Afternoon all,
I am about to purchase a boat that has a Hummingbird Helix 9 G4N, I also own a Lowrance HDS Carbon 9, my question is which is better?
Personally I have always had Lowrance sounders so I am a little bias, that being said I am willing to change for the right reasons.
Cheers all.
BubsFish till ya drop......Clark 4.49 Rebel SC 60hp Merc Lowrance HDS Carbon 9in & FS 7in
Garmin
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In my opinion and experience the Lowrance is a bit better for most things, except for side and down imaging. Screen resolution is the same. The G4 Helix is far superior for side imaging, no comparison really. BUt this might not be important to you. I found the Lowrance menus, touchscreen, mapping, and reliability to be better.
The Lowrance/simrad units also run on a software platform that allows you to create your own maps and use satellite images as base maps if you’re so inclined and have some mapping/GIS skills.
If you’re an active lure fisher in northern Australia and your main need is to find fish on side imaging in water 1-10m deep though then the bird will see lots that the Lowrance does not. I say northern Australia because I don’t think the side imaging advantage will be as important if you’re usually chasing things like bream or flathead.
As Kev says when it comes to side imaging the Hummingbird wins hands down. I was in a mates boat a few months ago and we could see a crab pot with one mud crab in it with his Helix. Unless you install a map card in them you have zero maps.
I've got a HDS9 in my current boat and while it is a nice little unit mines a bit glitchy with certain things which could just be settings or actual faults with the sounder/gps. I couldn't be bothered trying to work it out although I was impressed with the images in 135m of water in a spot I've fished with a Furuno and one of the earlier Garmin chirps.
I've ordered a Garmin Echomap for the new boat because I know Garmin, the side imaging is almost on par with the Hummingbird and the maps are awesome.
Another point is troll motor integration. the bird will integrate with a minn kota. The lorance/simrad will not.
And the Garmin with the Force and kraken.Originally Posted by steve099
The Lowrance with Motorguide - still trying to come to terms with the menu, definitely not intuitive.
One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce and canonized those who complain.
Thomas Sowell
Thanks Dignity. Do you need a Motorguide link model or is the standard model sufficient for this purpose?
I'm ready to pitch my bird in the drink.....solix loses touchscreen every 2nd startup.
Jack.
I don't really know but I had a HDS7 Live connected to a Motorguide. It was better than no screen on the remote but still didn't tell me whether the prop was on or off, or maybe I wasn't reading it correctly. I don't think the Hook has it, not sure of the elite but I was told all Raymarine's had it.
You will need a NEAMA 2000 system as well as their specific Gateway cable, was around $300 or thereabouts.
One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce and canonized those who complain.
Thomas Sowell
Years ago I had a HDS10, it spent more time in the shop being fixed, or sent away, then it did in the boat, then it was replaced with a HDS12, got it cheaper at the end of the warranty of the 10, it was better, but not enough for me to stay with Lowrance. I then went to Garmin, put an Echomap in, it has been good, easy to use, hasn't played up at all, and it's now 4 years old.
Our new offshore boat runs twin Garmin 8412's, they've been great, and are mated to nearly everything, radar, autopilot, auto trim tabs, stereo, the Yamaha, the lot. The only thing I'd like different is some buttons, the touchscreens can be 'fiddly' when in rougher seas.
Our little tinny has a Lowrance Elite, again, this hasn't impressed me enough to stick with Lowrance. We've got a new tinny coming that I'm tossing up between Garmin and Humminbird, and the electric will be matched, Kracken or Minn Kota respectively, but I'm not sure which way to go just yet. As it's a creek boat, mainly for chasing Barra and running pots, it doesn't need all the other stuff connected to it. Garmin have good side scan and 'live' capability, Bird is a bit behind in the 'live' or 360 stuff, but when they do crack it, they'll be awesome no doubt. I can't get an accurate delivery time of either of the Elec Motors, both the Kracken and MK's Quest are just saying next year, around Feb/Mar.
If it was me, I'd be sticking with the Bird, but I'm biased as I've now had 3 Lowrance's that haven't impressed me.
Cheers
Corry
Might not be in the best unit available but for user Friendliness and the closest to Hummingbird quallity ill vote for the Garmin , i have a UHD2 9" as well as a Hummingbird 9" onboard and like them both though the Hummingbird peeves me to no end trying to work around the menus..
Best sounder is 30% determined what type of fishing you do, 50% by what TX it can run and 20% by budget.
No one sounder can do it all.
I use garmin soley for the GT51 transducer and the type of fishing I do as its a cheap all rounder that works well
If I was purely a creek/fresh water fisher I wouldn't be running a GT51.
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