Fixing to drop about 3grand. Need some feed back. Im sure it'll be a 998 or a hds 8. What are some pros and cons of each. My father has a hds 7 without side scan. Love it but not sure.. help

Both are good units and will give excellent performance after you get familiar with their operation.
The Humminbird 998 is all inclusive for Side Imaging/Down Imaging/2D.
The HDS-8 needs the LSS-1 add-on for the same functions.

As a starter unit, the HDS is less expensive as you can have 2D-only function right away and add the LSS-1 later.
As far as the HDS-7 compared to the HDS-8, bigger is better.

If you go Low go for the HDS8. It is way faster and easier to operate with the scrolling mouse ring and the soft keys not to mention the larger screen.

I have a Low and fish half of the time in a boat with a Bird. I see very little actual difference in the images.

I have never used a hb except demos in stores. The hds 7-8 have awesome sonar, like u said though extra money for structure scan. Probably gonna go with hb and just see. Do u know if the transducer can be inside mounted or outside only.

Thanks Dane the guy at store tried to sell me on picture, I couldn't see much difference.

I was told at bass pro that the lowrance is 600/800 pixels per square inch where the HB is like 480/800 for the entire screen, which would be a huge difference in picture quality in favor of the lowrance. I was told this by two different sales personnel. Has anyone else heard this?

randy

You will have 2 xducers one regular and one structure. As far as I know the structure one is an outside mount. My bud has his Bird on the jackplate. I have my Low under the jack next to the transom of the boat. Neither one is in the water when the boat is going over 10 mph.

Whether you get Side Imaing by Humminbird or Structure Scan from Lowrance, the transducer has to "see" to the left and right and has to be mounted externally.
The Humminbird SI transducer has 2D/SI/DI in the single transducer.
The Lowrance HDS units have a 2D transducer and the add-on LSS-1 is another transducer for SS/DS.
The HDS-8 screen pixel count is 600 vertical and 800 horizontal
The 998 screen pixel count is 480 vertical and 800 horizontal.
The physical screen sizes are different so the actual pixels per square inch resolution may be the same.
I don't know what the vertical screen dimension in inches is for the HDS-8 but the HB 998 screen is 4.25" which gives it 12,755 pixels per square inch resolution.

thanks

If you go with the Humminbird units I would shop around, shutupandfish on this forum has some good prices.
There are other options as well.

Humminbird is the all inclusive you get it all in one package and easy to operate and make adjustments and super fast between view changes - you can power scroll thru all views just about as fast as you can hit the VIEW or EXIT Button or one of the 3 Favorites Presets.

You get three users selecteable area's of Coverage for Down Imaging - Humminbird Exclusive. Side Imaging Enhance - makes seeing fish in Side Imaging So much easier - Humminbird Exclusive.

Plus it is AMERICAN Made, Owned and World Class Customer Support. Humminbird has patented Side Imaging technology and been offering since 2004. We are going on 7 years of proven technology and performance.

Many FLW and BASS Pros are switching and interesting some like Clark Reehm that have run both have told me they can see more with Humminbird than Lowrance. Clark is switching back to Humminbird and is paying for his units...must be something he sees better.

I was debating the same thing recently between the HDS 8 and HB units. I went with the HB 998c and love it. Only draw back I found is you need another shoot thru the hull transducer to read sonar at speed. The Si ducer will not read at speed. I did find a great price on the HB unit at Xtreme Navigation. Plan on another 80.00 for the other ducer and Y cable.

American made important to me.

+1, and their customer service is awesome.

4blade, I pulled the trigger and bought the Humminbird. I'm tellin you, after 5 months, I sold it to my mechanic and bought the HDS-10. The 8 is a better picture but the features to help the "fisherman" out, are so much better on the Lowrance then the Humminbird. If you are scanning an area and want to go back over where you were, you can scroll back and mark all the waypoints you want, (heres the best part), the Lowrance HDS continues to log your sonar and structure scan data! The Humminbird will stop logging until you are done back tracking. Huge waste of time and it P#$$@D me off! The 2D sonar is so much clearer on the HDS than the humminbird switchfire. I'm tellin ya, I was in your position. You do not want to be in a situation like I was, where you spend the money on a good product but the other brand is your best buy and better features. Yeah, people talk about how bad the customer service is, we all see that but, This unit I have is bullet proof. Take away the simulator files you see at the store and comparing the two at Bass Pro and get both out on the water. You would choose the Lowrance HDS. If you have an I-Phone or I-Pod, you definately need to get the HDS. You can now play all your songs through the unit and not have to worry about CD's or a bad radio reception on the water. I'm sure someone will criticize my comment but, its Monday, I got to fish yesterday and Saturday and I'm not tired after work today, therefore, I am in a good mood and feel like typing on this computer and helping you out bud.

P.S.
I did call Lowrance last tuesday and the wait time was 0 minutes. I pressed 3 buttons and got a guy on the phone right away. I bought another manual to have one in the boat and one at home.

Have a good night everyone!