Hds 8

[Walleyes and Roosters]

Has anyone have any experiance with these new HDS units yet? New products some times have problems. I have always had Lowranse and like there products.

[hondo]

I've not used them myself yet but the guys I know using them are happy with them. The only real complaint I've heard has to do with Navionics card compatability, Nav cards won't work in them right now until the software update is released. I believe there are going to be some changes to the menu structure also, to make it more like the menus in the LCX and LMS units that guys are used to. April 14 is the target date for the software update.

[HBMAN]

Has anyone have any experiance with these new HDS units yet? New products some times have problems. I have always had Lowranse and like there products.

I have been running an HDS-7 for about 3 weeks and it has been great. I jumped from an Eagle 480 to the HDS series so I missed the 500/LCX models. It appears that Lowrance had shallow water issues with its 500 series, but I have seen none of those on my HDS unit. I can say that I was sitting in 1-3 fow the other day and it clearly marked the bottom the whole time. I was also over a 10 foot area with thick vegitation and it also held bottom, showing weeds growing up 4 or 5 feet. It compares well with a Vexilar Edge I have on my bow.

The GPS is working fine; I run a Lowrance iWay 600c on the bow and it preforms as well as that. The first time out I was having trouble locking in on the GPS signal. It was not until i went deep into the settings and chose the option "Enable WAAS" that I was able to keep a solid GPS lock. I am not sure I understand all that because the manual seemed to recomened disabling that feature; however I could not keep a GPS signal lock without it turned on. It was also a hard setting to find.

Lwinches did a review a few weeks back and I would agree that some of the menu options are a pain to go through. I think the HDS8 and 10 have hot keys to make that a little less painful. The screen on the HDS7 is a nice size and should function well for side imaging. If I want to see SI and 2D at the same time then the HDS7 screen is going to be small, but for the cost of the HDS8, I would probably just add a unit like the HDS5x. The HDS5x and the HDS7 base together cost less than the HDS8.

[Walleyes and Roosters]

I've not used them myself yet but the guys I know using them are happy with them. The only real complaint I've heard has to do with Navionics card compatability, Nav cards won't work in them right now until the software update is released. I believe there are going to be some changes to the menu structure also, to make it more like the menus in the LCX and LMS units that guys are used to. April 14 is the target date for the software update.

So if I wait till the 14 can Pro fishing supply update before they send?

[hondo]

So if I wait till the 14 can Pro fishing supply update before they send?

We could update it for you, or send you a card with the update on it.

[WalleyePhan]

I have read reviews on the hds units on a couple of sites and they seem to be having problems with the units filling up with water in heavy rain. I have been trying to decide between h-bird and lowrance and the lowrance units don't seem to be very reliable and there customer service seems to be lacking as well. That doesn't seem like a very good combo!

[Walleyes and Roosters]

I have read reviews on the hds units on a couple of sites and they seem to be having problems with the units filling up with water in heavy rain. I have been trying to decide between h-bird and lowrance and the lowrance units don't seem to be very reliable and there customer service seems to be lacking as well. That doesn't seem like a very good combo!

Not what I wanted to here

[WalleyePhan]

The reviews I was talking about came from cabelas and bass pro. If I remember correctly the problems were with the 5's and 7's. I haven't read alot of positive reviews with the new hds units but there are always bumps in the road with new technologies. My problem is I need a new unit now and am not sure I want to take the chance with the new Lowrance and I definitely can't wait for all of the bugs to be worked out.