LMS 480-DF VS X15

[Tooner]

I am going to purchase a new lowrance in the next couple of weeks. I have read a lot of posts about the X15 however does anyone have a LMS 480-DF? If so I would appreciate some feedback on that unit instead of purchasing an X15.
Thanks

[jmboardman]

I to was interested in the new lms 480 and almost purchased it but was talked into buying the lms 330C and what a difference the color is really lets you see the changes in bottom vs. a walleye sitting on the bottom. I paid 629.00 for mine it does have the dual frequency lms 335c available but not sure on the cost. Really a pleasure to use to. Remember there are only so many shades of gray and on a sunny day it all looks like one shade of gray when your trying to control the boat, fish and check your sonar.

[WALLEYE1274]

i will second the lms-330c. The color really makes a huge differance!!

[Tooner]

What about the difference in resolution? The 330 and 335 have 320x240 and the LMS 480 has 480 X 480. Most of the post I have read said that is one of the most important things for detail?

[WALLEYE1274]

I will be watching to see what others say about the res. I think the color is much more important than the res. differance in these units. I could see if it had real low res. Once again I feel that the color is much easier to read than the grey.

[Setter]

I have a LMS 480 with DF.I have had it in use the past month and have had a problem with the sonar shutting down.Turn it off and back on and it works fine.I have a friend and his unit has the same problem.I have e-mailed Lowrance but have not got a response as of yet.
The GPS maping part works very good and easy to use.Also the 480 X 480 pixel count picks up alot of detail in the water column.
Best of luck,
Ryan Hale

[tmoney]

My LMS 480 has been giving me the same problem, plus some others, I called Lowrance and they will send you an MMC chip to load in and then send back. This chip has the fixes on it to fix a few issues. It did not fix mine and mine will be going back to the factory.

[tooner]

I read another post that the LMS-480 version 1.2 has problems but the new version 1.3 fixes them. I was told to power the unit up at the store and make sure it has the 1.3 loaded on it? They also said for future up grades you would need to purchase the MMC reader 35-40 dolloars in order to up grade. Does a person need that equipment to upgrade all lowrance units?

[perchjerker]

No.

Lowrance will send you the card (you have to return it) for upgrades if you want.

If you use a SD card instead (which you can), you can get a card reader for about $10 from Best Buy, etc. I would suggest that so you get the full potential use from your unit.

[RedRanger620]

Lowrance publishes software updates on their website for all their products. I check frequently and install software updates on both my LMS-480 and X15-MT's. It's easy...download, copy to MMC card, pop into your unit and turn it on. Updates install automatically.