the structure scan is fantastic for shallow water but if you want a offshore sounder get a Furuno. A lot of other sounders are just toys cheers ACE

I have only had it for 5 minutes, I have used it on some of my mates boats and was impressed enough to upgrade from 2 x HDS 5 and get my own so  these are my initial thoughts.  I recently got a LSS2 transducer and structure scan hub then sourced a HDS 10 gen 1 and fitted on the Saturday, I then took it for a trial run over to rotto on sunday.  The main difference between the gen 1 and gen2 apart from a faster processor is the ability to get a recorded structure map, but I didnt want to spend that much extra for a gen 2 unit and went 2nd hand gen 1.

I put it through its paces around rotto reefs up to 35m after cruising through from Hillarys.  One thing I noticed straight away was how well it worked in filthy water.  The waters inside the 3 mile and again around rotto were like soup due to the large swell and my normal 200hz sounder was getting alot of clutter but the structurescan and downscan were very clear comparitively so in the typical water clarity we have I would expect better performance.  Also when i sped up over 10 knots the side imaging loses most definition but the downscan was fine up to 25 knots which is about as fast as I went.  There were times when the boat was getting tossed around a fair bit when going through to some of the bays in rotto and it didnt really have a big impact on the image but this would differ in different boats and transducer positions.

My thoughts all along with the structure scan technoloy have been that for general fishing off Perth it wont necessarily find you ground that cant be seen on a typical sounder but it will show more detail and layout of the ground that can help you understand and fish the area better and by using a couple of sounding methods on the ground your fishing. 

Hopefully I can get out to some deeper water in the coming weeks and put it through its paces but after the initial trip I am happy

Cheers for the insight lads.

Ace --- We run a lot of high $$ Furuno gear out here at work, but im not sure of recreational sounders and what they have to offer. Do you run some of their gear?

Well.

I lashed out and upgraded from the old Elite-5 to the HDS10(gen2) with structure scan, with a LSS2 and 50/200 ducers..

All i can say is DAMMM!! i wish i done this 8 months ago when i started looking. Only done 2 trips with it before coming back out to work for another month. But first impressions are the best apparently.

Rig-- I can see what you mean regarding the dirty water. one of our rivers (Grenough) broke thru from the rains while i was home. so i swung thru the "ice coffee" water to see the outcome. the 2d went to shit, but the structure worked a dream still.

Im still a newbie by all means with this equipment, and i've yet to change the input from the 50/200 to the specific model on the HDS unit, which apparently makes a big difference? I also still get easliy excited when looking at the ground and see movment, only to remember that its swell :-/ Got the "ground lock" set on the 2D thats helping that, but unsure if i can make any other improvments.

Got the Sonar hub to go along with it too, but yet to get it up and running, as ran out of time.

Have a HDS with structure scan and find it great given I'm mostly fishing under 40m. mostly use the normal sounder image along with the side scan.

"wont necessarily find you ground that cant be seen on a typical sounder"

I know what you mean Rig but I find side scan great for finding ground I would otherwise have trouble locating.
Found it great for locating ledges on sidescan to plant cray pots on and also on overcast days when I have trouble making out sand patches (when you have trouble seeing them unless directly over them)to fish for KG's I can see the sand patch out to the side of the boat and waste less time looking for them. The normal sounder wasn't as much help in these scenarios.

Cheers

Bryan.

I was toying with the ideas of the touch sceen. But we have them out here at work (offshore) and an hr after cleaning them - they are dirty again. So went with the 10 inch with buttons and happy i did. First trip out fishing, one of the lads touched a few spots on the screen and fingerprints were a bitch. let alone when ya got fingers covered in bait and stuff and wantt o make a spot quickly..

I got the seperate structurescan HD box to match the LSS2 ducer.  but in doing my research before buying it discovered what your saying. The you can run the CHIRP and structurescan thru the SONARHUB, but only one at a time. If if wanting to run both, you need both boxes, or a sonichub and a touchscreen. ---- Ive just relized why you asked this thou. i stuffed up and ment to write SONICHUB. i got the sound system to go with it.. My bad :-/

Regarding to the CHIRP thou, talking with the dealer at home he mentioned that they were having a few issues with the CHIRP technoligy over on our side of the world. But talking to the lads i work with, its released over in the states, but a lot of the ppl are raymarine "dragonfly" for that kind of picture.

I find the structure perfect for working my way thru charts and finding why someone put a circle around a certain point.. Helps to pick up those little baby bumps a lot easier.

Love it, Navionics card(gold) ,If you want better upgrade tranny to through hull or 1kw.

Your bang on the money there too Scuba.  I was thinking that my maps card from the ELITE would be ok... I was back down the shop not long after swipping the credit card again for the gold navionics card. Went thru the fun part online, then put it in the unit and was very impressed with the details. Ive also got the NAVONICS app on my ipad that i use whilst out at work to dream up ideal fishing trips. Even that is very impressive. I take that out on the boat for "back up" tracking and comparison. But its got a handy little tool to measure point to point distance on it too..

Have had structure scan for a while with Simrad NSE 12 and NSS 8 as a slave unit.
Very happy with the structure scan as it gives you a 3D view of the ground underneath your boat with at least 15mtrs either side.
Plus with downscan a clear view of the baitballs/fish and the added effect of overlay on the pinger!