Lowrance HDS 5

[TBone1]

Does anyone have a Lowrance HDS 5 or any HDS unit? I would like to hear the pro's and cons on these including any performance problems you may have had with the HDS.Thanks T

[TR21]

TBone1,

I put the HDS5x on my boat this year and was pleased with the performance and screen. I did have a few problems losing depth but the updates fixed that problem.I've had several Lowrance units over the years and this compares with them. The high def is a lot better in terms of clarity, even fishing shallow and if properly set up, eliminates a lot of the clutter of a non hi def unit. There is a lot to play with and you can really set it to the type of fishing you are doing at the time. Lots of options that weren't previously available.

[matthothand]

I like mine. At first therewere some minor issues but if you take the time to understand the settings they work great.

[TBone1]

How often do you guys use your HDS? and how do you use them as far as a dash unit or bow mount. Do you use them in rainy or rough water where they may get wet?

[PerchJerker]

I have an HDS on my boat, it's on a RAM mount on the console and has been out in many rain storms. I've been really happy with it and I agree with what the other posters said -- take a little time to understand it and get it figured out and it's a nice unit. I think the high-def sonar is great, I really like the picture it draws.

HDS GPS/Sonar Combo Units

[solbes]

I have an HDS 7 which has been out on my boat for 1 trip. Hope to learn much more about it next year. Honestly it worked good right out of the box. It had the 2nd most recent software rev (newest 10/19). I created all of my data overlays at home hooked to a 12 volt in simulator mode. That way I was already comfortable with the menus and settings by the time I got up north.

I didn't have any issues with losing bottom using the shallow water mode (good down to 2.5 feet or so). I tried some of Perchjerkers tips to fine tune the sonar a little bit: choose exact transducer first (HST-WSBL probably), 200 kHz, bumping ping speed and colorline up a little. Sensitivity is pretty easy to figure out. I like a lot of the different color palette's, but some of them do not easily show bottom hardness changes with colorline. It seems the tried and true palette 1 shows this the best, red/blue for mud/silt & yellow for sand/rock. Blue background #2 for speed trolling. Black/red palette for night trolling to make it easier for night vision. I love the Pages menu. You can split the screen in any way you want it and have a custom overlay for each. Fantastic!

Onto some of the minor issues I've seen so far: 1) It sometimes loses bottom at speeds greater than 15-20. It should be capable of marking fish even at WOT. I suspect the transducer is too high/low or is possibly related to it not being level. 2) The GPS estimated position error is higher than the H20c that I had mounted right next to it. At best it was 25 feet for the HDS7 and 14 for the H20c. 3) Some minor sonar interference (black rain) when I run my x-50ds on the bow over a hard bottom. I should just adjust the HDS to use 83 khz when running both. 4) Fish arcs will appear smaller the deeper you go. If you see a huge arc shallow and a small arc very deep it's possible the fish are of similar size. I believe HBirds might adjust for this. 5) Arcs were showing right out of box. I was missing the first 1/3 of the arc. I would guess my transducer needs to be adjusted for level. It's probably pointed slightly to the back.

I was initially only considering the HDS5. After playing with them in the store, the screen for 5 just gets too small when splitting between sonar/GPS. If you have a dedicated GPS or handheld then the screen is great. Personal choice obviously. Good luck!

[TBone1]

Thanks for the replies, solbes I agree with you on the HDS 5 screen being too small for the split fuction.

Out of the box I loved the HDS, one of the reasons was being able to clearly "see" individual fish (walleye) on the bottom and being able to pick them off vertical jigging, absolutely fabulous.

Now the problem I have is the unit is mounted in the bow, and on a recent trip up to Leech it rained off and on for 4 days, and it was blowing like [Please read forum policy before posting again. Admin], so I took a few waves over the bow soaking the unit, well it quit working, went completely dead.

So I took the unit off the ram mount and could tell it was full of water, brought it up to the cabin and literally dumped 1 cup of water out of it.

I have sent the unit back to Lowrance, and because of back orders I will not see a replacement until mid November.

[shamrock7]

Anyone know if the HDS 5 will work with a 522C transducer? Have an ice pak for a 522 and would like to put in the HDS 5 if it will work.

[PerchJerker]

Some of the first HDS units had a bad seal or gasket in them and would let in water ---- if you even suspect you have that problem get in touch with Lowrance and they will replace the unit for you with a new one.

The transducer for the 522 will work with the HDS units.

[JohnMickish]

I was in a tournement boat this summer and the guy had an HDS8 on the bow and a HDS10 on the console. He is a Lowrance pro staff guy, got his electronics for free (don't know if that makes a difference but thought I would let everyone know) and was on his second set.

The first set he recieved (early production) had trouble reading the maps so he sent them back. The second set would read the maps fine but the HDS8 would lose contact with the satelites a couple times a day, but only for minute or so. That might not sound like much but if you are trying to retrace a track it's a big deal, especially in a tournement.

The two units where networked together and the HDS10 would lose the satelite once in a while, but not at the frequency of the HDS10. The units where installed at the boat dealership (a large well respected dealership in the metro).

So, for the one day I spent with them I liked them. The color is great and they do everything they should, but it sounds like there is the typical Lowrance software/quality issues.

For what it's worth, I used to run all Lowrance on my boat, but sold them all in 2008 and now run Humminbird, which run in any water, any lake at any depth. Every time.

[Chode2235]

So do the HDS units work with the ice ducer? I have a 334 used as an ice machine, but will likely be upgrading soon. How do these work for that situation?

[Rippin_eyes]

yes they work with an ice ducer