Fish-Hawk.Net

I have had the chance to spend some time with the new Lowrance HDS units. After spending a few minutes with the new units I was able to navigate quickly and start to use many of the new user inter face functions.

First important topic - The HDS units with the Insight mapping have 1 foot contours for the Canadian side of the Great Lakes and this also includes all of The Bay of Quinte. So this is the first time we have seen 3D detailed built in mapping of some Canadian waters. I do not have screen shots of this as it was on a demo unit at the show.

Second Important Topic - I can also report the new internal GPS on the HDS units work very well, I was able to get a full 3D lock from my kitchen table inside the house.


Another great feature is icons anglers can use like bait-fish, surface weeds, submerged weeds, fish and rocks. You can also select the colour of the icon used when marking a way-point. They have kept the old ones for backward compatibility when using your previous saved usr files.

Marking a school of bait as it passes on the sonar screen...


icon details, notice the depth of the way-point and also the alarm radius, so you can mark hazard to sound an alarm when approaching.


Selecting an icon colour...


Here are a few more screen shot of other features I found interesting...

I like the bevel overlays for data...


Great graphics for the NEMA gauges.


Pop-up info text is very easy to read for Way-Points.


New menus that are very fast to navigate.



I will do more of a detailed review once I have spent some time with the HDS units. I have loaded up all my saved way-points and trails from my old LCX units and everything copies across with no issues. Just insert the SD card and load the files.

If you have any questions just let me knw and I will try to answer them.

-sheldon

Sheldon,

When you say internal GPS. Do you mean it has an internal antennae? So no puck to mount? I really like the interface, thats cool.

Scott

To upgrade or not that is the question?

West Lake Willows wrote:Sheldon,

When you say internal GPS. Do you mean it has an internal antennae? So no puck to mount? I really like the interface, thats cool.

Scott

Hello Scott,

All the HDS units have a 16 channel internal high-sensitivity GPS+WAAS (Americas) GPS antenna.
You can also purchase an external GPS antenna or use one from your current NEMA2000 LowrnaceNet network. You can configure the bus the accept the best signal from any internal or external antenna.

High Speed External GPS antenna
The new LGC-4000 16-channel NMEA 2000® GPS+WAAS antenna scores high in superior sensitivity for signal acquisition, with incredible position accuracy. When connected with HDS models, it delivers a true satellite update rate of 5 times per second for the most accurate speed-over-ground readings.

-sheldon

Sheldon,

What about using an older unit with the new HDs? Can it be done. Also could you use the older (blue) gauges on the network?

I noticed that the contour lines are each in there own colour? That is very nice. I dont think my LCX unit does that?

1lastcast wrote:Sheldon,

What about using an older unit with the new HDs? Can it be done. Also could you use the older (blue) gages on the network?

It is all NEMA 2000 standards, so any of the units or sensors that are blue or red can be used on a LowranceNet network. To mix Red and Blue connectors you can purchase a blue to red conversion cable.

Also note, you need a (yellow) Ethernet connection to share sonar screen images from on unit to another.

-sheldon

1lastcast wrote:I noticed that the contour lines are each in there own colour? That is very nice. I dont think my LCX unit does that?

That is a screen image of one of my own maps I make with Dr.Depth. I don't think the Navionics charts will have differnt colour contour lines.

-sheldon

Dr. Death??? I think its a great idea. Those lines get so hard to read after a while.

Good to know that I can mix my older lowrance eqip. with the newer stuff. Now I may just replace my console unit with a HDS7 =)

WOW, pretty amazing. Just upgraded my front one to a 520C, should have waited to get the new one. Are they out now or coming out soon ? Would like to know more about Dr. Depth, would be beneficial to have different colored contour lines.

HDS 5 and HDS 7 are in the stores now. The HDS 8 and 10 should start to arrive any day now.

-sheldon

Can anyone suggest the best place to shop for these units? Send me a PM if you prefer.

I will add some more details soon...
There are some more cool features like surface temperature line, and sonar history scroll back that I will show on a YouTube video as you have to see the screen moving to appreciate these innovative features.

-sheldon

Looking forward to it. Do you still need Navionics gold software for these units? id like to see the mapping detail for the BOQ

Sheldon at the Ottawa show one of the guys at the Le Baron booth said Lowrance was coming out with side imaging this summer and that the new HDs are compatible but will require a new transducer.

Was I hearing things or is this on the horizon. Seems it would be better to wait if this is the case.

I really like the look of the HD7 but throw in side imaging and it could be awsome.