LOWERANCE OR HUMMINGBIRDS

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!

Humminbird not hummingbirds lol. But I would say humminbird

Both units are good. But the bird is a lot more user friendly.

You could give me huminbirds for free, and charge double for lowrance and I would be saving my money to buy HDS units.

Don't forget to check out the new Garmin's. Fast, very user friendly, and awesome quality.

SE Kansas grass grower

good to hear, I have many other Garmin products, so you think they're the level as the others now? I see Scott Martin is sponsored by them.

I'd like to see whats under the cover in his dash. Looks like a 1198 or hds12.

Lowrance for me!

I just had a new Humming Bird 788 Side Angle Installed on my Triton. The one on the Dash burned out from the Heat as they all will do in time. The one up front still works but has a black spot in the center of the screen. Original Equipment was Lorance nothing bad to say about them.
I was interested in Ray Marine but cost drove me away. I don't care to pay too much for one that will have a life of 6-7 years because of the heat. I do take it off and bring it in the House when not in use.
So far the Humming Bird is user friendly and GPS is accurate as any I guess puts me right back were I marked.

it would shock me more if he was actually running a Garmin, I just don't think they are close to Lowrance/Hum. maybe I will draw him this year and check for myself.

Hands down Humminbird. On the water they take very little tuning and you get insane clarity. I converted to birds this year after having Lowrance units for 15 years. Not sure why it took me so long....guess I had never seen one in action.

I had to make the same decision recently for a new boat, went with hds 9 and a 12 with sonic hub. Man Im glad I did they are simply awesome for so many things and so many types of fishing. Its a ton of dough but I still have a good value perception for what you get.

Definitely look at Garmin and RayMarine. They both have new units out that look awesome and are definitely going to be competing for the market bucks. They have the best picture I've seen. They don't seem to push their larger units but, they do have them.
David at Shut-up-and-fish sells them and I believe has them in stock, they are pretty awesome.

Garmin makes a great unit, especially their 2d. Problem right now is they don't offer sidescan, only downscan. These days Sidescan is hard to live without.

They have one coming out. Just like Lowrances older units have, it requires a add on box.