Lowrance VS Humminbird

[Mike Stark]

im sure this has been beat to death in the past...but here it is again.

im looking at getting a new unit for open water. i will make it portable so that i can take it from boat to boat. i will be guiding in the BWCA on basswood.

im looking at a 5in display with gps. i can get pretty good deals on both at Pro Fishing Supply.

i have heard that customer service is much better at humminbird.

what do folks think?

[deadeye]

I have owned a couple of the smaller humminbird portables and they have been decent. I have yet to need customer service so that says a lot. From what I have heard their customer service is top notch though.

With all the stuff happening at lowrance I would be inclined to stay away from them honestly. I do like the displays they make but from my experience their customer service is sort of a joke.

Just for reference I worked at Many Point Scout Camp I did the fishing outpost and had my little humminbird on the pontoon all summer. It got used every day and it also doubled as my ice fishing unit at that time. It went through two years of that before it finally met its demise falling out of the sled behind a snowmobile. Pretty good life considering it was open to the elements all summer long. Since then I have had a couple others that have worked just the same. My current one is going on 4 years now and is still working good.

[sx2]

I have been kicking around getting a 898c SI or a HDS 7 or a HDS 8. Same as you would like to get some input on them!!

[Mike Stark]

can anyone find a old thread on this? im sure there are lots but i cant find them using the search tool. never really been able to find what im looking for with the search tool.

[harvey lee]

I switched form Lowrance to two new SI units. I have not had them on the water yet but really likw what I see in demo mode and by simply playing with them.

As far as Lowrances CS, it should get better with time.

Bird does have great CS now.

Both of these companies offer a good product. I would be concerned with their CS as these SI units are not cheap and one needs to know that if they have any issues that they will be addressed.