Which fishfinder? Again!
 

With the tax return coming, I have the boss' permission to upgrade my fishfinder.
After much researches and countless readings on posts on BWE about fishfinders, I'm still left with a couple choices. I've owned 1 or 2 Humminbird lower end units in the past which I use as portable units on my kayaks and rentals on lakes and wasn't quite happy with them. So this time, I'm gonna go with Lowrance. Please share some insights so I can decide which FF I'm gonna go with. I'll be using it on both lakes occasionally trolling for stripers but mostly salt, possibly open water hunting for bigger fish in the hopefully near future (Maybe LJ, or rockfish in Newport)

Which of these should I choose:

-Lowrance Elite-5 HDI (cheapest)

- Lowrance Elite-7 HDI

- Or Lowrance HDS-5 (Nautic Insight or Lake Insight?)

Thank you very much for your time & helps.

I like my elite 5 hdi. But I know the hds series are sweet also. What boat are you fishing? Do you have lowrance ready?

Unless you need the larger screen I would get the Elite 5 HDI because it has the sounder as well as the down scanning. Makes it better to compare the two screens and have a much better Idea of what is underneath.

I'm not a humminbird fan boy or anything but perhaps you were not happy with your previous ones because they were lower end units? I've owned a 385ci and a 385ci and love them. I've fish next to people with hds 5 units and could see all the marks they were picking up. Not comparing it to the hds5 because that's a much stronger unit but a bit more expensive too. If you are looking into the 600-700 dollar range though you may wanna check out the Ray Marine dragonfly. That chirp technology is supposed to be sick

You can actually display both on one screen with downscan overlay .

I got my hand on a stealth 12 in the last oex blem sale. My other HB units are a matrix donated by a bwe buddy after i flipped on my first trip n lost all my gears. Then i traded w a friend + cash for a 596ci unit but the readings were inconsistent n the power usually cut off during uses the couple times i've taken it out on rentals at lakes.



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My budget max out at around 500 so at this time dragonfly isnt a choice for me:)




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You won't regret the hdi 5

In choosing the hds-5 without down imaging n having to spend another $100 over the elite-5 hdi, i cant figure it out but wat features that the hds unit has that justify the price and hdi features? Thanks all for your inputs.


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I'm interested in the difference as well. The rep had told me that HDI is better for type of fishing kayakers on coast do down here.


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When in doubt, buy the more expensive one ;)

Is my understanding that the down imaging degrades in deeper water and is more of a fresh water feature

The DSI signal are supposed to be good to at least 200 feet (some models claim a little more), it is better for shallower waters. The screen looks almost 3D and Sonar (usually down to 1000 feet) gives you the different colors between soft and hard targets. Combined it allows you to see more detail that each one alone can't cover. The chirp technology on the Raymarine from what I have seen on advertisements and sales brochures just looks like the DSI image (it's provably just their name for their application of the same concept) That's just my opinion from what I have seen.

x2 I got the dragonfly but the screen kept locking up in the sonar mode so I sold it and got a great deal on the Elite 5 hdi at the L.B.FHS.

Thank u all for the advices. So now it came down to the elite 5 dhi and the hds-5. From wat i heard having gps is important to your safety when fishing open water n u can also record waypoints. An elite5 dhi with gps cost as much as an hds5 with gps? Same size, about the same price? Which one should i get?


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find a few guys that have them and get together one day and fish so you can see the real time differance.where are you located and where do you fish?

Without a doubt get the HDS 5. I have an Elite 5 mounted in the water, which gives me a good reading. However, after fishing next to people with an HDS, it has significantly better target recognition. You can make out marks more clearly, and in one instance it picked up fish feeding on bait from below that my unit didnt pick up.

HDS 9 gen 2 touch baby! It's great having the bigger screen and LSS. Don't hate me....

Is the HDS-5 (without DI feature) that much better in term of reading strutures and marking fish compared to the HDI? I've read and heard so much praises of DI/SI so it's a little confused to me now. :) I'm not saying I'm not believing or anything, I'm just trying to make the best decision at this time by trying to get more questions answered :). Thanks

To bus: I fish mostly around the O.C area but haven't taken my yak out since the winter. :) I got another yak and still in the rigging process before I get out again :)

check your pm box.