Feedback on HDS units

bassman1975 · Post by **bassman1975** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:38 pm

So I have been reading on other web sites and some forums that the HDS units suck. With that said I should mention I don't own any HDS units but have a boat on order that will have two 8s on it. My concern is I am reading more negative feedback then positive feedback about the Lowrance HDS units. About 75% of the stuff I am reading is negative and it seems the only positive is coming from "paid" people. On my old boat I had the old Mark units and only had problems with the bow unit other then that seems to be good. I have read some positive and some negative about Hummingbird. So anyone have any remarks/comments on the HDS units? Good or bad I just want to make sure I am making the right decision on Lowrance.

GregD · Post by **GregD** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:28 pm

The BassCat I bought last January (used 2006 model) had an HDS 5 installed in the console. I was happy enough with it's operation that I purchased another HDS 5 for the bow. In April I was in a driving rain storm on New Melones and the old one that the boat came with stopped working. When I got home and removed the unit from the console, water poured out of it...

The good news is that I contacted Lowrance and let them know that I did not know how old the unit was and I did not have a receipt... they told me to send it in anyways and they'd take a look at it. Two weeks later a new HDS 5 arrived in the mail. I was very happy with how they handled the situation.

Laserdoc · Post by **Laserdoc** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:01 pm

bought one for my old bass tracker prodeep v. paid goodprice but its worth it. my only suggestion is if i were going to do it again is i would go with the hds 8 instead of the 7. the 7 has a smaller screen and my eyesight isnt as good as it use to be so save up and go for the 8. i can save different setting for different lakes one for the delta and one for clear lake and one for high serria lakes.
i lke mine but like any new toy of today you have to really learn how they work. but that s the case with any new electronics on todays market
i would buy a HDS 8 if i was doing it again

tunaman · Post by **tunaman** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:02 pm

Love my HDS 10, and plan to get one for the bow to replace my 38HD soon.

My tribulations with the Humminbird 1197 are well documented here, and in comparison the Lowrance beats the Bird hands down.

No complaints here... not sure what everyone is beefing about on that other site.

Roger

Randy Walker · Post by **Randy Walker** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:27 pm

I LOVE my two 10's..amazing! Now, I'm not " paid" or have any affiliation with lowrance..just a VERY happy consumer to date with the HDS and a user of prior units. The two situations that I have heard from several people are... Leak problems.. But each one was resolved! The other was customer service... The company is now back on track, based on personally know situations.
I have not used or dealt with hummingbird so can't speak to that...
I will say to get 8's or 10's though...

Randy

Kelly Ripa · Post by **Kelly Ripa** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:11 pm

not "paid"....I bought a hds 10 with structure scan two years ago,,,,best move I ever made. Especially this time of year. I know my home water really well but it is comforting to KNOW that your standing in your boat exactly over a sawed off tree stump on a channel edge instead of lining up some shoreline structure and waiting to see the familiar mess in color under your feet and figure you're in the right spot. Plug and play two years without a hitch.

Rip

Rip

ACRon · Post by **ACRon** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:35 pm

Got two-10's on mine and I can't believe what I can see. At Folsom I swear I can see the details in the granite. I definitely can see the undulation and variations in the larger rock piles. I was at Shasta recently and I couldn't believe how many bait balls I found. I could see the bass and trout slashing the bait or staging below. You can even tell if submerged vegetation is brush or trees.

When doing my research the menus were a little confusing until I understood the layers and the circular nature of the menus. It is all very systematic and consistent. Once Mike Van Wagner explained and helped me through the set-ups. It helped that he explained why he was doing certain things. I am still learning and fine tuning. Need to spend more time without a rod just looking at stuff.

C&C Citrus Heights did my install and they did a great job, very clean and systematic electrical work.

There were some problems early on with the cases and water intrusion but that has been fixed. They also had some customer support issues but they have worked hard to solve that. Use the heck out of it when you get it and if there are any problems they will get it fixed for you.

Not paid or sponsered.

scottsweet · Post by **scottsweet** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:22 am

bassman1975 wrote:So I have been reading on other web sites and some forums that the HDS units suck. With that said I should mention I don't own any HDS units but have a boat on order that will have two 8s on it. My concern is I am reading more negative feedback then positive feedback about the Lowrance HDS units. About 75% of the stuff I am reading is negative and it seems the only positive is coming from "paid" people. On my old boat I had the old Mark units and only had problems with the bow unit other then that seems to be good. I have read some positive and some negative about Hummingbird. So anyone have any remarks/comments on the HDS units? Good or bad I just want to make sure I am making the right decision on Lowrance.

I will first say that I am on the Humminbird pro-staff and have been for 4 years now. The experiences with the Lowrance units on leakage and poor customer service is unfortunately well known and documented. That being said, they have many happy customers too and are very popular on the west coast; especially in Socal.

Since you are in Socal, I will offer to you and anyone else who is interested, a free trip on the water to learn about Humminbird and the differences. If you purchase a new side imaging unit from Humminbird or a certified dealer, I will give you an on the water tutorial on how to set up and use your graph. I believe so highly of the product that I have all the confidence to provide this service as a member of the pro-staff in Socal.

So you know, Humminbird patented the side-imaging technology and produced the first product with it. Unlike other products, Humminbird provides the side-imaging entirely in the head of the graph with no other components or electronics required other than the transducer. The user interface is the easiest to learn and use. Even if you prefer the Lowrance color palette, Humminbird can duplicate them if you wish

.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line.

Best regards,

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 8:11 am

Not sponsored. I have 2 hds 8's and have had to send both back in for backlight problems and both new/refurbs have had same issue but only very occasionally. The backlight would go dark so that you could not see the screen and had to reboot. Frustrating as this is a problem that is known also if you search it. I will say that I've had good customer service though so happy from that perspective.

Dynastyworms · Post by **Dynastyworms** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 6:52 pm

Bassman,

I am a pro staff for lowrance. I have been for two years now. I have owned many lowrance and humming bird units before I was pro staffing for lowrance. No matter what company you decide to buy there is a possibility of having problems with the units. As scott said lowrance has had problems with some of there units,(just like iPhone) on the first runs. A few years back lowrance was sold to Navico. During the transition of Navico taking over lowrance there was problems with customer service and the first run HDS units. Since the take over Navico/lowrance has made it there top priority to fix the problems and making there customer service the best in the business. The HDS units are the top of the line and no other unit will compare with the HDS and what they offer to the fishermen. Just like Scott offered, if you wanna see the HDS units on the water fill free to pm me and I will take you out and show you the difference. Marine Electronics are only as good as the operator can operate them.

I can show you and anyone who wants help, how to get the most out of there electronics. I am located in orange county. Please fill free to ask questions

Zach Meredith
Pro Staff for Lowrance and Simrad

SKTR 20i · Post by **SKTR 20i** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:17 pm

Let me start by saying that I AM NOT payed by anyone to use products!!

I have been using the HDS units (HDS-7 & 8 w/Insight mapping and Structure Scan) since they hit the market, I will say that to begin with the mapping was "painfully" slow. But, with the last 2 downloadable updates that problem has been "pretty much" solved. I couldn't be happier with the performance of these units. And as a matter of fact, I just sold my HDS-7 and ordered the HDS-10 Gen2 that should be delivered Jan. 7th.

I don't think anyone would be disappointed with these units on their boat!!!

John.