Elite 7 HDI thoughts?

[Savage Brewer]

Has anyone here had much experience with the Lowrance Elite 7 HDI unit. Looking for a new depthfinder, and this seems like a really good price for the features.

I plan on buying Navionics maps, and I am not stuck on one brand vs the other, but it doesn't appear that Humminbird has a product to compete with in the same price range.

I am open to any suggestions you may have.

Thanks

[ssaamm]

I bought this spring. I really like it. I have a HB unit on the dash and the Elite on the bow. Lowrance has a great chip that has lakes from Tx to LOW and Rainy for about $100. Reeds said it Lakemaster info. I'd check it out.

[Savage Brewer]

Unfortunately it looks like it wont network two units together though. Guess I might have to look to a higher model.

[ib_jigged]

You can network through the NMEA wires.

[Savage Brewer]

From what I understand is you can network things like waypoints and other GPS related items, but say for example I want to put a larger unit in the back where I normally am, and then put a smaller display up in the bow showing just sonar information, but sharing the transducer I need full networking from what I understand.

I believe that you cant have two sonars running at 200Hz on the same boat running simultaneously, because they will interfere with each other, or am I wrong in thinking that?

[PerchJerker]

If you want to share a sonar signal across 2 units then you need 2 ethernet units, ie. 2 HDS units, and an ethernet cable.

The NMEA networking you get with the Elite 7 will not share sonar data.

You can run two 200 khz units on the same boat and won't get interference until the transducer cones overlap. If you have both transducers on the stern you'll get interference right away. If you have 1 transducer on the bow and the other on the stern you won't get interference until roughly 25-30 fow (depends on how far apart they are, which way they're pointed, if the bottom is rocky or soft, if it's wavey, etc -- but 25-30 fow is a good generalization).

[Savage Brewer]

could I have 1 running 200Khz and the other one running 50 or 83 Khz without problems? or would the cone overlaps still be a problem?

[PerchJerker]

You could run 50 or 83 on one of the units and not get interference, but I'm not sure you'd like the picture you get with it. 50 kHz is ideal for deep water (like 60 feet plus) and for salt water, and 83 kHz gives you a very wide cone which causes the picture to look muddled and not have as much definition --- especially over weeds or uneven bottoms you will really lose a lot of detail and definition with 83 kHz.

You can switch between 83 and 200 kHz so you can decide for yourself if 83 kHz is the answer or not for you.

I run 200 kHz on my bow and my transom. It's not very often that I'm fishing 25-30 fow with my bowmount motor. If I am, I either deal with the interference, or turn off 1 of the units. Most of my fishing is in less than 30 fow and I rarely, and I mean very rarely, have interference issues. My transducers are about 19 feet apart from each other.

[Savage Brewer]

Oh so 200khz is a narrower and more detailed cone. Kinda like looking through binoculars. Wheras a 50 or 83 is wider angle with less definition?

If that is the case I had them backwards in my head.