Sonar Advice/Reviews Needed: Lowrance, Raymarine, HB??

[m&m]

Bferg, earlier this year I bought 2 Raymarine Dragonfly 7pros and had Ulrich install them for me. Those guys commented on the clear picture. I am by no means a techie so I wanted something that was clear and simple to use. I have used it to locate fish and even caught some pulling a lure through what I saw on the units. I'm not sure when you are ready to buy but if you want to check out the units on my boat send me a PM. Good luck. 

Mike

[vernon]

I'm such a loser when it comes to properly utilizing this kind of technology that I'm lucky if I know how deep the water below the boat is - nonetheless thought some might find it useful.

 

[Bill Babler]

Good Stuff Vernon.

[garyw]

great video. would like to see the same type comparison between lowrance and humminbird

[bferg]

Thanks everyone for the input.  I will give the Garmin another look for sure.  I had read about the Lowrance loading issues.  Kinda disappointing because I really liked that unit.  

 

Question on image clarity:  can I really trust what I see in the stores?  I went in yesterday and played with them but obviously everything is in demo mode... I have a fear of getting it out on the water for the first time and being disappointed.  I like the video Vernon posted!  Awesome. 

Again, thanks for the input- feel free to keep it coming.

[moguy1973]

1 hour ago, vernon said:

I'm such a loser when it comes to properly utilizing this kind of technology that I'm lucky if I know how deep the water below the boat is - nonetheless thought some might find it useful.

 

This is why I posted the links above.  The links I posted are for the dv (DownVu) versions of the echomap which do not have the supposed issues the cv (ClearVu) versions do.

I hate the smear campaign that Lowrance is putting out regarding this but it is what it is. 

[176champion]

Sonars are like smartphones and computers, each product has there own +'s and -'s and in 6 months there will be some kind of new technology brought out in the units. I bought my helix 7 8 months ago and now they have a new and improved helix models out. Sometime this summer im going to be updating my console unit so i will be in the same boat looking for the best of the best in my price range.

[vernon]

I had a Humminbird 898c and 798c on my old boat.  Had them installed in 2012 - both had side scan and down imaging and, while I'm sure I never learned how to utilize them to the best of their capability, I found them extremely easy to use.  Read the instructions and set them up once out of the box and only changed the setting a few times when I was bored and just felt like playing.  Now, keep in mind I might have missing a great deal of stuff but I was dumb happy and never experienced any electronics related angst and never stressed over how they did or didn't work.

When I bought my Z520c last March it was equipped with a Lowrance HDS Gen 3 12' at the console and a 9' on the bow.  I was pretty excited in that the guys where I bought the boat really hyped up the Lowrance over the competition.

Yee Haw!  Deep water structure fishing here I come.  Popped in a $200 Navionics chip and headed off to explore the seas.

Well, fast forward a year and these two boxes of technology are still driving me out of my mind.  I have spent easily more than a hundred hours researching, reading, watching videos, taking notes you name it and I still have no clue what I'm doing with these things and, worse yet, when I do get them "set up" I have zero confidence that what I'm seeing is even real.  I am consistently frustrated beyond reason pretty much every time I go out because each trip is an exclusive episode of Man vs. Electronics.  Most of the time all I want to so is be able to see is where the dad gum river or creek channel is so as to (hopefully) not run the boat aground.  No soap.

Now, I'm well aware and beyond positive that the fault lies completely with me and my incompetence but when it comes down to it, so what?  At the end of every day I've still got five thousand dollars worth of electronics that for all practical purposes just as well be Etch-a-Sketchs.  After a full year of "experience" I still can't even get the digital depth reading to show up on the chart screen.

I guess my point is, do your research and buy the best that you can afford but also take care not to out kick your coverage when it comes to knowing how to operate the brand/model of your choice.

And, most definitely, do NOT attend any of my electronics seminars!

Good luck to all.

[rps]

1 hour ago, vernon said:

I had a Humminbird 898c and 798c on my old boat.  Had them installed in 2012 - both had side scan and down imaging and, while I'm sure I never learned how to utilize them to the best of their capability, I found them extremely easy to use.  Read the instructions and set them up once out of the box and only changed the setting a few times when I was bored and just felt like playing.  Now, keep in mind I might have missing a great deal of stuff but I was dumb happy and never experienced any electronics related angst and never stressed over how they did or didn't work.

When I bought my Z520c last March it was equipped with a Lowrance HDS Gen 3 12' at the console and a 9' on the bow.  I was pretty excited in that the guys where I bought the boat really hyped up the Lowrance over the competition.

Yee Haw!  Deep water structure fishing here I come.  Popped in a $200 Navionics chip and headed off to explore the seas.

Well, fast forward a year and these two boxes of technology are still driving me out of my mind.  I have spent easily more than a hundred hours researching, reading, watching videos, you name it and I still have no clue what I'm doing with things and, worse yet, when I do get them "set up" I have zero confidence that what I'm seeing is even real.  I am consistently frustrated beyond reason pretty much every time I go out because each trip is an exclusive episode of Man vs. Electronics.  Most of the time all I want to so is be able to see is where the dad gum river or creek channel is so as to (hopefully) not run the boat aground.  No soap.

Now, I'm well aware and beyond positive that the fault lies completely with me and my incompetence but when it comes down to it, so what?  At the end of every day I've still got five thousand dollars worth of electronics that for all practical purposes just as well be Etch-a-Sketchs.  After a full year of "experience" I still can't even get the digital depth reading to show up on the chart screen.

I guess my point is, do your research and buy the best that you can afford but also take care not to out kick your coverage when it comes to knowing how to operate the brand/model of your choice.

And, most definitely, do NOT attend any of my electronics seminars!

Good luck to all.

We feel your pain.

[vernon]

3 minutes ago, rps said:

We feel your pain.

Well, crap - I don't know if that should make me feel better or worse!