Raymarine sounds interesting, but devils advocate here, what if another boat is close enough to pick up WiFi or Bluetooth and could access you unit for waypoints ..... Just a thought but yes the 7" is worth the extra money in my opinion, we have HDS 5 and been on boats with HDS 7 and wish had gone bigger screen with the 7

 

Good Point, I didn't think of that. The RayMarine does offer a $150 rebate on the 7" right now which is pretty enticing.

 

The bigger screen is a lil easier to read with a quick glance at speeds. Can keep your eyes focused more on the water ahead of you.

 

I have the HDS 7 touch and love it.. I'm not a fan of navionics mapping I think the lowrance mapping that comes downloaded is better.

 

I run the max speed in MO at night 30mph comfortably with a Elite4 Lowrance. My fishing partner has a 10' Lowrance on his boat and even as dimmed as it will go the screen is too big and blinding when sill watching for floaters, bank, treeline etc... I had a HDS 7 on the nose and now have a 5, I think the 5 might be OK at the console too.

Sounds like Carp Muncher is happy with 7.

Either way, Lowrance is just turn on, no map cards, BS, just go to the nav screen and go.

 

Did you guys switch it over to night mode? Big difference between day and night mode...

 

I'm also looking into getting a good gps unit that shows lake depths and contour on the map, what would be the best unit for this?

 

the more I read these threads it sounds to me like the perfect setup would be a 4" on the nose and a 7-9" on the console.

 

Kind of the route that I'm thinking as well.

 

Tigergps.com is where I got mine from best price I could find.

 

if a guy runs 2 units like I said a 4" and a 7" can you tie them together and run one transducer? I may not even run any but I sure as hell ain't mounting 2 of them.

 

Kind of why I am considering the Ray marine. The way I understood the lady on the phone, the wifi capability allows the use of the main unit with one transducer then can use a smartphone or tablet as another screen. For say up front on the deck. I'd really like to hear from someone who uses a ray marine, I don't know anybody that runs one.

 

I had the HDS 7, great unit. But with the 9 the split screen works out real nice.

 

Quote - "Did you guys switch it over to night mode? Big difference between day and night mode..."

Oh yea, and then dimmed it further.

 

I don't even see a real reason to even have one on the front. Even on new water just another thing to get in the way of killing.

 

You can see coves or creeks coming up, if you pre scouted you can see your breadcrumb knowing if you need to fish on or pull off and run. When you start down a cove or creek you can see how deep it goes and if you want to hang in or cross over to other side and come back out. I won't be without one, sets low out of way pointing up right at me.

 

I have a small unit on the front. Doesn't get turned on too often

 

I'm very partial to Humminbird units. Absolutely love the way they perform especially for fishing. For rod and reel applications I would say the bigger the screen the better. But for a bowfishing only boat the 5" would do the trick, but as others have said a 7" will make it easier to see at a glance. With a bigger screen you will also have a better split screen view.

 

My boat serves double duty right now. On Saturdays we striper fish in The mornings and bowfish in the evenings. I have a Lowrance 12 on ram mount and spin it around to front when we're bow fishing. It works pretty good and don't have it in the way where you shooting at , only downfall is you have to look backwards.

 

Bass pro has the garmin echomap 73sv and 73dv fixing to go on sale. The dv will be 399 and sv 549. That's like 45 percent off. I personnaly like the garmin maps and bluechart g2. Buying one for the new boat soon as sale starts

 

ok so ive been looking at units all weekend and after looking at 9" screens I immediately said "nope to big". so im back in line with the general consensus of the peanut gallery and I think a 7" will be perfect. I originally looked at the hummingbird helix and I just didn't like the mixed reviews and screen menus are virtually the same as they have always been. I really liked the new Lowrance "HOOK" series and the screen selection scolls on the bottom without disrupting the rest of the screen. loved the display and ease of use. think I found my unit but it has to have the perfect maps. I can buy it preloaded with nav+ but not really a fan of navionics.

After looking at all the map selections I like the Lakemaster+ but have no "+" release for "the great lakes" region. so if I went with Lakemaster I would have to use the second release of the original witch has been out for a few years. looking around at others I found "Lake Insight HD" it has aerial photos of lakes and shorelines and can highlight depth contours. with the new release of "Insight HD V16" it is compatible with the new "Hook series" of chartplotters.

think im sold with the base GPS unit of a HOOK 7 at $499 and the Lake insight HD V16 at $159 I think its probably the best choice under 7 bills.