Lowrance or Humminbird

[sx2]

I'm looking to buy a new sonar a Hds-8 or a 898c SI. Could I get some feedback on what you guys have,and the likes and dislikes of both units.

[Mike Stark]

ha...i just posted the humminbird vs. lowrance over in the expert gear advice

[JohnMickish]

Lots of recent threads on this. In a nutshell, both are great units with Lowrance having some quality problems within the last few years. If a person is to need help, the nod there would be towards Humminbird.

Humminbird seams to really be gaining in popularity with Lowrance being on the losing end.

Both are good, but for my money I'd go Humminbird.

[sx2]

People have been telling me that the Lowrance has a better sonar then the Humminbird and the Humminbird has a better gps.

[harvey lee]

I purchased two SI units this winter. I checked these all out and was totally convinced to go with the Birds.

I have had rather poor results with Lowrances CS and that was a huge concern for me.

These SI units are not cheap and I needed to be sure that if a problem arose, that I would be taken care of.

[Brad B]

I have looked at both lowrance and hummingbird units. I am leaning towards the bird because of the fact that you get the complete package in one unit. The lowrance HDS unit does not come with the Sturcuture Scan that would need to be purchased seperately. Here is the price break down of the two units (5" model).

Lowrance HDS 5 $750.00

Lowrance Structure Scan $600.00

Total for Lowrance $1350.00

Hummingbird 798c SI $1000.00

No additional stuff needed

Difference in price is $350.00 Saving when you get the hummingbird over the lowrance.

And another advantage the bird has going for it is that it holds 2 lake chip cards instead of just one. I would get the lake master and the navionics chips since the bird can run both of them. I was told that some lakes are better on one or the other chip and also was told that navionics has more lake that lake master chip does.

[Larson15]

Humminbird for sure

[Tom Linderholm]

I weighed the two pretty heavily this spring and wound up with a HDS 10. I've had Lowrance products for quite a few years with all but one issue with a charging coord for my H2O which was handled professionally. My take, Lowrance is aware of their standing, the majority of the issues took place in early 2009 and to my knowledge they are taking the appropriate steps to get back on track with both their units and customer service. The early issues with the HDS systems have been rectified I have been assured and I look forward to my new graph. For me the choice was a little easier as I was looking for a whole system to go on my boat that could network well together, satelite, radar, autopilot, etc... hence the reason I went with a Lowrance. I will also be mounting my X-25 just for back up purposes should I find my new unit flawed. A little extra assurance for me. I'll be firing the boat up in a month and will make sure to give a solid write up on the unit both good and bad once I put her to use.

[sx2]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm going to get the Humminbird 898c si.

[reddog]

Three years with my 997. No complaints. This is from 1 pm today.

How well do they work in shallow water?

Wonder why you dont see many fish in your 2D sonar in shallow water?

Walleyes, Buffalo, and some carp.

[PerchJerker]

I've used both HB and Lowrance units. I like them both. And I think there are some differences that might interest some guys.

As one of the earlier posters noted, if you're buying 1 unit and want side-scanning abilities, HB is less expensive. What didn't get mentioned is if you want side-scanning on mulitple units, Lowrance is less expensive because the StructureScan module works on 3 units at the same time. This also gives you the option to add units later, even a year or two or three down the road, if you want to spread out the expenses.

That's one example of how Lowrance is farther along in their networking capabilities than HB right now --- you can share structurescan, you can share a tranducer between multiple units at the same time, you can network 10+ units together if you want, etc. With HB networking you can basically share gps data between 2 units and that is all. I'm sure HB will catch up in the near future, as HB has already added an ethernet port to their new units this year and will probably be moving in the same direction as Lowrance regarding networking and sharing capabilities. But in the end .......... it's important to realize that the networking capability is important only if you want to have multiple units connected together --- if you're going to have 1 stand-alone unit in your boat then the networking capabilities probably don't matter to you.

I call both companies customer service lines quite a bit through work. HB is quicker to get a hold of, but the difference is not as drastic as the popular internet chatter leads you to believe. On Thursday mid-morning last week I actually waited on hold longer to talk to HB than I did to Lowrance (first time that's ever happened, and may never happen again, but it happened).

HB side-imaging is great. The info and displays are awesome. Now there are rumors floating around that the Lowrance images are even better, especially the down-imaging images, due to the Lowrance transducer. I haven't seen them yet so I can't make any judgement calls on which I think is best, but I am really anxious to see them both and compare.

Hopefully some of this helps you decide which the best unit is for you ......

[kg2]

For people with 2 sonar units (1 at bow and 1 at console) the preferred set-up is NOT to share transducers between the units. The bow mount unit uses the ducer on the trolling motor. The console graphs use ducers on the transom (if you use SI then you should have a shoot-thru also for on-plane running).

Connecting 10+ units together is not reality. 2 definitely (HB has a good and simpler system), but 3 for some. I would like to share info between all 3 of my HB graphs, but I can only with 2 now (using the interlink).

[PerchJerker]

For people with 2 sonar units (1 at bow and 1 at console) the preferred set-up is NOT to share transducers between the units.

[menomax]

Good call on the Hummingbird.

I've had nothing but issues with my Lowrance units over the past 3 years- and we all know that their customer service is about the worst. Ya just wait on hold for 30+ minutes and send them your unit and a check for $200 or $300 and we can fix it for you. What a joke!

I know that some guys love their Lowrances- Just look at the major boat manufacturers- they all changed over to Hummingbird- that says it all.

[stifler51]

i have a 798si, paid only 800$ new in box. One of the card slots didnt pop out a card right. Called was on hold not more then 5 mins, after 10 mins i had a RMA number and it took longer for UPS to send it and return it then their service work. All covered on their dollar. Props to Humminbird. They get my vote.

[Nick Kuhn]

PerchJerker will you be at the sportshow?

[Esox_Magnum]

I played with both units the other day in the store, both top of the line units. If I was buying today I'd have to go with the HDS 10, little more money but IMO the images were crisper and cleaner and for me easier to understand.

[PerchJerker]

PerchJerker will you be at the sportshow?

No, we don't go to the sportshow.