Lowrance HDS Plotter
Submitted by Tandawg on Thu, 2010-06-24 21:10
Hi all, I`m upgrading to another GPS plotter and for my price, the available ones are:
1. Lowrance HDS 5m
2. Lowrance Elite 5m
3. Garmin 551
All are $850
I think 1 and 2 are similar, if not the same. Garmin has preloaded map in it, and I think the lowrance may have. Lowrance have a greater pixel count @480.
Any one out there who can give me the heads up would be great.
Thank you
Chris
Tigh82
Posts: 225
Date Joined: 04/05/06
Lowrance
Hey Chris, i got the hds5m installed about 4 months ago with the nav gold card and it is a really good unit. So easy to use and plenty of good features, would recommend it to anyone looking at a plotter unit!
JohnSorrell
Posts: 137
Date Joined: 28/07/09
All of these units come with
All of these units come with a pre-loaded 'base' map... Not charts... This will only give you a basic outline of the shore and some minor detail. You will still be spending another $300 - $500 on the Chart Card if you want any chart detail, and i guarentee you will, after you see the lack of detail of the basemap...
I'd go the Garmin 551 because I like bluecharts more than navionics charts... plus the chart cards are cheaper.
Gone Fishing...
lowrance
Posts: 34
Date Joined: 17/07/10
Lowrance hds plotter
Hi Chris
look if you want the best go the HDS, the elite is a cheaper model but also has a smaller processor which makes for slower zooming in/out. The screen is not as bright in direct sun and the HDS has NMEA2000 compatabilty.
2 year warranty, Garmin is ok but the pixels are low but with the Navionics chart in the HDS and resolution blows the rest away!!
allrounder
Posts: 1853
Date Joined: 10/11/08
The new units
the hds 8m or what ever the number is are they having any issues?A guy i know is having trouble when coming up on a mark it is drawing his line at a parallel to where it is saying his boat is.I was looking at going the 8 or the 10 if it can talk to a honda 225 as i can get some gauges off the dash and make some room that way.What kind of depths can you get with the broadband?Do you lose a lot from the in hull transducers?Sorry about all the questions its just a lot to spend on a unit if it cant do what i need.
So tell me have you got your info from years on the water or hours on the internet?
lowrance
Posts: 34
Date Joined: 17/07/10
The new units
Well thats the 1st i heard of the hds8m or 8 doing that issue of a parralel line when marking a waypoint, there is a new software upgrade avail 3.0 which has a lot more improvements and fixes as well. Unfortunatley Lowrance wont talk to honda yet as Honda dont have nmea2000 output. But so far for lowrance is Suzuki 4 strokes pre 2007 models and Yamaha 4 strokes and Evinrude and now coming is mercury smartcraft. The smartcraft is now nmea2000 compatible with the smartcraft.The HDS have been recordered to be working at depths of 1038m , yep meters.
thesupervisor
Posts: 1136
Date Joined: 10/06/09
my 2010 honda has nmea2000
my 2010 honda has nmea2000 im not sure what i have to buy to get it to talk to the hds but i assume it will involve lots of $$$$
getting the bottom line final answer from a bunch of blokes that use false names and put smiley faces at the end of paragraphs is not the best place in the world to get the information you seek.
JR JetSki
Posts: 247
Date Joined: 23/04/10
HDS 5 for me. I have it on
HDS 5 for me. I have it on my JetSki and I am happy as. Its great. The navionics maps are a must though.
Cheers
JR JetSki