Curious if anyone in here would be able to help me. I’m wondering if there would be a difference in clarity or performance between hds pro and hds live…it would strictly be used for active target 2

If you’re just using it for AT, skip both of those and get a carbon for cheap.

I went from carbon to pro and active target 2. It’s clearer but I ran all new heavy guage wire for everything and I think that made the difference. Not the actual unit.

Preciate y’all

I still have active target 1 and got my lives replaced by Pros. there may have been a slight diff. prolly more of me hoping it would be better.

pulled this from BBC. I have a pro and a live and I cant tell a difference other than the blue button and standby screen...

AT 2 is no different than AT1 both have a module and transducer both AT1 and 2 install and connect the exact same way to any of the units including HDS Pro
The HDS Pro will allow dual AT2 systems there is software in the HDS Pro that Pairs 2 AT2 to make one image on the screen Currently there is 2 new view for 2 AT2 vs 1 Its called 180 view allows forwared and rear view at the same time. The 2nd one is Scout wide the biggest downside to Foward facing sonar is depth the Dual Scout Wide fixes that issue you have very large range forward and left and right of the boat for hunting in shallow water down to 4ft has been my experience while looking out 50 or 60 ft at the same time. Those are the biggest differences. Because HDS Live are not longer in production there will be no more effort in expanding that units capabilities all the focus is no on the Pro for new tech down the road.

AT processing is done on the module, same as LVS. So the Head Unit doesn't have a large effect (if any) on the image you see. The new units have better screen materials and glare reduction technology and stuff like that, but the signal/data is all going to come from the module.

AT2 and HDS Pro does offer the new (well, not new, it's been out for a few years) screens that take advantage of dual AT2 setups, and also the abitliy to sync the transducers to reduce interference. However, what Lowrance won't tell you is you can also do this sync with the Live Head units as well, you just don't get the fancy menu option.

Obviously, Carbons and Live are EOL or well past EOL, but if you already have one that is working fine, or you find a really good deal on one - there's really no need move to the HDS jsut for Active Target - unless you want to use two AT2 units and one of the dual screens mentioned above (there are several, see below...)

When I was running AT2, I already had HDS Pro's so did consider adding a 2nd AT2 so I could get that Scout Wide view - which is essentally a Mega 270 Live Sonar. But, due to the way Lowrance forces you to mount the two AT2 transducers, you are locked into that config. So if you wanted to switch one of them to Forward view, the mount wouldn't work. You would have to actually unbolt the tranducer and put it on completely separate mount (or run a 3rd AT2 I suppose on it's own mount). Big Fail from Lowarnce imo. I do believe if they had made the mount able to rotate one of the transducers, they would have sold a lot more AT2's specifically for that setup. And since there was not a lot of interest, I don't think any aftermarket companies worked on a better mount either, like they have for the single mount ie Fish Obesessed, Jones, Precision Sonar, etc.

Anyway, I decided instead to switch to LVS-34 and add a Mega360 and sold the AT2. While AT2 and LVS-34 are somewhat closer in peformance than they used to be, in Forward/Down at least, LVS-34 is still on top, and smokes the AT2 in Scout/Perspective, which is why I switched. In Florida, I use it a lot scanning beds around grass and it is worlds better than AT2's Scout mode.