I got an HDS7 a few months ago and I'm pretty happy with it so far - no dramas at all

 I've got the last model and reckon its really good. Very user friendly, especially with the soft touch buttons. However, I was on a boat recently which has a Furuno model, I think it was the 585, and the picture on that was second to none. Not sure if it can be set up as chart and sonar split screen like the lowrance though and not sue on the price difference, but if I had my time again, I'd definitely be having a look at the Furuno.

 I will be getting a furuno 587 in time too for the boat then just run the lowrance for the mapping it also has a structure scan.  How do they work in the deeper waters 

 Furuno is a lot easier to tune and I reckon it shows the fish a lot better, still love the hds tho, we have a 8 and 10

I have a HDS 10 love it but, i am a holden driver and that i think that's what it boils down too,Holden/Falcon.Couple of things i would encourage you to look at is Transducer,Transducer,Transducer is very important to get right 1.am I going to keep the boat ? 2.through the hull or in hull wet box (both good)3.Transom mount (going to sell boat)keep the sounder and put in new boat.3. do you want water temp on transducer or not ?I like HDS10 for big screen and Navionics Gold card with 3D graphics is great I also have the side scan ,still in training on that.Do your home work on what you need out of a sounder/Plotter.

 I have the HDS9 gen 2 and it's piss easy to use and and superb map readouts. I also run a 585 with a 1kw tranny so I reckon i'm in the lap of luxury as far as electronics go. As everyone knows it's tranny placement and adjustment that is crucial to these units. But i can run at 25 knots and get a good bottom readout.