I have Lowrance 5 year old Ghost trolling motor, 12 and 16 inch flush mounted Lowrance screens. All were newest and top of the line which I ordered with my new Vexus. I am considering an upgrade to all, but I paid a lot of money for the units and they really have nothing wrong with them. Not being willing to just retire them to a corner of my garage or give them away, what can I do to receive value for them? Anyone with the same experience?

I have been in the same situation as you are in. Don’t expect to get much for your electronics because they are probably several generations old by now. I have sold some sonar units here on the flea market and other fishing and boating forums. Facebook market place might work for you.

What I do is put them in the corner of the garage and every time I see them I say to myself, you should sell those on Facebook Marketplace,

This is what the marine electronics realm has come to. Brand new, state of the art, upgraded technology that's a few years old is now outdated.

It's a scam that the electronics companies have. They want you to spend thousands of dollars on "upgrades" every other year.

29 minutes ago, gim said:

It's a scam that the electronics companies have. They want you to spend thousands of dollars on "upgrades" every other year.

Gotta keep ppl employed I guess

@Tackleholic , you must have an itch. If there's nothing wrong with your electronics then why replace? Just curious and probably a question that needs no explanation TBH ... haha

which models are they? I assume they are networked already. If so, maybe just add one as your upgrade? You're not going to get much for them on the secondary market unless it is the current model (which at 5 years it almost certainly isn't). But 5 year old electronics are still pretty good especially if they were higher end models in the first place.

4 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Gotta keep ppl employed I guess

@Tackleholic , you must have an itch. If there's nothing wrong with your electronics then why replace? Just curious and probably a question that needs no explanation TBH ... haha

I'm always searching for improvement, but you made a valid point.

9 minutes ago, Tackleholic said:

I'm always searching for improvement, but you made a valid point

No, I get it ... That's why I said that it needed no explanation ... HAHA ... Fair enough

Yep, I'm with you.

Two plus years ago I got brand new Helix 9 inch G4N's on my Lund. Now, if I want to get MEGA Live 2, I'm forced to upgrade both those screens to the new Explore models.

I'm sticking with the Helix units, and looking to add MEGA 360. I believe it will serve my fishing style better than live-view.

Companies are smart...they know to always be changing, upgrading, and moving forward. It's called...

Planned obsolescence is a business strategy where products are deliberately designed to have an artificially limited lifespan or to become perceived as outdated within a set timeframe. This practice ensures consumers will need to purchase replacements or upgrades sooner than they might naturally, thereby maintaining steady demand and manufacturer profitability.

On one hand, I agree that some companies do that (planned obsolescence). There is also the slightly more benign "disposable products" where they are designing something at the cheapest initial price to be replaceable but not fixable.

In this case there is more to it. The Helix units are great units when it comes to side imaging, mapping, 360, etc. Those functions don't use much bandwidth/processing or power though. Live imaging does. I think Garmin and Lowrance knew that early on so designed their units which take live imaging to take/supply high power from the get go. HBird tried to keep up but tried to keep the Helix lineup in play. That meant they were limited when they designed ML1 to the Helix power and capabilities. If they were to catch up in live imaging, they needed more horsepower than the Helix could supply. So they had to create a new 'entry' level unit that could supply ML2. It had to happen some time and people who bought Helix units in the nearterm before the launch (whenever it occured) were always going to be upset. So rip off the bandaid sooner than later and get the better ML2 on the market sooner.

Look up Russel marine products and bass fishing electronics you can trade in your old equipment for money off your new equipment.

On 1/16/2026 at 2:05 PM, DaubsNU1 said:

Yep, I'm with you.

Two plus years ago I got brand new Helix 9 inch G4N's on my Lund. Now, if I want to get MEGA Live 2, I'm forced to upgrade both those screens to the new Explore models.

I'm sticking with the Helix units, and looking to add MEGA 360. I believe it will serve my fishing style better than live-view.

Companies are smart...they know to always be changing, upgrading, and moving forward. It's called...

Planned obsolescence is a business strategy where products are deliberately designed to have an artificially limited lifespan or to become perceived as outdated within a set timeframe. This practice ensures consumers will need to purchase replacements or upgrades sooner than they might naturally, thereby maintaining steady demand and manufacturer profitability.

I’m hanging onto the helix’s for a bit too. This will be my 4th season with them and like you, I got them on my brand new boat.

Don’t hesitate to get ML1. You can get a new one with really good discounts and they work really well. No it’s not close to ML2 but it’s still a pretty good tool for the money.

I was in the same situation with Humminbird Helix 10's. I purchased my boat in 2021 and came with two Helix 10's, third generation. I had one on the bow, and one on the console, networked with an Ultrex. I kind of always knew I wanted two graphs at the console.

Fast forward to 2025 and MegaLive2 is now out, but not compatible with any Helix's. My only option was to buy their new line, the Xplore, or buy a used compatible Solix/Apex since a new Xplore was less than a new Solix/Apex.

Ultimately, I bought a new Xplore12 for the bow to pair with the ML2, and moved the Helix10 to the console, and installed a double graph console mount (Beatdown). The only thing the Xplore and Helix don't do is network, so they can't share WP's, but I think I can live with that for now. I'll probably update the console graphs to Xplores if I like the new touch system. The Helix buttons are OK, but it took so long to manage waypoints, that I would just mark them on the water then edit them at home.

So ultimately, I'm getting 90% of what I wanted, but that last 10% upgrade to 2 Xplore10's will be costly.

@Junger Nice! My ONLY gripe with the helix is one that you mention— how long it takes to label waypoints. Other than that it is a really solid unit.

I feel like I have not got my moneys worth out of my helix’s yet since they are only 3 years old. But, I have done some thinking about adding an apex 13 to the bow, networked to my G4N at the console. Eventually I would add an XPLORE at the bow. But for the price, it might make more sense to get two XPLORE units all at once.

What are you using the other helix for now?

17 hours ago, stk44 said:

What are you using the other helix for now?

I moved it to the console, so now I have the two Helix10's at the console and can run one with full SI and the other with a map or map/DI combo. I agree, they're solid units overall, and I think I'll get another year out of them and then upgrade to Xplore10's so I have full networking combability, including being able to see ML2 at the console.

17 minutes ago, Junger said:

I moved it to the console, so now I have the two Helix10's at the console and can run one with full SI and the other with a map or map/DI combo. I agree, they're solid units overall, and I think I'll get another year out of them and then upgrade to Xplore10's so I have full networking combability, including being able to see ML2 at the console.

Ah, I see. I misread and thought you had two xplores on both ends of the boat and 1 helix at the console.

It’s a shame you can’t at least share waypoints between helix and Xplore. I feel like there should be a workaround there. That’s more important to me than sharing transducers.

On 1/16/2026 at 6:27 AM, Tackleholic said:

I have Lowrance 5 year old Ghost trolling motor, 12 and 16 inch flush mounted Lowrance screens. All were newest and top of the line which I ordered with my new Vexus. I am considering an upgrade to all, but I paid a lot of money for the units and they really have nothing wrong with them. Not being willing to just retire them to a corner of my garage or give them away, what can I do to receive value for them? Anyone with the same experience?

trade them in to the electronic shop on your new upgrade, will at least cover install + some of the new stuff. i had a busted lower unit on my old ghost, traded that in along with the rite hite and took off around 1600 bucks on the new garmin