? I haven’t bought one yet but now I might be leaning towards something with buttons.

He was referring to specifically the touch screen units which it does actually make sense what he is saying. If you touch the screen with a glove on it doesn’t work because of not being “grounded”. Didn’t think of it that way, but does make sense.

matt-p wrote:

The thing I have found with the touch screens is they need to be “grounded” in order to work. By this I mean my friend used one last year and he had to have the ice ducer in the water or holding it in his hand to be able to navigate the screen.

I just tried the transducer and screen not working at the Cabela’s store and had no problem navigating the touch screen with my other hand. Tried both with and without hold the transducer. I thought that was a weird occurence and I don’t see why that would ever happen unless you had a faulty unit or bad transducer.

I just want to weigh in on this grounding issue with the hds touch screens. I have a HDS 7 gen2 touch and a HDS 12 gen2 touch I use in my boat. I have been attempting to convert them into ice fishing rigs but I have discovered the same issues matt-p was discussing. I hook up the power supply to my vexilar battery and the touch screen does not function. However, through A LOT of trail and error, I have discovered that if I touch the negative side on the battery with one hand and operate the touch screen with the other, it works flawlessly. Also, if i hold the accessory cables from the wiring harness in one hand and operate the touch screen with the other it works normal as well. This was consistent with multiple power supply harnesses and both my hds 7 and hds 12.

This baffled me because I have never had this issue when I have had it wired into my boat. So next I went and hooked it up to a car battery that was not in a vehicle, and again the same issue, touch screen not functioning. After all this, I went and hooked it up to a car battery that was in a car, and just like magic, it worked perfectly! So to me, it seems that a very substantial ground (like a vehicle or boat) is required in order for the touch screen to function normally.

This seems crazy to me since it really limits the capabilities of the hds touch units! I am going to be contacting Lowrance to discuss what I have found and see if they have any recommendations. Anyone else come up with a solution yet??

I actually did the new update on my hds gen 2 9″ touch last week, I used the elite 5 ice machine battery and power cable, but like you said the touch woudn’t work. I worked for 5 minutes for me, as soon as I rebooted the system (or rather the update rebooted it), the touch didn’t work at all. So I kinda found that out on accident though I never planned to use it for ice fishing, felt I would share my experience with it.

Ben DeVries wrote:

I just want to weigh in on this grounding issue with the hds touch screens. I have a HDS 7 gen2 touch and a HDS 12 gen2 touch I use in my boat. I have been attempting to convert them into ice fishing rigs but I have discovered the same issues matt-p was discussing. I hook up the power supply to my vexilar battery and the touch screen does not function. However, through A LOT of trail and error, I have discovered that if I touch the negative side on the battery with one hand and operate the touch screen with the other, it works flawlessly. Also, if i hold the accessory cables from the wiring harness in one hand and operate the touch screen with the other it works normal as well. This was consistent with multiple power supply harnesses and both my hds 7 and hds 12.

This baffled me because I have never had this issue when I have had it wired into my boat. So next I went and hooked it up to a car battery that was not in a vehicle, and again the same issue, touch screen not functioning. After all this, I went and hooked it up to a car battery that was in a car, and just like magic, it worked perfectly! So to me, it seems that a very substantial ground (like a vehicle or boat) is required in order for the touch screen to function normally.

This seems crazy to me since it really limits the capabilities of the hds touch units! I am going to be contacting Lowrance to discuss what I have found and see if they have any recommendations. Anyone else come up with a solution yet??

Did you ever hear anything from Lowrance on this? I am getting a HDS 7 Gen2 Touch and was wondering about using it for ice fishing this coming winter.

Thanks!!

See the link to video below. It explains why your touchscreen is unresponsive, when it is not hooked up to a boat, and ways to get around it.
YouTube Link

I have been using a HDS 5 for the past 3 years and I think it works awesome. I haven’t had any issues with lag and the gps part is great. Last year I bought a new flip over and mounted a bracket for 24 series battery that I use in my boat, this way I can run my lights and HDS. The normal batteries would last about 3-4 hours so I always had 2, which is the reason I went with the deep cycle in the flip over. No more worries since I can read the voltage on my HDS and know when it will need a new charge.

Do you still have to hold the battery if your ice transducer is in the water while ice fishing? I found the hds7 gen 2 touch brand new for $700 so I want one but not if it doesn’t work flawlessly. Thanks