Sooooo, ive been looking at the Humminbird Helix 7 as well and im about to choose the Lowrance but have a question to ask the forum.

I have heard with the Humminbird you can send in the stock transducer and Humminbird will send you an HD for only the shipping costs.

Is there an upgrade with this Lowrance unit or do you already get the HD option when you buy the unit?

You can buy the Elite-7 Ti with Lowrance's new TotalScan transducer, which includes sonar/down/side all in one transducer.

See here: http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/Fishfinder-Chartplotter/elite-7-ti-en-us.aspx

Part #: 000-12419-001 or 000-12721-001 which includes Navionics+.

The Elite-7 one ups the Helix 7 with its touchscreen, built-in wireless & bluetooth, and NMEA 2000 features like interfacing with Motorguide Xi5.

Is there something you can do with the transducer it comes with to offset the costs, i.e. Send it back in order to get the transducer you speak of for a discounted price?
I was under the impression with this unit, you can use this transducer for all of those with the ducer that comes in the box?

See the link I posted above.

There is no need to swap transducers unless you make a mistake and buy the wrong package. Just buy the correct package that includes the transducer that you want:

No Transducer 000-12416-001
Mid/High/DownScan 000-12417-001
Mid/High/TotalScan 000-12419-001
Mid/High/DownScan� with US/Can Nav+ Card 000-12699-001
No Transducer with US/Can Nav+ Card 000-12700-001
Mid/High/TotalScan� with US/Can Nav+ Card 000-12721-001

The Helix 10 and 12 now include Humminbird's best transducer, the XHS 9 HDSI 180.