but seen bunch of bad reviews on customer service and software updates and going bad in 2 years looking for some more expercienced reviews on this is it worth getting this unit or wat would be a good alternate choice for around the same money. Thanks in advance for your input

Go ahead and get the hds, problems were in the very initial batch and lowracnce even has a 2 year warranty with all hds units now. That should tell you something. Mine is absolutely perfect. If its wortg it to you to spend the extra on a bigger screen, then i would.

Just like any other product out there you will have problems...i have a a 7, 8 and Structure scan along with both ethernet network and N2K network. The only problem i had was my first 7 filled up with water. It got replace quickly and it' about to be 2 years old. My 8 and Structure Scan is around 1 yr old and none of it has missed a beat. Always updated my software when it came out. I'm very happy with my units and will continue to keep and buy Lowrance products. In my opinion if you can mount them to be taken off and stored inside the house when not used saves alot of wear and tear on them. Would i be scared to buy another HDS unit, NO!!!

Over the last year, I've had one customer call back with a problem on their HDS. It was an HDS7 (not a leaking issue) The customer had a new unit within a week.

Customer service has improved and focus has been put on helping the customer as evidenced by all the support monitoring the fishing boards.

Both Lowrance and Humminbird build a good product so you can' go wrong with either.

Brian

I've had zero problems with the HDS-7 I bought several months ago. I've read that the units with faulty seals were shipped prior to June 09. As for software upgrades, Bass Pro will do them for you, while you wait, as part of their customer service. I would imagine other dealers do the same. Only thing about it, you will usually want to operate the unit in a split screen mode, and 5 inches is just too small.

Updates are very simple to do.

y

yeah and 10 that i want is just too expensive lol

and dont know anything bout updates is it for the maps is there a chip or something in the unit that u put in ur computer cause bass pro is little far for me to drive to get a update

The updates are for the software that's used to run the unit. They do have a SD card slot. You download the update from the lowrance website on to the sd card then put the card unit the unit and turn it on. The unit will automatically update at that point. These HDS units do not connect directly to your PC. If you had any problems there are plenty of guys on here that will help you out.

Some of the HB updates have been crucial, like downscan ability. The only Lowrance update I've dealt with was of little consequence. I think it "tweaked" the ability to read Navionics maps, for the most part. Going forward, I probably won't bother with them. Most of the "bugs" have already been "tweaked" from the system.

thx guys for ur help it is well apperciated