HDS now, but dangers of waiting too long for structure scan...

[titanxt]

I am replacing a 7 year old Lowrance GPS unit in my boat with an HDS 5. I am amazed at how much technology has changed in 7 years. My fear of buying an HDS now and waiting a year or two to purchase the sctructure scan is that the technology might be "old" or discontinued. What kind of issues do you for see a guy having if he waits a couple of years on the structure scan?

Thanks!

Andy

[BBG Marine]

The technology will of course change in 2 years but I don't think it will be that dramatic. The HDS units have been around for several years now but I think the next big change will be the move to touch screens and upgraded networking standards.

The side-scan /down scan technology will be around for a long time to come. In the future, you may even see that system incorporated in to the unit instead of being just an add-on package.....who knows. I'm sure if you wanted to add structure scan in a couple of years, it would still available in a very similar package as what's sold now.

In my opinion, when you're ready to get SScan, you may want to look at upgrading to a larger unit. The 5 inch screen is just a bit of a challenge when using side-scan.

Brian

[titanxt]

See, thats the slippery-slope I do not want to go down. Curses Lowrance for putting out such cool stuff!!!! I would like to buy once and be done for a while.

I can get a 5" unit in my dash on my Ranger Reata 1850. I was hoping to put another HDS 5 in the bow as well. I just didnt want to have to mount a unit on top of the dash blocking my view forward and I didnt want to have a hole in the dash where a unit was supposed to go....

I wish Lowrance would make a unit with a 7 or 8" screen that would fit in a 5" unit's dash area. On my boat as long as the unit's guts (what is behind the screen) would fit in the opening, the screen could be 7 to 8" wide because of the free area around the mounting location. What limits the mounting area to only carry a 5" unit is the desing of the unit.

Any hopes in that ever changing?

Thanks!


Andy

[Cblainez71]

I have a 2009 1850 Ranger Reata with an HDS 7 mounted in the dash. I bought the boat used with this already installed. It's flush mounted and looks great. You may want to see if it would fit. The screen a bit more room, which makes it nice when using split screen.

[titanxt]

Can you send me a pic or two of how it is mounted?

THanks!!!

Andy

[1860Angler]

Originally Posted by titanxt

Can you send me a pic or two of how it is mounted?

THanks!!!

Andy

Get a hold of Ranger, I think you need a new dash trim piece to upgrade to the HDS7 in the dash, I know it can be done.

[jlongliner]

I pm'd you, I had the Ranger modified dash put in my 2012 1850 which allowed me to move the HDS-5 I had in the dash up front and installed a HDS-8, I found that Ranger had that dash piece somewhere in these message boards. It looks good, and just replaces that center piece.