Got my new boat last Friday. It has a Low HDS8 insight w/structure scan. I was really worried that I'd miss my HB 997c SI - NOT! Everybody has commented that the Low gets better images (understatement), but it's harder to get set - NOT TRUE! I read the little structure scan booklet, watched a couple of youtube vids & went to work getting mine set up! Just need to learn how to save images to the SD card, got it doing everything else I want it to do. I will say my HB was easier to navigate to a saved waypoint, seems like I'm having to search more now to get ontop of my spot.




I've logged 10 hours on my boat idling around & now have over 90 saved waypoints
Still have a lot of area to cover - oh well, the 4 stroke sips gas!

Look Out, Bud.....

Them HB guys are loyal to say the least. You'll be Black-Balled with anymore talk like this.

Sounds like you must have the Gen-1, which is what I have also. The Gen-2 has a faster processor in it, and it is about on the same level as HB. The speed of the HB's return, is better than Lowrance, but that is all it is better than Lowrance at.

A little On The Water Time, and you will learn to get right on-top of the waypoints. You can not use the On Screen Image to navigate to a way point. By the time the screen image shows you are headed toward the waypoint, the lag time catches up with you and you have over steered.

I use a method that work good for me, and with a little practice you will be driving right over the top of your waypoints. I use the area around the boat as a CLOCK, the bow (straight in front of the boat) is 12 o-clock. When your approaching a waypoint, you see where it is on your screen. If it is at 10 o-clock, you look up and find a reference on the bank that is 10 o-clock to your boat, and head straight for it. You haft to see this clock in your mind. Now, you will have reduced your over steer problem because you are not adjusting to your image, but a place on the water, and as you approach the final few feet to the waypoint, you are within minor adjustments to be dead on.

Of course I believe this is probably the same for HB and Lowrance. By the time you get to the waypoint, you will want your screen blown up to max size, so your waypoint is not covering a larger area on your screen. You haft to be at Max screen size (or need to be anyway) to pin point the waypoint exactly. Just say your max waypoint zoom covers a 5' circle (waypoint dot) on the bottom of the lake. Then when you are 4 clicks from Max, your circle (waypoint dot) will be showing a 20' area on bottom of the lake. You drive right over what looks like your dot, but could be 15-20' to one side or the other. The waypoint dot is still the same size dot on the bottom, but your are not zoomed in fully to reduce the area your are driving over.

I haft to get away from the dot far enough to let the lag time catch up with the image your seeing on the screen. I see several guys cutting tight circles, trying to drive over the waypoint, and the lag time is killing them. Be far enough away from your waypoint that you can get everything in line, then keep the waypoint dot on the outside edge to your screen by using your zoom key. As you start getting closer, zoom in and back the waypoint dot back out to the edge of the screen. By the time you get to your waypoint, you are fully zoomed in, and you are traveling right over the top of your mark.

I know, I about as clear as a muddy stream, but maybe it will help. Works for me, and lag time is not an issue anymore. A little practice and you be doing these things with out having to think.

I'm sure the great Guru with explain why this won't work, and is totally wrong. But it works for me. To get exactly over waypoints, you haft to learn how to deal with lag time (On Either Unit), and fully zoomed in to reduce the area you waypoint dot is covering on the bottom of the lake.


Just my opinion.




keith

Well said keith. I use the exact same method and it works for me.

Thanks for the post Keith. I need to try that.

Hmmm??? When I see big white puffy popcorn on top of piles with my Lowrance .. I'm eating some crappie for dinner lol
To each his own fellas....

05/09/13 Lowrance made updates to Gen 2.....Get a 2G scan card if you are running HD2 and download. Great updates and now can go wireless in the boat plus share map chips with all units in the boat!

Two summers ago, Eric, another forum member and new HDS owner asked me to help him learn his unit. We were slowly moving parallel to a long bridge with SI on, Ride side only and full screen. We passed a piling and I said, there are 5 crappie next to that piling. He skeptically said 'prove it'! Five straight casts and five fish later, the fish were in the live well and the screen didn't show crappie anymore. Honestly, I was about as amazed as he was but, the results were pretty convincing.

The only thing I'm disappointed with Low about is the new GPS puck with built in compass is not supported on the Gen 1 HDS's. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if it did. When I owned an 1198, I did buy the new puck from HB and it is a great improvement but, they don't support older units either!

My side and down imaging are great on the Lowrance Hds8 and 5 I have... But the sonar..... Well.. Not so great... But I think that is just my lack of experience with electronics... I have had my boat less than a year and with working offshore.. I have not spent the time to dial it in correctly... One of these days I am going to get one of you gurus in it to help me out!! Lol

I love it when I come across a brush pile that looks like this...from my Elite 7 HDI...



and those were crappie...

Spent 3 hrs driving around until I found the crappies on side scan with my lowrance yesterday. Found them 12ft deep in 17ft of water. My wife thinks I do not need to get up so early with the electronics I have on the boat (two cows worth). If anyone needs help a great resource to understand lowrance units is Dr. Sonar. Great DVD's that are a tremendous amount of knowledge. I ran them on a laptop while on the water to get up to speed quicker.
Pro's and Con's of both brands the biggest thing is do not fish and drive around to better understand the electronics. Everyone wants to fish but you need to understand what you see!

Where do you drop your jig?

Is there something unusual in the pic's above? I am surprised no one has picked up on it.

Water temps ranging from 50-80? Depth reading in the 7th pic 3.1'? What else am I missing?

The temps and the purple letters and outline.

Providing some reality....
I fish a HDS-7. I have a friend with a HB 1198. We spent some time running the same brushpiles, flats, bridge pilings, timber hunting new places to fish. While there are things that I really liked about the HB (bigger screen among others), there were just as many things he liked about my Low (perceived better screen resolution). The fact is that each has it's advantages and disadvantages. I was truly thinking about switching over before we spent those hours running side-by-side. Now I know there isn't a huge overall difference between them. It's like Ford and Chevy. There are Ford people and there are Chevy people.
Doesn't matter what you have, if you don't learn to use and interpret it then you might as well have nothing at all.
Huey