Hey Guys,

    I recently bought my first boat, an old Nitro 180TF, and am looking to upgrade the electronics.I have the opportunity to buy a new Lowrance unit for a pretty hefty discount through a buddy of mine, and am looking at the Elite 7 CHIRP Gold.

Does anyone out there have any experience with this technology? I've done a little research but am looking for real world stuff. I know its kind of new.
I'm tied to Lowrance due to the discount, so I'm not looking at any other brands.
Thanks.

For the money, you can't beat that unit.  2D sonar, downscan, built-in CHIRP capabilities, good mapping.  High value for the price.

I own that exact unit, purchased it when it was released. There isn't a lot of info online yet about them. The Elite 7 CHIRP is simply clearer than the 7 hdi and has better target separation. It is a nice unit, but for the money I'd recommend spending a bit more and getting the HDS and here's why. The Elite 7 GPS is slow, it's really frustrating to be honest.. I wouldn't rely on it in a tourney it's not reliable enough. The picture on sonar and downscan is great though, I still need to fiddle with mine more but I can post some screenshots.. I was also disappointed with the "gold" card as it only has main waterways none of the lakes I fish were on it.

I own that exact unit, purchased it when it was released. There isn't a lot of info online yet about them. The Elite 7 CHIRP is simply clearer than the 7 hdi and has better target separation. It is a nice unit, but for the money I'd recommend spending a bit more and getting the HDS and here's why. The Elite 7 GPS is slow, it's really frustrating to be honest.. I wouldn't rely on it in a tourney it's not reliable enough. The picture on sonar and downscan is great though, I still need to fiddle with mine more but I can post some screenshots.. I was also disappointed with the "gold" card as it only has main waterways none of the lakes I fish were on it.

So maybe it would make a good unit for the bow while you're on the trolling motor but not so great on the dash while you're running and navigating then?