Has anyone purchased one of these yet? If so, please tell me how you like it? I'm looking at this over the Hummingbird. IMO the detail and the use of the unit is alot easier.

Mike there is a ton of info on the Internet on how to operate and features of both companys units......seems like people have an issue with Lowerance customer service.....dont know about that from personal experience....i am looking at a new unit for the bow of my boat gonna go with a 800 series humminbird after my research....my pockets aren't very deep......good luck

Gman if you can swing it the 8 has way more features than the 7. One of my friends has bird and I can't stand to look at his 2d sonar. Low is much better. The down and side are close to the same except Low has 3 crystals in the ducer and bird has to do computer manipulations for part of theirs.

As for customer service, I have never had issues with them and I have been using their techs for info for a lot of years.

Thanks guys, I did the button pushing at BPS last weekend. I was set on the Bird 898 until I used the Low.

I havent looked at the 8. I'll go look at it and see. Thanks!

I've been running the Lowrance Gen2 units for a couple of months and the faster processor really makes a huge difference. Key response while navigating the pages and menus is super quick. Plus, the Gen2s have new StructureMap feature that overlays the side views on your chart. See all the details here:

http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine/HDS-Gen2/

both are quality units. with the bird, if you upgrade or damage it you have to buy a whole unit. with the Lowrance, once you install the sst you will only replace the head unit. the structure scan will work with any HDS unit.

I've been running the Lowrance Gen2 units for a couple of months and the faster processor really makes a huge difference. Key response while navigating the pages and menus is super quick. Plus, the Gen2s have new StructureMap feature that overlays the side views on your chart. See all the details here:

http://www.lowrance....arine/HDS-Gen2/

Doing more research on this, that is also what I noticed. It looks like the one I'm going to buy.

Thanks All!

3dees, that is also something else that I have found out. Its cheaper to expand or replace.