On 12/27/2018 at 9:01 AM, Tennessee Boy said:

I agree with what others have said.  I've used both brands in the past.  Both get the job done.  I'm currently a happy Humminbird Solix user.  Most of the lakes I fish have high definition LakeMaster maps available.  For my needs,  this makes all other brands of fish finders obsolete.  I mostly fish offshore structure where the LakeMaster maps are a game changer.  Lakemaster maps are not available for all lakes so this may not be a factor in your decision.  I personally have been more impressed with the quality of Lowrance units over Humminbirds.  My Solix units have a few annoying bugs but nothing that makes me regret buying them.

I bought a hds carbon, im not sure what micro sd is the best for the unit, do you have any opinions?

The unit is flawed and over powering the sonar return creating echoes and not auto adjusting the screen depth. I agree it's common when setting up the units manually and not using the auto depth but the op tried and contacted the tech support so it's not a simple solution to solve.

I started with Lowrance paper graphs and both Humminbird and Lowrance flashers. Both excellent units and only you can make the decision. As mentioned go play with display units and talk to the techs. Tech support is the biggest difference and I have exceptional tech support with Lowrance locally so that is my choice.

Tom

On 12/31/2018 at 11:17 AM, Pierce LaFleur said:

I bought a hds carbon, im not sure what micro sd is the best for the unit, do you have any opinions?

I should have been clearer in my previous post that I prefer Humminbird because most of the lakes I fish have high definition LakeMaster maps.  These are only available for Humminbirds.  I will have to defer to others on what map cards are best for Lowrance.  Hope you enjoy your new FF. 

I have all Lowrance products (sonar, GPS, and hand held).  I started using Lowrance because it was the unit that was on my family's fishing boat when we bought it in 2002.  When I bought my own boat in 2015, I simply kept on using it.  I am familiar with it, I know how to navigate through it, and I have not experienced any problems with it, so I will continue to use it.  I do think that HB has some fine products out there and in all likelihood, they have perhaps surpassed Lowrance.  I am not going to switch now though.  It would be too expensive and the learning curve I've developed for 16 years would go right down the drain with a new operating system.

This is an interesting thread. I had a Lowrance unit with a through hull transducer on a 21 Ft. Gulf Coast Low Side that used to work fine and suddenly seemed to go blind then come back. I finally fixed the problem by putting in an outside the hull transducer. Man they can sure mess with your head though trying to figure them out.

Bought the boat bundle from lowrance, I took those units off in about a month and switch to humminbird. (new to boating and electronics so I am not picky on brand). I found the touch screens very slow and some times unresponsive.  (HDS 9 and 7 gen 3). The newer units I heard are a lot faster. Installation of the lowrance units was painless with the nema connectors. I now have 3 units from humminbird 2 helix 9s with mega SI g2n and a helix 7 g2n. Humminbird gets expensive quick with all the accessories needed to link all the units up (also running a 360 transducer). My suggestion is, play with the units at your local BPS or cabelas before buying. Both amazing products, it just comes down to your preference.