# Fishfinder help - need advice



## pskirner (Apr 21, 2006)

For argument sake, say I won the lottery. Now that being said I want to update my fishfinder. If I was to buy the top of the line and drop a few grand, the way I see it is I have two options, the Hummingbird 1970 with side imaging and the new Lorance HDS-10. 

Please advise as to what comes with the product, and what are the necessary "accessories" that need to be purchased.

I am looking for any feedback, comments, suggestions, thoughts, what ever you have to offer that is productive !

Thanks for your help in advance.


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## IChaser (Nov 16, 2009)

Lowrance has the best units in marine electronics hands down and is why they cost so much. The bought out Eagle and have a cheaper line but the expensive stuff is still the best out there. 

Whenever I get ready to drop any amount of cash on anything I put the name of what I'm thinking about buying anlong with the words problems and usually if there is anything obviously bad it pops up right away. 

The expensive units would maybe be a better topic in the Lake Erie thread as most of those guys have them.

For me on the smaller lakes I am just looking for a powerful unit that is a dependable depth finder. I usually just look for schools of bait and something that can hit fish along the bottom. Most of the time you have to fish the spot anyway to see if it is good or not anyway. Usually a good brand name that costs over $250 will get you that. 

Myself I'd rather buy a great used unit with great reviews and take the chance being out of warranty because the warranty and service on marine units blow.


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## IChaser (Nov 16, 2009)

http://www.fishingbuddy.com/lowrance_hds_insight_information

Google'd it with the word problems after and it seems like these are newer units that have issues with loading software. Might want to wait till they get everything worked out so you can spend more time fishing and less time playing with the unit.


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## lordofthepunks (Feb 24, 2009)

lowrance the best? im going to disagree and maybe its just my experience but its all ive got to go on.

bought the lowrance lms 332 (i think that is the model) in 2005

a few months later the internal speaker quit working, no big deal, i dont HAVE to hear the beeps when i push a button

late 2006 (1.5 years later) the unit quit working alltogether. i contacted lowrance, they stated the warranty was up and that i would have to pay $200 to get a "reconditioned unit" keep in mind that this was only $650 to start.

2007 (8 months later) the second unit quit working, contacted lowrance again, same story. now i have $1050 invested in a $650 unit

2008 unit would not go to secondary menu screen. called lowrance, had to do a "soft reset" on the unit to reset it

2009 every time i turn it on i have to reload all my saved waypoints because it loses anywhere from 15 to 200 points!

the next gps/sonar i buy will be the hummingbird with the bottom imaging mostly by default.


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## dmills4124 (Apr 9, 2008)

I have the 998 and 797. I wish I had the 998 and the 1198. I have the smaller 797 on the trolling motor. Thats were I would put the 998 and replace the 997 with the 1198 on the console. The diff between the 97 and 98s is that the 98s have more pixels vert and horiz and the gps uses 50 instead of 12 sats which puts you within 5 feet of your saved spots rather than 25 ft with the old 97 units. Love my SI units from Humminbird. Very dependable every time. Clear images. Cant tell you anything about Lowrance other than they reverse engineered their SI units. I think I would rather have the original designed unit than a knock off. Just My Opnion.
If you want to look at what mine has done this year, dropoffs, boats, logs, stump fields and what not just IM me and we'll get together.
Hope this helped some.
later
donm


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## Offshore Limits (Dec 23, 2007)

I have had incredible results with lowrance units on my 2 boats. In my opinion they outclass all other units. It sounds like lordofthepunks may have an electrical gremlin issue with all those problems... Totally agree with the other poster about waiting to make sure software issues are worked out with any unit


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## IChaser (Nov 16, 2009)

Yea -Once you have bad unit you end up with a bad unit as the warranty and service with any unit is terrible. 

Once you have a bad experience you'll swear off that brand.

Bought a boat with a cheap Eagle on it and it lasted for 14 years. When it read alot of fish I'd catch fish. Gave it away working fine.

Paid $550 for a big screen Bottom Line unit and it didn't work at high speed and in current areas. Also always read fish where ever I went but I wasted alot time. After two years it didn't even work at all and they wanted to sell me a replacement unit. 

Bought another cheap Eagle and it broke in 13 months and they told me to go buy another one. 

Went off of advice from someone who had one and bought a used Lowrance, that had years of good reviews, on EBAY and was the best thing I did. I wouldn't have shelled out that kind of bucks for what a new unit would have costs but so far I have all the benefits without any issues and at the price I wanted. 



Try calling around and getting a sonar unit repaired.


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## IChaser (Nov 16, 2009)

Yea -Once you have bad unit you end up with a bad unit as the warranty and service with any unit is terrible. 

Once you have a bad experience you'll swear off that brand.

Bought a boat with a cheap Eagle on it and it lasted for 14 years. When it read alot of fish I'd catch fish. Gave it away working fine.

Paid $550 for a big screen Bottom Line unit and it didn't work at high speed and in current areas. Also always read fish where ever I went but I wasted alot time. After two years it didn't even work at all and they wanted to sell me a replacement unit. 

Bought another cheap Eagle and it broke in 13 months and they told me to go buy another one. 

Went off of advice from someone who had one and bought a used Lowrance, that had years of good reviews, on EBAY and was the best thing I did. I wouldn't have shelled out that kind of bucks for what a new unit would have costs but so far I have all the benefits without any issues and at the price I wanted. 



Try calling around and getting a sonar unit repaired.


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## lordofthepunks (Feb 24, 2009)

Offshore Limits said:


> I have had incredible results with lowrance units on my 2 boats. In my opinion they outclass all other units. It sounds like lordofthepunks may have an electrical gremlin issue with all those problems... Totally agree with the other poster about waiting to make sure software issues are worked out with any unit


i dont know what electrical gremlins you could possibly have with the unit wired directly to the battery, just like every other unit ive owned on 4 different boats. i just think i got a lemon and with the price involved in these units, it is my opinion that lowrance should have taken care of me ie. a new comparable unit instead of a reconditioned unit or reimbursment. a 1 year warranty for electonics that are used in harsh conditions seems fairly weak to me. if there are signs of abuse then dont replace but if they know that they sold you a lemon then they should take care of the problem.


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## Eliminator (Aug 26, 2006)

I have a Humminbird 4x6 that I bought in '84' as an upgrade from my Lowrance flasher unit, both are still in service and work like a charm, There are just so many different gadgets out there nowadays it'l make your head spin, for me simple is better, like a backlit screen you can see.


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## IChaser (Nov 16, 2009)

Punks found the gremlin-Check the web -The lowrance lms 332 had a bad board that was faulty and then they sent out replacement units that were faulty also. Eventually they got this right. 

Alot of owners threaten them instead of forking over the cash for the 2nd replacement units and received new units that have held up.

Just seems to be that model. 

You must have been part of that mess. Google Lowrance lms 332 problems and they all come up in different forums.


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## lordofthepunks (Feb 24, 2009)

IChaser said:


> Punks found the gremlin-Check the web -The lowrance lms 332 had a bad board that was faulty and then they sent out replacement units that were faulty also. Eventually they got this right.
> 
> Alot of owners threaten them instead of forking over the cash for the 2nd replacement units and received new units that have held up.
> 
> ...


thanks, im going to do that, i actually did threaten them the 2nd time but they didnt budge. prob going to buy the 1197c hummingbird next year and be done with them considering what ive been through. guess i just got unlucky.


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## lordofthepunks (Feb 24, 2009)

i forgot to mention that on two ocasions this year, the whole time i was at the lake the color of the screen turned to odd colors, no matter what i did the background would turn black and my marks would be purple. then the next day it would be fine. im calling lowrance tuesday to see if i can cash in on a replacement.


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## IChaser (Nov 16, 2009)

*This is what the others said to get replacements. *

Same problem from BigQ #11776 4/8/2008 2:10:55 PM
I had the same problem with my 332c unit within the first four months. I called and sent it back and got a used replacement that was also bad. Called them again and they made sure I received a brand new unit. Have not had a problem with this one yet. I think they had a bad batch of keypads when that unit first came out.



Bad boards from Spook 4/8/2008 10:42:00 PM
They had a ton of bad boards that caused that problem. I sent mine back under warrenty and they sent me another that developed the same problem. Since my original warrenty time had expired they said it would cost two hundred dollars to fix it. I wrote and told them I knew they were sending units they knew would go bad and I did not consider that a true warrenty replacement. I threatened to ask the attorney general of consumer affairs in MS for an opinion. I got a call a few days later and was told a "new" corrected board unit was being sent. Hadn't had another problem.


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