Anybody got experience with one of these? I was thinking of upgrading my gen 1 bow unit to a gen 3. The gen 3 have a free spotlight scan transducer with purchase. I was going to mount that on trolling motor. Would that give you full sonar, spotlight scan and down scan from the front of the boat? Also, I was told I could use my point 1 mounted on the rear of the boat and a second would not be needed for the front. The head unit would be used for gps and the point 1 on the rear would be used for the compass only.

Be advised that the only time the spotlight scan will provide any image is when you are making a sweep with the foot pedal left/right - right/left. If you stop the motion the image stops. It has to be a continuous sweeping motion slowly.....

Thanks, I had a couple of people pm me said they are giving them away because they wont sell. I was mainly wanting it for the downscan on front, could get that in a much cheaper option.

Yep....

Everything that I have seen and heard about them say it's a bust

Hummm must be why they are giving them away if you bought a HDS GEn3 in the last few weeks or so.

It's a learning curve and fishermen, as a rule, don't like to learn. As mentioned, the spotlight doesn't update until you sweep with the trollingmotor, but each time you sweep, you get the images your sweeping across. This means if you pull up to a point, you can make a sweep and see what's on the point. If you want to see if something has come/gone from a top, you make another sweep. It does have DI and sonar also.

If someone would like to give there s away
I would like to try it just to see
what all the fuss is about.
I got my gen 3 before the deal was at Lowrance

Contact Lowrance and ask them to honor the giveaway. They probably will, especially if you purchased the Gen3 just before the deal came about....I mean they are just giving them away.

Makes me wonder since they're giving them away if their getting ready to release a newer, better version. The sonar market is very competitive, when one manufacturer comes out with something, it's a safe bet to believe that everyone else is going to try to compete.

This technology has been around for some time now. Humminbird came out with 360 and this was Lowrance attempt to follow. No telling what Lowrance will try and mimic as the spotlight scan didn't even come close.

Humminbird has perfected it....but yes, you just never know what will come about next.

I agree the spotlight scan is not the best, but it is useful if you spend some time with it. Lowrance does have the best sonar and sidescan on the market. The new 3D looks promising. Wait and see who tries to mimic that.

At best, Lowrance Side Scan is in third place with that technology. Humminbird Side Imaging is considered best by those that actually have used most brands. Garmin Side Vu is second place.

I think I would agree with you. Lowrance has zero distance in comparison to the other two and their detailing is even lacking ever since the lss2 came out. You are referring to the Onix side imaging, correct?

ONIX and core units Side Imaging. Comparing the HDSI transducer with the ONIX SI transducer, it looks like the SI crystals are the same length.