Looking for advice purchasing new lowrance units

Hello,

Looking for some advice on what Lowrance units I should buy. I have an 16.5′ Alumacraft, with a 12” Lowrance Elite 12 Ti at the console. Transducer is mounted on transom. My family and I primarily fish in the northern Wisconsin area, targeting bass, walleye, occasional panfish and musky. I’m also running a Motorguide Xi5. Main reason for wanting a bow mount unit is that often I will spot cribs and structure on my current Lowrance unit, and by the time I hit spot lock, or try and turn the boat around, I’m off the target and sometimes can’t locate it again.

I’d like to replace the Elite Ti with a newer 12” unit at the console, and install a bow mount unit, all connected with NMEA2000 so I can take advantage of spot lock through the Lowrance unit itself. I’m torn between the Elite FS and HDS Pro, and I’m also looking for guidance on whether or not I should just use the built in 2D sonar on the Xi5, or mount a Lowrance transducer on the trolling motor. I would also like the ability to share transducers between units, as I often find myself at the stern, ”guiding” my son who likes to fish from the bow. There could be an advantage to displaying the bow mount transducer on the console mounted Lowrance unit. Not sure that’s even possible though.

FWIW, we fish maybe 12 times a year, so perhaps for that reason I should stay with the Elite FS and save $$

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See if you can find HDS Live units, they are the previous generation. I bought 2 9″ units last year for like half price and got the active target too. Not sure if Lowrance is coming out with a new model this year, but that is the route I would go you would save a ton of money. I really like them, larger screen since I had 7 inch units before and the active target is amazing.
I also have an Xi5 trolling motor and it works great with them. Love being able to control it from the graph.
You could consider getting a Point 1 antenna and mount that at the back of the boat. It would be more accurate than having it on the GPS head itself.

Some older units do not link up with newer ones. You’ll have to check the Lowrance website on that to confirm.

Another idea I had, but am unsure if it’s possible, is to mount an HDS Pro or similar unit at the console, and have it connected to two Active Imaging HD transducers…one at the stern, and one mounted on the trolling motor. This would be an economical solution, especially when paired with a tablet that I could bow mount and mirror the console unit with.

Does anyone know if this setup would be possible?

With my experience with active imaging there would be no need to have 2 transducers. The range they cover is pretty ridiculous. I mean they will reach out 40 plus feet so I think that would be overplay. Like I said try to find a Live unit and get the active target 1 and you will be very happy compared to what you are already using plus have a lot of extra money in your pocket.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it!

You’re welcome I am all for spending other peoples money, but I think you would be happy with what I suggested .

Pulled the trigger on an HDS live 12, and can’t wait to get on the water.

I also connected my Motorguide xi5 to it via nmea2000, and installed my old total scan transducer onto the trolling motor.

For now I have no bow mounted graph, partly because the bow space is small, and partly because I typically stand at the back of the boat while my son fishes from the bow. But I am starting to think about what unit to run up front. Maybe just an IPad that mirrors the hds Live? Really with the dual transducers, I just need the HDS live display mirrored at the bow.

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I’ve also thought of doing the ipad or tablet approach.

I don’t think the screen would be as crisp and clear in the sun and the issue of it not being waterproof.

Thus the reason I passed on going that route.