IM LOOKING AT BUYING NEW GRAPHS AND GPS COMBOS WITH DOWN SCAN AND SIDE SCAN IN THE 899 OR THE HDS SERIES WHAT DO YALL PERFER AND WHY

Lowrance cause that's what I am used to. I'm not saying I would not switch but once you start down a path its kind of a pain and expensive to change. Whichever you do Get the biggest one at the console you can stand to pay for or put 2 on the console. If you start graphing a lot of stuff, which you will, You will appreciate the bigger screen or extra unit. I currently have an hds 8 on the console, next boat will have 12 or 2 9s at the console.

Has anyone tried Garmin yet? are they still behind Lowrance and Hummingbirds? Lowrance works great for me, but I use Garmin for non-fishing stuff.

THANKS GUYS MORE INFO PLEASE I THINK THERE IS A BETTER BANG FOR YOUR BUCK WITH THE BIRDS

I've used both and it's all in what you like honestly because both are good at what they do. I currently have a 998/898 on my boat and love them. The only reason I left the Lowrance stuff behind when I outfitted this one was because of poooooor customer service I'd received from them. The product functions great, they just didn't do anything to take care of you if you had a problem. I hear that's better now but I've come to love the Humminbirds now so that's what I'll probably stick with from now on.

I have HB but like Lowrance so I would recommend getting one of each.


Problem solved!


(yawnnn)

Why are you yelling at everyone with the all caps?

Exactly. I have an 1198 and 998 Hummingbird and two 332c Lowrance. Works for me.

How is the customer service at Lowerance?

I've used both and I'd say go to basspro or cabelas and mess with both units and see which one u prefer ... I think lowrance has a great sonar and hbird has the better side imaging, both have insane mapping ...

CS is about equal at both. I've got one of each and have had to use CS for both in the past few years.

FWIW, if I had the money to buy two of the most expensive units from one brand, it would be a Lowrance without a doubt. HB is good, but Lowrance is better IMHO.

I had a Lowrance HDS go out and sent it to them, they sent me a brand new one no questions asked, I wasn't even the originally purchaser.

Go out in a boat with each one, see which works better for you. They definitely don't look like the demo mode when being used on the water.

I had a 7 I bought brand new, when I registered it they told me I only had 3 months of warranty left on it. I said I'd email them the receipt and they could see I had bought it the day before. They told me not their problem and I had 3 months of warranty and that was that.

It was ok though, the next time I decided to drop 2800 bucks on electronics I spent it somewhere else. If they've gotten the service aspect back though, they've got a nice product.

Lowrance replaced one for me out of warranty. At the same time within 6 months they had 3 different models on retail shelves and quit updating the gen 1 units awful quick. Oh, they never sent me my rebate either, let's not forget that!