Our family purchased a new fish\ski boat(smoker craft Ultima 172 115HP 4 stroke)  We are looking two different gps/fishfinder units.

 

Lowrance Elite 7 Chirp 83/200khz n 455/800. with the lake insight pro chip.

or

Humminbird 859ci HD DI KVD with the Navtronics+ chip. 

 

Both are the same price.  Any information would be greatly appreciated.  This will be my first gps/fish finder.

Thanks

Both good units and do the same functions.

 

I would suggest you visit a store that has Humminbird and Lowrance units on display and push some buttons.

Don't accept any help from a sales person. Get the one that you feel comfortable with.

 

As far as the mapping, the Navionics+ software is customizable for the locations downloaded to the card.

It comes with no maps, you choose what locations to have on the card anywhere in the US and Canada.

It also has the Sonar Charts program to create HD contour maps where there are none by recording sonar logs and Navionics processes the data for you to download.

 

That software can be used in the Lowrance unit too.