I've been a Lowrance guy but I want the best of the 2. I understand customer service is best with HB. I've seen HB but have not seen Lowrance first hand. I know the price difference. Most of the time I'll be chasing open water stripers/hybs. And in the winter structure fishing for big blues. What do those experienced with these units think? Pros and cons of each? Has anyone had on the water experience with both? Any input is welcome but please don't turn this into a pissing match.

+1

Come on guys. Just facts about your experiences. Screen shots of fish would be nice. I've seen some structure shots.
Bobcat1,
Your a HB guy. Talk to me...

Alright, I wasn't going to post. However, i will be the first to get this rodeo started.

Lowrance uses three crystals, where HB uses two. Both are good units, You will need to decide what you want and what your needs are. Yes Johnson Outdoors(HB) has filed a lawsuit against Lowrance. If HB wins, then Lowrance will be forced to pull the units off the shelf and re-design. With that said. I have my Side Scan and am very happy with it so far. I also, like the fact that my GPS is in the unit and not seperate.

I have not had any problem with Lowrance customer service. I would rather try and figure it out by googling or playing around. I have also used medic a few times. There are other
web-sites that have lots of good info.

I purchased Lowrance after doing lot's of research. The side-image technology has been around a long time before HB came out with it. The military has been using it for many moons. However, HB was the first to introduce it to fishermen,


Good luck on your research....

Bennie

I'll give you (my) preference, Had both, score of 1-10.side image bird a 9 with Lowrance a 5, Down imaging bird a 5, & lowrance a 8, 2D bird a 5 lowrance a 9 use of functions Bird a 5, lowrance a 8 .coustomer service never need it for bird, one time for lorance a 6, I use the lowrance i like the pages menue, get there Fast for what i need, I' would try both see what you want, Both are good lowarnce was easy for me, But my nieghbors bird easy for him ,also you have go slow,down 3-5 mph too make down work & slower (lowrance)to make the side work

As others have posted for an investment in this $$ range I went with the HB 898, a prover preformer. I've only had it on the boat for 2 weeks and have only had the chance to be on the water twice due to work schedule. I'm happy with the purchase and all the time I spend on airplanes allows me to study the manual cover to cover. Within a short time I'll be an HB expert. I have been a Lowrance user all my life and this is the first HB unit for me, which I'm very pleased with.

Good Luck

You asked for people that have used both and I have not used nor will I use Lowrance. Humminbird is so easy for me to use and if I have a dumb question I can call Humminbird and talk to a live person in under a minute usually and they always take care of you and do not put you on hold to ask someone anything. Real nice southern ladies with manners and intelligence handling dummies like me and making me feel special; like family when I call. All my experience with side and down imaging is jaw dropping. I could not be happier. I have a 997 and a 798 interlinked. 997 at the console and 798 on the new I-Pilot Terrova.

I have no experience nor have I seen Lowrance down or side scan. From my experience with other Lowrance products, I do not trust their product or service.

Stripaholic, If I can help you with any humminbird questions or images let me know.

triton mike! post the ballon deal!!! thats freakin awesome!

Ronnie, Which one LOL

is there a link to the whole deal, where you ran over the ballon with the humminbird side imaging?

I've had an 1197 since 7/08. Love everything, except the
2-d sonar. I have always used Lowrance in the past. I still
have lowrance on the bow. When Lowrance annouced thier product,
I was tempted to give it a try. I still may.
If I was in the market right now, I would be very conflicted.

Bottom line , you will be much better served with either unit
as opposed to none.

good luck
MO

You might need more bandwidth for that one . LOL. I dont wanna hijack this guys post.