Sonar with Navionics plus and downscan.

[BillyBones]

This might not be the right forum for this question but here goes. I am thinking of upgrading my sonar,I have a Lowrance X67
that has served me well for years. I am thinking about a Lowrance Hook2 5 or 7 inch with navionics plus, chirp transducer, and
downscan. I don't know a lot about downscan imaging but it comes with the units that I am considering. If anyone has any knowledge
fishfinders and chart plotters, please jump in and help with my research.

Thanks
Billy Bones

[Out4trout]

DSI is much higher frequency than "regular" 200/83khz, with increased detail/resolution. I recommend you get a unit that can do both DSI and "regular" sonar, eg the "split shot". DSI does not show fish very well, but when used together, DSI helps to differentiate weeds / branches from fish. To allow split view frequency, get the larger screen size. I often use my HDS DSI split screen downscan w/ the "regular" lower frequency sonar, or many times, just the regular sonar alone. Seldom downscan alone...

Reference the middle image here... the tree looks like fish in the regular sonar view... but the fish are hard to read in the downscan. Together they work well.


The one negative of the Hook units is that the Sonar and Power connectors are "push-in" not threaded. Occasionally if the boat is jarred eg hitting a wave, people have reported connection drops. The HDS units have threaded connectors which is a more reliable connection in my opinion.

As a side note... the Garmin Panoptix Livescope seems to be a step ahead of HBird and Lowrance with 3D viewing... I would like to try one for a day to see if reality lives up to the hype...

[BillyBones]

Thanks for the input Out for Trout, I think we have fished together a few times, a few years ago
with Mike P.

I do some vertical jigging for Lakers. One of the features that I have on my old Lowrance X67 is
that I can zoom in on the water column, say 50 to 80 feet, depending on where the fish are holding.
I don't see this feature on any of the newer models. I ask salesman but they don't know, and I can't
find anything about it on any of the websites.

Again thanks for the input.
Billy Bones

[reefhawg]

Go Garmin Echo Map Plus (or any unit up from there) and you'll be ready for livescope when the $ is right. PanOpitx is just now starting to come down with $200 rebate on it.

[David Chong]

Go Garmin Echo Map Plus (or any unit up from there) and you'll be ready for livescope when the $ is right. PanOpitx is just now starting to come down with $200 rebate on it.

Good call reefhawg! I use a Garmin ECHOMap Plus 73cv Ice Bundle which is preloaded with the Garmin g3 LakeVu Canada charts complete with Navionics & Garmin data! It comes with the more powerful 500W GT10HN-IF iceducer with hi-narrow CHIRP! The CHIRP Sonar is amazing and fast, I show my unit to a friend who had been running a very high-end flasher unit for it's real-time capability and he ran out and bought a Garmin unit right away! Radioworld had some fantastic deals at the shows for Garmin ECHOMap Plus 95sv units that have built-in mapping, Clear-Vu(Down Scan), Side-Vu and is fully LiveScope capable!

[reefhawg]

Go Garmin Echo Map Plus (or any unit up from there) and you'll be ready for livescope when the $ is right. PanOpitx is just now starting to come down with $200 rebate on it.

Good call reefhawg! I use a Garmin ECHOMap Plus 73cv Ice Bundle which is preloaded with the Garmin g3 LakeVu Canada charts complete with Navionics & Garmin data! It comes with the more powerful 500W GT10HN-IF iceducer with hi-narrow CHIRP! The CHIRP Sonar is amazing and fast, I show my unit to a friend who had been running a very high-end flasher unit for it's real-time capability and he ran out and bought a Garmin unit right away! Radioworld had some fantastic deals at the shows for Garmin ECHOMap Plus 95sv units that have built-in mapping, Clear-Vu(Down Scan), Side-Vu and is fully LiveScope capable!

Keep an eye out for Echo Map plus deals as Garmin is or will be discontinuing them in favour of the Ultra models. Cabelas and Sail have already had some killer deals on the 9x and 7x units. I would think another round of discounts coming. unless of course they're all gone. I also believe that Garmin offers big discounts on Echomap (my own theory) because they can get many units out there that are comparable with livescope. Garmins cheapest units that take LiveScope are Echomap 7x and 9x series.

[BillyBones]

Thanks for the input guys, ended up with a Lowrance Hook2 5inch Splitshot with down imaging and Navionics. Don't know
what I am going to do with the down imaging but I will give it a try. It should go great on my 12 Princecraft.

Billy Bones