Boat Electronics

[dnsjess]

How important is having boat electronics on a boat? and What are the important once you should have?

[dixoncider]

I guess that would depend on what type of boat and where you are going...

[SDDave]

A locater I think is very important, giving a reading on depth, bottom detail and whats in between... fish, bait...
Of course pounding the bank using a graph isn't going to do you much good unless it's a side view, and that sound like more than what your asking for.
I see guys on the float tubes using locator's now.
It's either that or get yourself a good pair of polarized sunglasses...

[dnsjess]

I have a tracker tundra 18 and I fish lakes. Like to troll for trout and stripers and also fish for bass.

[dnsjess]

What brand and model for a locator would you recomend?

[dixoncider]

Depends on budget...I have one of these Lowrance HDS-5 Fishfinder/GPS Chartplotter. Works pretty good..The chart is cool for marking spots and where you got bit on the troll..The screen could be bigger but thats more $$$..It meters stripers good and trout also.I have a dual transducer 50/200 .It will mark units (individual fish) .not a bad little meter I would say..I do not have the side scan unit though..That being said it is strictly a budget thing on electronics...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/dixoncider/meter-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/dixoncider/meter.jpg

[dnsjess]

The unit I was looking at was Lowrance HDS-7 Fishfinder/gps chartplotter plus struckture scan sonal imaging bundle from bass pro shop. What is your opinion on this model?

[dixoncider]

same guts bigger screen with side scan....I like it...for what it's worth..go for it...We have Raymarine E120 at work..now that's a nice unit..kinda overkill for a lake...

[dnsjess]

will do and yes that raymarine is nice but yes to much for lakes. What kind of boat do you have?
Thanks for the advice dixoncider.

[dixoncider]

just a little bass boat...I like that Lowrance unit I have..I works pretty good..The only thing is the small screen so with the 7 you should be fine...That just my opinion on it ..for what its worth..SDdave uses his boat alot.. I would find out what he has also...

[SDDave]

just a little bass boat...I like that Lowrance unit I have..I works pretty good..The only thing is the small screen so with the 7 you should be fine...That just my opinion on it ..for what its worth..SDdave uses his boat alot.. I would find out what he has also...
You get the best you can afford!
The new Lowrance stuff is very nice, the most important thing is to learn how to use it, read read, watch the toutorial video that are out there for them, Bass Boat Central as a very good forum for electronics, as do other sites, Don Iovino is one of the best there is, his site and his videos he's done on sonar are some of the best!
Myself I run a Lowrance lcx28hd with a Navionics platinum chip in it and gps this is on the cockpit while up front I switched back to a smaller unit, I had a lcx112 and it was just to big, that's a 10" screen, now I have a lms 332 , 5" screen, I picked it up for 200 buck on line from a guy,
My 28 is mounted so I can raise it up and turn it around so I can look at it while I'm up front.
With the finer detail that the nav chip gives and the gps mapping I can follow creek channels and pinpoint stuff I want to fish, I can adjust the unit and watch my jig as fish come in and bite it...
The newer stuff is even sicker, the structure scan is awesome.
But if you don't know how to use it, it's no diffent than using a flasher!
So again get the best you can afford and learn how to use it.

[kaneo]

GO WITH THE HDS UNITS.... get the hds8 and the lss-1 structure scan. if you can afford it. the quality of the imagining is amazing.. but if your only going to be using the unit a few times a year, go with the hds5-elite it comes with built in down scan imaginging built in... pm me if you have any more questions...

[dnsjess]

@ SDDave,
I will do my research as you suggested. Thanks for your help

@ kaneo,
At the same time I do my reasearch I will look at the Hds 8 ith the lss-1. Thanks for your help

[Bassnman Mike]

As has been said, get the best you can afford and learn how to use them. Me personally, I have 2 HDS-8's, one on the console and 1 on the bow, networked together through the LSS-1 Structure Scan and LOVE IT!

I like the 8's because you can you can split the screen into 4 sections. I like running the Down Scan and Side Scan off the console and up front I run Down Scan/Side Scan and Sonar that way I can use the structure scan, down and side then utilize the transducer on the trolling motor so I can see whats at the front of the boat because my Structure Scan transducer is located at the rear, make sense?

[dnsjess]

@ Bassnman Mike,
Did you buy yours as a bundle? I notice that they have diffrent HDS 8 with diffrent options. Here is one I was looking at,
Lowrance HDS 7 Structure Scan Bundle
Lowrance HDS 7 Structure Scan Bundle comes with Lowrance's high definition mapping for the continental US inland lakes, Great Lakes and coastal waters, LSS-1 Structure Scan Sonar and has a built-in fishfinder with 83/200 Transom Mount Transducer.

SKU#:LO10321001 MAN#:000-10321-001 ID#:2638
What is your opinion?

[Bassnman Mike]

@ Bassnman Mike,
Did you buy yours as a bundle? I notice that they have diffrent HDS 8 with diffrent options. Here is one I was looking at,
Lowrance HDS 7 Structure Scan Bundle
Lowrance HDS 7 Structure Scan Bundle comes with Lowrance's high definition mapping for the continental US inland lakes, Great Lakes and coastal waters, LSS-1 Structure Scan Sonar and has a built-in fishfinder with 83/200 Transom Mount Transducer.

SKU#:LO10321001 MAN#:000-10321-001 ID#:2638
What is your opinion?

The Insight USA is nice but truthfully it does not compare to a Navionics chip. I didnt get my setup as a bundle. I got my first HDS-8 unit because my LCX-38C HD wouldnt take a software update and Lowrance offered to upgrade it to the HDS unit, BTW, it has Insight USA and while its OK I had a Navionics Premium chip and its alot more detailed than the Insight. Then I purchased my LSS-1 Structure scan, which I ran with the HDS on the console and my LCX-28C HD on the bow.

After a couple trips I realized that I really wanted to be able to view the Structure Scan while on the trolling motor so I sold my LCX-28C HD, purchased a Base Map HDS-8, their basic one, and networked them together.

As to the bundle, if it were me, knowing what I do now, I would see how much the HDS-7 Base Map unit and the LSS-1 Structure Scan cost by separately and if its anywhere near the cost of the bundle price, I would buy them separately and then get the Navions Premium chip, just my opinion.