Should I stick with Lowrance?

Strange question, but here’s the deal. I have a Lowrance Elite 7 HDI on my bow mount trolling motor. I’m mainly a bass guy, but fish for a little bit of everything. I realize this isn’t the Cadillac of their line, but it’s been a pain in the neck. It’s very slow to boot up—minutes not seconds. Most of time when I pull up the trolling motor and move top a new spot and deploy it again the depth finder flashes 2.0 to 2.7 ft. If I re-start the unit it usually works in a couple minutes— not always though. My old Lowrance 334c from years ago couldn’t lock in satellites on a blue bird sky day. With that being said, the map chip I bought at Reed’s a couple years ago is excellent. It has Rainy, LOW, MN, the Dakota, etc. Thinking about getting an HDS-7 just to be able to use the chip. I don’t need the side scan or don’t think it’s easy to use it on a bow mount. Any suggestions? I would like to get a new HB for the dash, but I have about $500 in the large Lakemaster chips. I think the new Helix units just take the mini’s. Thanks for any input. Go Vikes!

7″ and smaller helix you are correct on the micro as, 9″+ takes full size. I’ve seen some good cuts on gen1 helix units if you don’t need/want latest and greatest.

My dad has gen2 hds 7 and 9 touch, outdated by today’s standard but they’ve performed pretty well for him.

Those side image shots I keep seeing from ‘birds mega si look awfully tempting but just cant justify the expense.

Birds only work with map cards made for Birds. You can’t use those old Lowrance cards with them.

ssaamm wrote:

Most of time when I pull up the trolling motor and move top a new spot and deploy it again the depth finder flashes 2.0 to 2.7 ft. If I re-start the unit it usually works in a couple minutes— not always though.

If you pull the trolling motor out of the water you need to either power off the locator OR pause it until you deploy it again. Otherwise it is pinging into outerspace the whole time and it loses its bearings which leads to you getting inaccurate depth readings for a bit.

I bought a Helix 7 just to compare the L vs H for myself.

There’s really only one item that I can’t stand with the bird and that’s the push button to the next screen feature. They are in two different boat so I can’t say how the units work without the side by side comparison.

My 02 cents your mileage may vary.

A way to avoid the trolling motor depth issues is to change the depth reading from “auto” to maybe 10 feet if you are bass fishing. Or whatever depth you are fishing.

I plan on getting either a year or 2 old HB or Helix to use the Lakemaster chips. The good Lowrance chip is the only thing making buying another Lowrance possible. An HDS is a possibility. My boat is 15 years, but I like to have decent electronics. Thanks

Been running both the HDS7 (Bow) and the HDS9 total scan (Counsel) for the last 2 months on my new boat and all I can say is they are rock solid in performance. Most older or outdated transducers are compatible and possibility’s are endless with these units. I’ve never used any Birds so I can’t comment on them. Navionics chips run great as well in these units.