I just bought a new (used) boat. I planned on switching the electronics because I thought what I had was better. I am not that familiar with Lowrance but after looking at the new boat I think the two fishfinders/gps may be equal. The new boat has a Lowrance HDS-5. It has two transducers. One of them looks like a structurescan transducer which I am assuming does side imaging. My old boat has a Humminbird 798ci si. As long as these two units are equal I would rather not go through the hassle of switching them. The Humminbird is from 2009 and the Lowrance is 2010. Does anyone know if these two units are equal? If the Lowrance has the structurescan transducer does that mean it has side imaging? Thanks for any help.

For a Lowrance to have Side Scan and Down Scan, it has to have the long Structure Scan transducer and a 2D transducer too.

 

As you know, the Humminbird SI units do Side Imaging, Down Imaging, and 2D sonar with a single transducer.

 

The display sizes are equal with the 798 having almost double the pixel density= sharper images.

 

The Lowrance will have better Down Scan than Humminbird's Down Imaging since the L has a dedicated Down Scan crystal and the H gets Down Imaging by blending the two Side Imaging pulses.

 

The H will have better Side Imaging especially in shallow water, than the L Side Scan.

 

The L will do better for 2D sonar for an inexperienced user since it is somewhat idiot proof.

The H is more user adjustable for the detail you want.

 

They cannot be linked to share data.

 

The operation menus are very different.

 

Both can use Navionics map software.

 

Bottom line is they are somewhat equal but do different functions better than the other.

This was very helpful. Thank you.