Lowrance vs Hummingbird DSI

[b35w]

Im interested in getting a depth finder with downscan. Anyone have any recommendations on one vs the other? I haven't heard many positive things about Lowrance customer service. Pickens are kind of slim here in Columbia. Went to sportsmans and most of the units I wanted to look at were sold out.

[Grebe]

Lowrance HDS.

[scslayer]

We had a lowrance elite 5 dsi, took it back to West Marine and got the regular elite 5. Don't know if you ever used a dsi, but we didn't like it. It's good for seeing the bottom but not for seeing schooling stripers or bait fish. Didn't have any problem with Lowrance's customer service, they we very helpful.

[b35w]

Good to hear about the customer service. I forgot about West Marine. Cant you get a hummingbird unit that has both?

[huntinghagen#12]

Lowrance.

[Saltydog235]

Got a Lowrance HDS 10 Gen2 on the Pioneer. Easy to use, easy to navigate and just a good machine overall. I had an issue with it fading out and locking up a while back but the software upgrade seems to have fixed that.

[mcduck]

We had a lowrance elite 5 dsi, took it back to West Marine and got the regular elite 5. Don't know if you ever used a dsi, but we didn't like it. It's good for seeing the bottom but not for seeing schooling stripers or bait fish. Didn't have any problem with Lowrance's customer service, they we very helpful.

This is laughable.

[mcduck]

Deal with port tronics in Greenville.

[scslayer]

This is laughable.

Well glad you thought it was funny, but the dsi we had wouldn't show arches for the fish. Called Lowrance and they said the same thing no arches just white dots would appear and that wasn't what I was looking for. I would rather see the arches than a dot. Did show a good picture of the bottom and brush piles.

[Catdaddy]

Lowrance HDS 8

[b35w]

Lowrance HDS 8

Very nice

[mhogancu]

I had the HDS10 in my walk around before I sold it last year. Bad ass machine but set me back over 3k with the radar array

[mcduck]

Thank you cat for proving my point.

[CAJUN LAB]

Lowrance HDS 8

If you ever run across this you better casting and stop looking at a graph! Very nice CD

[scslayer]

He didn't ask about an Hds unit, he said dsi, no way I would want a dsi unit by itself. With the Hds where you can split screen it yes it would be nice to have both, but be ready to spend about $700 or more depending on screen size. That's my point. Also with dsi unit it didn't work good at all at deeper depths,so depending where you fish b35w you can tell which one you would rather have.

[Catdaddy]

DSI is DSI. If it wouldn't read properly, then you have a setup problem.

[mcduck]

^this

[scslayer]

Could have been, I had it installed by the dealer, but I installed the new one, he didn't do a good job and got my money back from them. They had a new guy working there, but still should have checked behind him. I know I was on top of fish because we limited out in no time, but never saw them on the dsi. This was mounted on a pontoon boat so that shouldn't have made a differnce, should it. But yes they are nice together on the lowrance Hds. We never saw anything close to what yours was showing Catdaddy.

[LabLuvR]

I bought a Humminbird DSI back in March and love it.

[reeltight]

What is your budget? Where all are you planing on using it? If the budget want support a multi-function Down Imaging, Side Imaging, Sonar...I'd go Side Imaging and Sonar vs Down Imaging and Sonar. If you can read a sonar, why do you really need down imaging (only to confirm what you already know), However, Side Imaging is a whole different ball game. It shows you the things that are lurking under the docks and out the sides of the boat. It even shows you what side of the boat they are on...Side Imaging plus Sonar is a winning combination. Look at the Humminbird 798Ci HD SI Combo GPS Fishfinder.