presently have a Lowrance 7x which is a piece of junk. Have sent it in twice in the last year and when can get it to work it is slow and hard to use. I am older and looking for the simplest finder to use. Use it mostly for depth and to locate fish. dont need or want the fancy stuff. would like 7 inch or larger. Any suggestions??

If you don’t need GPS check out the Garmin Striker units. They’re cheap and Garmin is very user friendly. 

Garmin are much more user friendly.  My dad is older and he loves then for this reason.  Striker or echomap models depending on what you need from it

Well in my opinion, Lowrance IS more user friendly. I purchased a Lowrance 7x back in 2017 and the only issue I had with it was with the GPS maps but that was no problem for me back then seeing how I fish mostly the same body of water and know where to travel when traveling at higher speeds. I suggest you spend the big bucks on what you LUHHH.

Best suggestion would be to stop in at a big sports store like Gander or BPS/Cabelas and play around with the ones they have on display. They display units from all 3 big manufacturers and generally have enough on display to represent all features and sizes available. 

 

I am partial to my Humminbird

units because they are super simple to use, but I wouldn’t be able

to compare them to Garmin as I haven’t used any of the newer Garmin units. I had an Elite 9 and Hook 7 on my boat when I bought it and had to switch because the Lowrance units were so clumsy and difficult to navigate. 

Easiest to use is Garmin....The 9's can be had relatively cheap.

Another vote for Garmin. I own the Striker 7cv. No maps. 

Very simple.

I Use a very small battery that’ll run the whole day. 

 

I agree with the other replies for Garmin being the simplest to use. I recently switched from the Garmin Striker to a Lowrance Elite 7ti. With the Garmin all I had to do was turn it on and go fishing  with the Lowrance I have to adjust the settings just about every time I go out. 

I can't compare, because I have only ever used Lowrance.  But I just wanted to comment that I sympathize with @cookieman.  I am really still blown away at how bad Lowrance (and H-bird) sites, settings, features and manuals are. 

  A novice can spend hours trying to understand and compare features and come away more confused than when they started. 

It is sad...and unnecessary.