Hi, I am new to bass fishing from an actual bass boat as I have had a tournament rigged jon boat and fished the electric reservoirs for a while. I finally got a nice boat and I wanna upgrade the fishfinder at the console to a nice fishfinder/gps combo. I have about 800 to spend and I have it narrowed down to 2 units. I wanted to see if anyone on here has any experience with the units. They are the Lowrance HDS-5 with lake insight or trying the humminbird 797si with the side-imaging. Does anyone have any experience with these and if so, what were the pro's and con's. I just wanna get something that I can keep for a while. Thanks in advance.

If you want full capability upon install and if you don't want to be a beta tester, buy the Humminbird.

Hi, I am new to bass fishing from an actual bass boat as I have had a tournament rigged jon boat and fished the electric reservoirs for a while. I finally got a nice boat and I wanna upgrade the fishfinder at the console to a nice fishfinder/gps combo. I have about 800 to spend and I have it narrowed down to 2 units. I wanted to see if anyone on here has any experience with the units. They are the Lowrance HDS-5 with lake insight or trying the humminbird 797si with the side-imaging. Does anyone have any experience with these and if so, what were the pro's and con's. I just wanna get something that I can keep for a while. Thanks in advance.

I would say it depends on the water you fish. The SI is nice I've heard, but the HDS-5 has a superb 2D sonar. It has broadband built-in and the standard 2D display is far superior to the HB IMO. If you fish places where SI will really benefit you , then I'd go with the HB. Lowrance has  their version of SI coming out soon, but the cost is still unknown.

I fish all the popular lakes in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Thats where I am at too. I have heard that the Lowrance has way better gps and cartography. I dunno. I would probably like the side imaging, but the display on the Lowrance is awesome.

I fish all the popular lakes in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Thats where I am at too. I have heard that the Lowrance has way better gps and cartography. I dunno. I would probably like the side imaging, but the display on the Lowrance is awesome.

SI isn't something that I've felt that I really need yet. I got Lowrance units on my boat because I felt that the 2d sonar performance was better. Both HB and Lowrance can use Navionics chips so that wasn't much of a factor for me. If the Lowrance SI ( called StructureScan ) is as good as it looks I will probably go that way one day. But for where I fish  most of the time, I don't know how much its going to do for me.

I fish all the popular lakes in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Thats where I am at too. I have heard that the Lowrance has way better gps and cartography. I dunno. I would probably like the side imaging, but the display on the Lowrance is awesome.

SI isn't something that I've felt that I really need yet. I got Lowrance units on my boat because I felt that the 2d sonar performance was better. Both HB and Lowrance can use Navionics chips so that wasn't much of a factor for me. If the Lowrance SI ( called StructureScan ) is as good as it looks I will probably go that way one day. But for where I fish most of the time, I don't know how much its going to do for me.

X2.... Lowrance gets a bad rep alot of times.. mostly from people who own other brands. I have two HDS units on my boat (5x and 7) and love both. Their 2D charts are way better... just go look at the demo's in any store. Theres no denying they OWN the others in basic sonar. Lowrance does have the SI comming out for the HD units so I wouldn't let that persuade you too much. Humminbird has come a long way since its junk 2D units that almost fell off of the map. Alot of reputable people trust their upper end stuff and SI units so the choice is really yours. Personally I have known more HB units go bad than Lowrance units, but that will vary depending on who you talk to. Id say you'll be happy with either.

Yeah, I went to BPS last week and loved the clarity of the HDS units, I think I will go with the HDS-5 with the lake insight. I will check out that structure scan when it comes out but I just need something that will show the bottom clear because my new boat came with a Garmin 160c I believe and it is not that good at all.

I have owned and currently own both Humminbird and Lowrance.  My current set up is an 997c interlinked with a 787 and a HDS 8.  I don't really see that much difference in the downlooking sonar between the 2.  The Structure Scan addon for the HDS units is going to run another $600 and will be available Nov. 9th.  There is no situation that side imaging won't benefit you in.  Once you start using it you wont want to not have it.  

Yep, went to BPS this weekend and talked to them about the lowrance unit and read up on the structure scan. Im gonna probably go with the HDS-5 or 7 and then the structure scan. I really like that structure scan can scan downward also. I cant wait.

Tackle tour did a review on the 700 series SI Hummingbird.  The SI feature is apparently pretty hard to decipher on the smaller screen vs the larger screen models.

While that SI technology is pretty interesting,  the price is just too high right now to justify spending that kind of money, at least for me anyway.

Besides, I'd probably wind up driving around the lake half the day just looking at the sonar and not fishing.  

;D

Once you use the SI and learn a little about it  You will wonder how you got by without it.  As far as Humminbird 2D it is as good as  Lowrance.