Two Lowrance HDS 7's or one HDS 9

[hunterjoe]

I would add another 7 no question. A couple reasons: more display room, have a backup if one fails, don't have to split screen.

[Eyeman_IN]

I agree with Pooch and Hunter joe. Been running twin locators for years . 1 for sonar the other gps . And either can split screen to get you back to the ramp . Or save a day of fishing .
Tight lines,
Rick

[bassin08]

I am in the process of doing something close to what you are asking, I think. I am mounting two 597ciHD units side by side. I had a custom mount made by Cisco systems to hold both in that position. I plan on running one in graphing mode and the other in mapping mode simultaneously. This will give me the advantage of running them in full screen side by side.

[Pooch]

Originally Posted by bassin08

I am in the process of doing something close to what you are asking, I think. I am mounting two 597ciHD units side by side. I had a custom mount made by Cisco systems to hold both in that position. I plan on running one in graphing mode and the other in mapping mode simultaneously. This will give me the advantage of running them in full screen side by side.

^^ Exactly what I do, but....

Fished with one of my partners last year and he has one HDS 12 touch. I really liked it better than two separate units for one reason and that was the ability to swap screens around and size them. The simplicity of one unit is undeniable. But and for me it's a big but, the redundancy is invaluable. I've been on fly-ins and seen guys depth finders fail. Had it happen to me once, fortunately I had a spare head with me. Otherwise I would have been hobbled the rest of the week.

Just showing both sides. Plus's and minus's to each.

Pooch

[Ltrain]

I would opt for the two units. I have always ran two graphs side by side going back to my Eagle fishmark and intellimap days. I do the same nowadays , but now it's a simrad nss 12 and lowrance hds 10 gen 2. Redundancy is paramount and then being able to have each unit dedicated to gps and finder is nice. Plus when you get to your spot and no longer need to navigate you can set one to traditional sonar and one to structure without having to split the screens. I think the only way I'd use a single until was if I grabbed a simrad 16 incher, but that may be a bit out of the price range

[egladding]

I have a hds 9 gen 2 and an hds 7 gen 2 at the console and another up front. I love having the units side by side at the console. I use one for mapping and the other for 2d, DI or SI or split depending on what I am doing. Usually when I am running I will use the 9 for mapping and the 7 on 2d. When I fish I will switch them around and run mapping on the 7 and the 9 will run sonar.