I know this question is like Chevy vs. Ford. I solved that problem by owning a Ford Truck and a Chevy Tahoe but wish to be uniform with my electronics. I emailed Shut-Up-And-Fish about the price of new Birds, which are great by the way, but before I jump into it thought I would garner some opinions. I have heard a great deal about the quality of customer service from Humminbird but the rebates currently available from Lowrance add to the mix. I know the side imagining is important to some but not me, just do not do enough fishing to warrant the extra expense but would like to have the down imaging.

I was in your shoes last year asking the same types of questions to all types of people.

It was almost a coin flip for me as I weighed all the pros and cons of each side. But I went with the Lowrance HDS - 7, from what the guy at Cabelas told me. Which was it was easier (for ME)to connect my unit I have now (in the back) to the one I want to buy next year (in the front).

Just have to find out which one will work for you.

I have used both. When I upgraded I went with Hummingbird for the following reasons;
Ease of Operation
Customer Service
Amount of Features;(2D, Down Imaging, Side Imaging all in one)
And I would go with the side imaging, great feature, I love mine.

Take a look at the Lowrance Gen 2 units. Much faster processor and upgraded features. Structuremap is one of the coolest things Ive ever seen.

The menu nav is simpler on humminbird. I hate trying to find where to do stuff on my partners lowrance. Also my bird boots up in a tenth of the time of his lowrance.

Bird!

Lowrance better 2D. Birds better SI and easier to use, IMO.

I have Birds for the record, but have owned both

What about the new generation 2 units from Lowrance? What features does it have compared to the Bird?

Structure map is really cool. Still a fan of the birds though. I like the picture better.

Customer service from Lowrance is way better than it use to be so for those who say customer service from humminbird is a plus, that argument is null and void. I have HDS Lowrance units and love them. But you will want the structure scan, I promise. It changes the whole game if you want to learn to fish deep water.

I have had both and my pick is the Lowrance over the Bird but thatis just my opinion. I think the Lowrance is much simpler to operate.

I had a demo of both units...

Humminbird
Much easier to get around on the screens and options.
No extra box to buy for side imaging ($500)
Liked the side imaging better

Lowrance
Liked the traditional sonar better (may have been because I have always had lowrance before)
Liked down imaging better

Was close to a tossup for me but HB had the edge. Humminbird was a couple hundred $$ cheaper and no extra boxes, etc. Both make a quality product. I think lowrance has fixed the issues on the leaking units (not waterproof) that was hampering them for a while.

+1

Check out Jersey Dan's dealings with Lowrance Customer service dealings and then look at Barret's (I think) customer service dealings with HB.

Cliff notes- Dan had more problems that took a long time.
Barret had a minor problem that was fixed immediately.

I have a 997 and love it. The SI is great and it is Very easy to get started.

With either unit, go play on BBC looking at their hb or low board and you will learn a great deal on how to work the unit before you even get on the water!

Love the Bird I have and have a buddy that has a Lowrance both side imaging. They both have a great picture but to me the Bird is much simpler to operate. I never can get to the pages I want on his Lowrance and it drives me crazy. I'm sure once you get more familiar with the lowrance it would be easier, but the learning curve is much easier and faster with the Bird to me. Spend the money on side imaging and you will be glad you did. In my opinion down imaging is almost useless without side imaging.

I would not know anything about Lowrance's customer service, have had their units for 20 years, never had to send one in, knock on wood, comparing my buddies birds to my Lowrance I like it better hands down, but that is what I am used to using.

Had Lowerance on last boat and Bird's on current boat, both have positives and both have negatives as already listed. I would figure with one has the most positives that are important to me and purchase that brand....

I like my HDS units. I don't think it hard to navigate. Looking to get the Gen2 on the next one.

bird for me. im not smart enough to operate the lowrance

LOWRANCE






Lets see some pics from those allegedly better Hbirds?

+1 to all of JR's pro/con list. I ended up going with the Lowrance. I got a gen 1 unit on closeout and got the LSS-1 on TW black friday 20% sale, so price was about the same and I planned on using DI much more than SI and I do think Lowrance has HB beat there, so that's what I went with. They both make good units.

If you're going to use SI more than DI, HB definitely has Lowrance beat on ease of use and image quality. But Lowrance down imaging is just awesome!

My experience with HB customer service was incredible. They overnighted me a transducer no questions asked. I have yet to see a LW side imaging that looks as good as a bird.

Come on Hbird lovers where are the pics? Can't find any clear ones to post?

Is this a trick question.... just google it pal. Nothing personal but i have run SI on Lowrance on many many different boats as well as HB. Like I said. Not one Lowrance has every come close to a SI pic of a bird. I do think that Lowrance has a better 2D and a comparable if not better DI. As far as SI ill take a bird any day of the week and twice on sundays.

http://www.bbcboards.net/zeroforum?id=280

Look up the ones that Doug posted....

.

I agonized over whether the 'Bird or Lowrance would get the word
until I looked at these screenshots --

http://www.bbcboards.net/zerothread?id=463672

I don't see any weakness on Lowrance SI vs Humminbird and I see a HECK of
a superiority for Lowrance on DI. Yeah, one may be a bit more user friendly
and call for a bit longer learning curve, but you get over that.

HDS-10 Gen2 LSS-1 Bundle on order.

check it out for yourself --

http://www.bbcboards.net/zerothread?id=463672

.

Who takes the time to screw around and try to get advertisement pics from your unit??? I guess pro staffers should but I'm not a pro staffer just a customer...

Oh, I am very well aware of the fact Doug V. and Wayne P. know how to use their Hbird sonars. I want to see pics from you guys that claim the Bird is superior to Lowrance. I still haven't seen one. I posted some from the first time I ever used my HDS. A picture is worth a thousand words, post some better than mine. I will admit it if your bird is better. By the way, in no way am I sponsored by Lowrance, just a customer like most of you guys.

Do you fish

I do and the Lowrance 2d sonar is better than the birds too.
Don't have any pics of those, I don't keep a camera in the boat.

lowrance 2d is better... but SI isnt even comparable. If you think it is then one of two things are possible

1. You are blind and or delusional.

2. I am blind and or delusional.

btw... I know its not the second.

I could be blind but until someone that is not sponsored by Hbird post a pic I think I will stick to my arguement.

I dont take pics of my unit. Wait what? lol.

I use it to fish and cash checks in tournaments.

Ever heard of the legend that is "Big Bass?"

Well I've never heard of you, guess you can't be too good? Heck you don't even own a si bird. I'll find a few more HDS pics for you.

i had to make the same decision last year and after everything i heard it seemed that both were good just depended on who you asked, but the only constant was the customer service, so i went with the bird and after having it about 3 months i broke my transducer off on a stump , i glued it back together with epozy and next time i fished, my unit would not power up, called hb and they told me to send in the unit with the transducer ,i got my unit back 8 days after sending it off they told me the circuit board was fried and they felt like i had a over charge problem which i found out was true and they sent me a new transducer all at no charge, which ever one you go with get the si to it lets you scan a larger area and come back over it with the di

google me "barrett mcclendon fishing" please don't drool. Thats weird

Shots from a bud with his HDS.


http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...r_the_TS#UNREAD

Hmmm, maybe tomorrow. You riding Red Rangers coattails? Everybody who's anybody has heard of him.

I googled grout scout and it came up with a lawn company... wanna talk about it?

image from my bird

Grout scout for when you wake up in the morning


Here let me google that for you

This is how I feel also, I have a Bird side imager on the console and a lowrance color sonar unit on the trolling motor.
The new lowrance structure map does look pretty good though.

Jr find me a cheap hb like yours

Here is Jersy Dans Post a must read.

Decent pic JR and I won't bust on you since you arent the one saying Hbird is far superior to Lowrance but to nit pick your pic. #1 It's fuzzy! #2 It's only shooting 80 si, should have been better detail at that range. Definately not far superior though. Was that a dock on Ivie or an old foundation (never been there myself)?

Barrett, you make a fine wingman. If you fish just a little harder and stay just a little later, just maybe some day you might make it on your own. As far as my logon name, well, everybody already has the name Michael . And you won't find me on google but if you really want to know I'm just a self employed small business man in flooring installations, I don't like it but it pays decent.

So anymore pics from the guys that claim Hbird is FAR superior to Lowrance? I love looking at pics.

If your bird can do that I'll switch right now!

Lol, Grout Scout... just a little fun on the TFF... No hard feelings bro. In reality I'm just a weekend guy that enjoys some time on the water. Tight lines this weekend. Everybody get on the lake. Its 80 degrees and wintertime!

Dang man, you got this forum up 24/7? Never seen anybody respond so quickly. If you enjoy weekends on the water don't get married or have kids, it'll become 1 day a month on the water.

Hey you said pic from the first day we had the unit. That pic was the first day I had my 1197. I like the amber color better.

Like my original post both are quality products and it was a tossup for me. Being a poor boy (had to save up for months for that one) I went with the more economical unit.

This may not help you much but like most of the other guys I have owned both. I recently went to the SI models but went from Lowrance back to the 'Bird models. The main issues was two fold: 1) ease of use of the units, 2) customer service. The 'Bird people really are the much better.

Not busting on you JR! I agree about the prices, freaking amazing I never thought I'd spend that much for a graph and I thought I was nuts when I spent $1700 on the HDS 7 bundle UNTIL the other day when I ordered a Gen 2 HDS 10. Chhhaaaccchhhiinnggg$$$$$$ I don't even fish for a living or fish tourneys anymore, just love the cool pics from the underwater world.

I must be messed up because everybody says the birds are easier to use but I couldn't figure out how to ever get good pics from the demo units. Too dang many options for me I guess. Now YES, the HDS could be improved to make it easier to find the screen you want I agree.

I hear you...telling my wife that I "need" 3 grand in new electronics took some courage!

I'm in this dilemma myself as I just sold my boat and will have to get new electronics on the new one. I got one of the first birds with sidescan the 987. Humminbird really, really treated me good with all the software updates that kept me current with all the new stuff they were releasing. My unit didn't come with record, they put it in an update. I couldn't zoom in on my SI, they gave it to me in an update. I couldn't change colors of my trails, again in an update. The list is very long for all they updated via software. I really am impressed with all the New Lowrance units especially the Next Gen ones. But I think at the end of the day I'm going back to Humminbird because of the way I was treated. They didn't just forget about their customers with old units and make us obsolete. Plus I have full confidence in their ability to upgrade and update to equal if not surpass the competition. Don't be surprised to see the equivalent of Structure map soon, maybe even a software update.

You can also add the sonic hub to Lowrance, pretty cool.

that would be awesome

If the lowrance ss was all in 1 unit they'd be higher on my list. Bird has the easy disconnect that keeps all the wires together. Its no fun trying to turn the little knobs on the lowrance in the cold when you're disconnecting it.

They should of given you all that the first time. Lowrance has had trail colors for a decade.

These were all updates that came out years later. Zoom was a feature introduced with the 997's as was the recordings. I'm pretty happy getting free software updates to add functionality that was released years after I purchased my unit. Either way, seems like your just hating, but just wanted to clarify for the other readers.

I have both units currently on my boat I've used lowrance mostly in the past . Both units are close but the lowrance gives a clearer view of what your looking at and with the new mapping system would be my choice hands down

It is really nice that bird puts out updates for older units. I have one of the original SI units and they have done a lot to make it function like the newer units. The birds are made here in the USA too.