I'm wanting to upgrade my electronics on my boat. It is a 2007 Triton VT-17. It came with old Lowrance mounted flush in the dash. I have a budget of about $500 to spend on a new unit. I've researched plenty over the last few weeks and the one that keeps grabbing my attention is a deal I found at Bass Pro Shops (I'm going there in TN next weekend to Pigeon Forge, so I could pick it up in person) 

 

Lowrance Hook2 Tripleshot with Navonics includes GPS, Sidescan, Downscan, and Chirp for $429.99. I really want side and down scan and GPS, and with upgraded with a preloaded Navonics Card I thought this is a great unit that fit's my budget. Keep in mind any of today's units will be a considerable upgrade to my little black and white dinosaur that I currently have. 

 

Does anyone have any experience with this unit. Maybe someone in the know could fill me in on if this is a great unit that fits my need. I fish with my father a lot for leasure and I am planning on occasionally fishing a few local tournaments at the local club level. 

5 inch screen?

Yes

They're ripping people off in this so-called sale.  The retail price for that unit has been $399 and for some reason it is now $429.

I thought it was $399 before the Navonics added..

On 2/8/2018 at 5:06 PM, Hawkeye21 said:

They're ripping people off in this so-called sale.  The retail price for that unit has been $399 and for some reason it is now $429.

If it's $30 more with a $100 + map card I'd say that's far from a rip off. If that's indeed what the sale is.

I just got Cabela’s to price match a Hook2 7 Tripleshot ($599) and a Navionics+ US and Canada card ($200) to the Bass Pro price of $649 ??

Thats a cool deal.. i actually have about $650 to spend on a new unit but I wanna pick up the new carbonlite 2.0 rod/reel combo in 7ft heavy/fast 8:3:1 for flipping its $209.98 at Bass Pro too. Figure I can get both with the hook2 at $429

On 2/11/2018 at 1:31 PM, RHuff said:

Thats a cool deal.. i actually have about $650 to spend on a new unit but I wanna pick up the new carbonlite 2.0 rod/reel combo in 7ft heavy/fast 8:3:1 for flipping its $209.98 at Bass Pro too. Figure I can get both with the hook2 at $429

That combo will be $119.99 during the spring sale...

 

+1 for spending your entire budget on electronics. Personally, I find it more difficult to make big purchases than small purchases simply because I reach the money needed for the small purchases first and don’t let my budget reach the large purchases. Haha

It just so happens that I am going to Bass Pro this weekend. The sale starts on Friday! BOOM. Thanks for bringing it to my attention dirty. 

Bass pro will have the 9" touch garmin echomap plus with the coastal and lakevu maps for sale in the next week for $599. or the 7" for $450.

Whats the main difference between the Hook series and the Elite Series?  

1 hour ago, Troy1985s said:

Whats the main difference between the Hook series and the Elite Series?  

Touch screen on the Elite and transducers.

The unit itself works ok.  Not a major issue.  However... the manual is a complete basket case.  Describing it was "worthless" gives it too much credit.  If you are already a Lowrance user then maybe this is no big deal.  But if you are not an experienced user you may expect to be frustrated and baffled by the gross ineptitude of the Lowrance "manual".  It's actually quite pathetic.  Lowrance should be embarrassed.    

If the series 2 Hook has the same GPS as the original Hook IMO it's not worth buying it's so slow updating.  My buddy's Elite is much faster.

On 5/18/2019 at 8:26 PM, altos said:

The unit itself works ok.  Not a major issue.  However... the manual is a complete basket case.  Describing it was "worthless" gives it too much credit.  If you are already a Lowrance user then maybe this is no big deal.  But if you are not an experienced user you may expect to be frustrated and baffled by the gross ineptitude of the Lowrance "manual".  It's actually quite pathetic.  Lowrance should be embarrassed.    

Well said    When I got my Lowrance LCX37C for a shed load of money in about 2008 and read the manual I thought I knew right then I should have taken notice of my mother who advised me to get the best education possible. It appeared to me that even professors of electronics would have commited suicide when the tried to wade through the sonar section which I found to be crap re the clarity of fish.

After switching on the unit & finding the antenna did not work due to there was no  12 volts supply from the brand new unit to the antenna and that the unit had to be swapped immediately for a new unit I started to wonder what had I bought? My pal in Crete had the same unit only smaller bought a year before mine worked fine and a good job too because he navigated always in the dark! As opposed to the map page being switched on twice all the time I've had it seems absolutely pathetic. I will endeavor to make sure the unit I replace this one with has more solid  recommendations for reliability. I would be very interested to know how many Lowrance buyers have had brand new units not working right out of the box as opposed to their advert fish with this GPS right out of the box?

I think an enhancement to the Hook2 Reveal 7 that I have would be for it to highlight the fish that will actually hit my lure.  It's always showing me fish....just not any that bite ?

 

Seriously, I needed some electronics up front...mostly for depth and structure location.  I catch most of my fish on the bank or near visible structure in shallower water.  I've not mastered the art of using my electronics to locate and catch fish.  My only grip about my Lowrance unit is that the screen will go completely blank periodically and the only way to wake it up is to power it down and back on again.