Need Advice: Lowrance Elite7 vs. Tablet

OK ya’ll….I need some friendly input here as to which way to get GPS/Lake maps on my boat.

I currently have a Elite7x HDI installed on my boat…after 1 season i realize i should have gotten the Elite7 HDI with GPS and Lake Maps so…

Option1: Purchase a new Elite7HDI for around $699….all i need is the head unit (confirmed with Lowrance) since the 7 and 7x have identical ducers/power cabels etc. Swap the head units and sell my 7x head unit with the brand new cabels/ducer that come with the Elite 7.

Option2: Keep my current Elite 7x and purchase a new Tablet (interested in the Samsung 8″ tablets) with GPS capabilities (around $250). Download Navionics ($10) and purchase a suction cup mount (Arkon mounts…$20) for the windshield and use this for lake mapping etc. since Navionics stores the lake map info on the device I don’t need a data plan/wifi to run their software….just need a GPS enabled tablet.

Cost isn’t much of an issue as since I figure i can sell the 7x head unit and new cabels/ducer for aound $450….so in the long run I’m only spending $250-$280 no matter which option i go with.

What would you do?

Remember, you are in a boat, the boat is surrounded by water, it may rain while fishing. How waterproof is a tablet? The elite7 hdi with a chip is the way to go. A $10 app will NOT give you the same quality performance as the chip will. As a backup, the app will work as long as you have cell service, the GPS works as long as the satellites are in space.

I like Navionics, but I would opt for one unit with GPS. The reasons being I’d rather have an all in one and the marine electronics are built in housing that is able to withstand rough rides and water.

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As a backup, the app will work as long as you have cell service

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It works regardless of cell service. The maps are downloaded to the handset and GPS is the same as the marine electronics.

I have the Elite 7 with the GPS and maps. It is great! It has been a game changer for me.

Don’t buy a tablet for fishing. Buy a tablet for surfing the web at home. Upgrade to the Elite 7 with GPS or, if you can afford it, get an HDS Series with GPS capability and side-scan.

My two cents.

I have a nexus 10 mounted in the boat – however, I do not use for GPS because of the exact reasons above. If its raining or snowing – the tablet gets put in its water proof case and is put away, which seems to be a lot when I am on the water lol.

I would stick with the elite 7 GPS before going to a tablet – I think the tablets are just a “fun” add-on. We use mine for streaming movies/TV through a hotspot I have in the boat, but not much else.

Another option may be to pick a cheap GPS fish finder combo and run your maps on that. An old Eagle 640 with GPS will get the job done and keep your Lowrance open for finding fish. Doing split screen on small screens can be a little hard to read.

Knew someone that went through pretty much the same questions…. they went with an all new unit for all the reason mentioned.

Went to sell the other, and like any used electronics, he settled for $325, with the other transducer and such. I would have bought it from him, but didn’t find out in time. That said, I would have bought that unit…. as he could have sent it in for warranty issues and such for me if needed. I think you’ll have a hard time getting $450. I don’t know that the warranty is transferable?

Thanks everyone for posting your thoughts…I’m leaning towards the head unit swap as well. I only threw out the $450 figure because of recent ebay auctions I have been watching….used everything going for $420ish….figure new never mounted cabels/ducer paired with a used yet perfect 7x head unit could fetch a slight premium. We’ll see….Thanks again.

Another thing to consider is the track back ( i think thats what it is called) feature on the Elite. You can look at your sonar history back to a certain point and if you see something you like waypoint it. You now have that spot marked and can go back to it using your gps.

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Remember, you are in a boat, the boat is surrounded by water, it may rain while fishing. How waterproof is a tablet? The elite7 hdi with a chip is the way to go. A $10 app will NOT give you the same quality performance as the chip will. As a backup, the app will work as long as you have cell service, the GPS works as long as the satellites are in space.

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Puddlepounder nailed it. X2

Thanks again everyone….found awesome prices on the Elite7 on BOEmarine.com….Also, looks like Lowrance is offering a choice of 2 FREE lake map chip upgrades or 1year of Insight Genesis as a rebate from today 2/13/14 to 4/6/2014 when you purchase a qualifying unit. See the link below for details

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/specialoffers/Spring-Upgrade-2014/US/

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As a backup, the app will work as long as you have cell service

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It works regardless of cell service. The maps are downloaded to the handset and GPS is the same as the marine electronics.

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I don’t think that a cell phone GPS antenna is the same as a marine electronics antenna. I do t think a cell phone has as many channels, hence the accuracy will not be as good. Even my marine electronics can be off as much as 100 feet, no telling how far a cell phone will be off. After a little research, your cell phone doesn’t have a 16 channel receiver like my elite7 does.

FYI….sold my Used 7x head unit with new everything else on Ebay today for $480 shipped. Just FYI in case anyone else is looking to sell theirs. Sold in less than 12 hours.

I believe they may be backordered at most places, hence the demand?

The Elite 7 with navionics map chip does not show borders. For instance LOW US/Canada border or Detroit River US/Canada border should show up clearly with a solid red line but does not on Elite 7. Other than that I like the unit. RH