wobblegobble
Well-Known Member
What's y'all thoughts on the different brands?
Lowrance vs Hummingbird vs Garmin
- Thread starter wobblegobble
- Start date
I can't say about the Garmin but between the Lowrance and Humminbirds, here is my take.
I think the Humminbird units have the best side imaging between the two. To my eyes anyway.
I think Lowrance has the better down imaging and traditional 2D sonar.
I think the Humminbird units have the best side imaging between the two. To my eyes anyway.
I think Lowrance has the better down imaging and traditional 2D sonar.
I had the Humminbird Solix units with the Mega imaging on my boat for a while last summer. The software was slow, buggy, and aggravating. The side imagining was great. I just couldn't put up with the software. they are nice and units, and if they didn't have bugs, and weren't so slow, I would have kept them. my neighbor bought the same units at the same time, and he also had problems with them. We spent a lot of time on the phone with their customer support.
I switched to Lowrance Carbon units with 3d Structure Scan. The Lowrance software is such faster and bug free. The side imaging isn't as nice, since it doesn't have the "Mega" frequency. The down imagining and 2D seems better.
I also like the ability on the Lowrance to scroll backwards, take a look, and drop a waypoint.
For me, Lowrance wins easily, especially with the release of the CMap chip for Tennessee this year.
I haven't tested the Garmin. I think the panoptix stuff would be cool if I fished a lot of deeper water with schooling fish, but I don't.
I switched to Lowrance Carbon units with 3d Structure Scan. The Lowrance software is such faster and bug free. The side imaging isn't as nice, since it doesn't have the "Mega" frequency. The down imagining and 2D seems better.
I also like the ability on the Lowrance to scroll backwards, take a look, and drop a waypoint.
For me, Lowrance wins easily, especially with the release of the CMap chip for Tennessee this year.
I haven't tested the Garmin. I think the panoptix stuff would be cool if I fished a lot of deeper water with schooling fish, but I don't.
I ran humminbird Helix 10's for a while. I switched to Lowrance HDS 9's. because my neighbor had them. We could always see stuff on his that my humminbird never showed.
Humminbird is more "user friendly", easier to network (less cables) and side imaging seems better.
Lowrance has much more detail in down imaging and 2d. Side imaging is about equal in my eyes. I love the fact on a lowrance that you can pause the screen, back track, and then adjust and mess with your settings until you get an excellent picture so you can be dialed in every trip no matter the depth. The point 1 GPS on lowrance is also light years ahead of the GPS internal units. I do a lot of crappie fishing and moving slow, hummingbird has the dreaded donut and heading sensor sucked until you moved a ways. Lowrance gps is very exact and always on point.
My only issue is that I love minn kotas and Lowrance doesnt integrate directly with them.
Humminbird is more "user friendly", easier to network (less cables) and side imaging seems better.
Lowrance has much more detail in down imaging and 2d. Side imaging is about equal in my eyes. I love the fact on a lowrance that you can pause the screen, back track, and then adjust and mess with your settings until you get an excellent picture so you can be dialed in every trip no matter the depth. The point 1 GPS on lowrance is also light years ahead of the GPS internal units. I do a lot of crappie fishing and moving slow, hummingbird has the dreaded donut and heading sensor sucked until you moved a ways. Lowrance gps is very exact and always on point.
My only issue is that I love minn kotas and Lowrance doesnt integrate directly with them.
Lowrance. Im running the Carbons but have years of use on the HDS systems. Always better side and down scan picture in my opinion. I also feel like the Lowrance is more user friendly in the fact that you can plug it up and turn it on and go, where as the Humming birds you have to make a lot of adjustments to get the picture I want. Also I like the screen options better. I can run 2D sonar, down/ side scan, and my navionics simultaneously.
I have been thinking of upgrading to a new boat later this year and deciding on electronics is beyond confusing. I want side imaging and detailed maps at the console and traditional down sonar and mapping on the front. I am having difficulty deciding on what the best bang for the buck is.
Sniper":5ro8bftf said:
I recently went through your dilemma. Seems like Garmin has the best mapping, Humminbird has the best SI, and Lowrance has the best DI. I went with 2 Garmin 93SV units connected with an ethernet cable for a couple reasons. 1) I'm a Garmin guy. Always had less problems with Garmin. Their customer service is awesome. 2) Price. I caught these units on sale for $599 each which was $400 off the regular price. 3) Maps are included and you can make your own maps of lakes that aren't mapped or find them online. 4) These units are Panoptix compatible. If I decide to drop $1500 on the Panoptix transducer later it will plug into my units.
I have a friend that has hand drawn and photo "maps" of significant structure that he has documented from living on an ETN lake all of his life. When the lake is drawn down, he is out there walking the shorelines documenting potential hotspots. So, he knows what is "down there" and what it looks like in real life.
Last year, he had the opportunity to fish with three different "pros" before a major tournament. They each ran the high end versions of Lowrance, Garmin, and Hummingbird. After seeing all three units in action, he put the Garmin and Hummingbird units at the top for showing the best pictures of the structure. The Lowrance units came in a distant third in his observations. He was surprised at what he saw, as he assumed the Lowrance would be at the top.
Last year, he had the opportunity to fish with three different "pros" before a major tournament. They each ran the high end versions of Lowrance, Garmin, and Hummingbird. After seeing all three units in action, he put the Garmin and Hummingbird units at the top for showing the best pictures of the structure. The Lowrance units came in a distant third in his observations. He was surprised at what he saw, as he assumed the Lowrance would be at the top.
KyRick
Well-Known Member
If you have or intend on getting a MK Ultrex I would go with the Bird. They interact with the Ultex where the others do not. With that said I have Lowrance, and have since added the Ultrex and now wish I had at least one Bird.
wobblegobble
Well-Known Member
I bought a Lowrance Hook2 9 inch and it is so trash!!!! They are stealing $ with that unit
wobblegobble":2c3l73qt said:
My boat came with a Hook7. It was pitiful at best.
wobblegobble":3i2qmht5 said:
not the best entry level unit, for the money, but some folks seem to like them. the cone angles on those xducer crystals are almost 60* and the fore-aft angle is 3*. if i was to buy a lowrance today, it would be at a minimum Ti2 with the AI 3 in 1 at xducer, much improved scanning range than their previous xducers and you can add a point 1 external puck.
Sniper":3u7xqkgm said:
i think you would be happy with either of those units with their stock xducers. lowrance and garmin have patent exchange agreements now even though they are competitors there are a lot of similarities in features between the two. still more options with xducers on the garmin but stuff like mapping and only needing one map card upgrade for networked units, sonar sharing, map making, wifi, etc. from what ive seen of the C-map us inland, its descent, but if it doesnt include the new tennessee map data then garmin has the better option, and its very accurate on the elite surveyed lakes and on the lakes that they havent surveyed, they use navionics data since they own them now.
a couple of things i that would concern me with the Ti2, as of now, i dont think it is Livesight compatible, the ethernet port is wireless, meaning no cables need to link another unit BUT the nature of wifi can be flaky sometimes and i would like to see an option for a physical wired ethernet port for sonar and map sharing. that xducer is 11" long but they do include a broadband skimmer. i dont know how garmin and humminbird produces great imaging with such short xducers, trade secret i guess.
i wish garmin would allow other map cards to be used, while not necessary because of their mapping, it would come in handy on some other smaller lakes where other companies may have surveyed them. hopefully they will upgrade firmware so that their wifi could be used as a virtual ethernet port for sonar and map sharing.
i talked with the hispster C-map tech at the boat ramp in camden this past december and he said they were scanning KY lake. i asked them how far back in the flats they were scanning and they said as far as they could get. he had an aluminum boat with a mud devil on it and he said there where 3 other boats scanning the main lake and creek channels. pretty cool stuff and those tennessee maps should be pretty danged accurate.
Yikes, I was looking at getting one of the Hook2 units for my fishing kayak. Might be looking in a different direction now. I didn't want side imaging on it...just 2D and Downimaging views, thus the Lowrance Split Shot transducer fits almost perfect in the transducer (inside hull) slot on the Yak.
Ford or Chevrolet? 
Not to hijack, but I have an Alumiweld or Alumicraft boat or at least one that is all aluminum (I think that is the brand). It is a duck boat, that I use for hunting, but I have added a trolling motor. It used to have a cheapo Humingbird, but the transducer broke off. I want to put fish finders on it. Really just up front.
Being the boat is aluminum and I have never done it, should I install myself or bite the bullet and let someone do it? If so, is there someone close to Murfreesboro, that will do this type of stuff.
Being the boat is aluminum and I have never done it, should I install myself or bite the bullet and let someone do it? If so, is there someone close to Murfreesboro, that will do this type of stuff.
