# Lowrance HDS 8 w/structure scan   Vs.  Humminbird 998c SI



## juniorbassman (Jul 20, 2011)

I'm looking to replace my console gps with a side imaging graph.  I'm not sure which one I should get.  I would appreciate any recommendation from those who have them..
I'm looking at both of these units because of the 8" screen... I would like the 10" screen but dont have enough room on the boat to mount it.
From what I understand the picture and Gps on the Lowrance is better, but more expensive.


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## Nothin but Fish (Jul 20, 2011)

Two of the biggest advantages from Lowrance (and Simrad) is the ability to "Trac back" and add other devices. Trac Back is the ability to look at something after you have passed over it long enough ago that it has disappeared off the screen. The unit stores memory of what is approximately 1000' of history....even if you weren't looking at say sonar you can open the sonar page and see what the system saw. I will be doing some seminars and what not this Friday and Saturday at he Sportsmens deal in Athens.


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## tonyf (Jul 20, 2011)

I have the Lowrance HDS8 and Structure Scan on my boat. I have been very pleased with it. I went with Lowrance for the picture quality and have not been disappointed.


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## Chris H. (Jul 20, 2011)

Humminbird if for no other reason than the customer service. I have more or less always owned Lowrance and they have never been worth a crap service wise. I now own a 998 and absolutely love it.


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## pbmang (Jul 20, 2011)

The HDS is going to give you a lot more usable screen than the 998.  The way the 998 unit is setup to display information, there will be a big white box on the left side of the screen.  With the 2d sonar showing, they are transparent, but in SI mode they are solid white and the available screen for the SI is much smaller.  

Here is a screen shot I took with my 987 (same size unit, just older) that shows what I'm talking about.







So, purely on screen size, you will get a decent amount more usable screen with the HDS 8 in SI mode.  Performance wise, they are both going to have their pluses.  

This question pops up from time to time, and here is something I typed out a while ago.  Everytime I post it, I update it with anything new that I may have noticed:

To preface my opinion, here is my situation. I currently have a 997 Humminbird, and have had it for around two years. Before that I had the 987 Humminbird for about two years. The 997 has functioned fine, with no issues, but the 987 was a different story. I truly believe I had a lemon because of how many times I had to send it back. Most times though, Humminbird was good about getting the issues resolved and the unit back to me. I did have one issue that took a while to resolve, but I was eventually taken care of.

I also have a Lowrance 522, and have had it for about three years. About a year ago it took a dump on me and I contacted Lowrance. Since going to the HDS models, they offered me an opportunity to purchase an HDS 5 at a greatly reduced discount. I jumped at the deal, and have the HDS 5 on the front of my boat.

Without trying to dump on either brand, this is what my thoughts on these units are:

Humminbird:

Fantastic customer service 95% of the time. Unfortunately I had to use it a good bit, but almost every time it was a very easy process.

They don't leak. Lowrance had a major issue with the later model LMS's and early HDS's with water getting in and shorting out the circuit boards. According to the internet (so it must be true ) they have switched gasket vendors and the problem has been solved. I know I have read less about water intrusion issues lately, so I would not be concerned about that with a new, factory unit.

I think the SI picture is tad better. In looking at the LSS vs. SI, I think the Lowrance image is just a tad too dark, and makes picking up contrasts on the bottom a tad harder.

The "Switchfire" program improved the 2d sonar a good deal. IMO the 2d sonar performance would have been something you would expect from a $200 unit, but not a $2000 one. Before the switchfire, I was very disappointed in the sonar, but after the switchfire upgrade, I don't really consider the 2d to be something that detracts from the unit.

Humminbird is more user friendly. The menus are very quick and easy to navigate.

The mapping seems to work just fine, and I haven't had any issues with the 997. The only real dislike I have for Humminbird mapping is that when you are moving very slowly (like fishing offshore on the trolling motor) the directional arrow turns into a doughnut looking think, and you have to be moving about half a mile an hour to get the arrow pointing back to the direction you are going. Normally it's not a big deal, but at night when I am fishing offshore, it can be a little annoying.

With the Navionice Premium chip there is a little lag in the map refreshing as you move/zoom, but it is tolerable. I know with the Platinum chip and the lake master chips, it is miserable.

Lowrance:

A better 2d sonar sonar picture. For the 2d the best comparison I can give is like regular TV to HDTV. Humminbird has some great images online, but watching both depthfinders during the same day, the HDS is a better 2d sonar picture. You can still see the same stuff, but one is just a bit prettier.

I feel the same for the DI picture as well. Lowrance achieves it's DI picture from a transducer that was designed to do such. Humminbird takes a portion of each SI beam and then splices the images together. While this works, I think having a transducer that is dedicated for such an image is why the Lowrance gives you a better DI image.

I haven't experienced any mapping or GPS issues with the HDS's while using them. However when you put a map chip in the unit, just like with the 'Birds, it seems like it makes the unit lag a little when you hit the buttons. It's not a major issue, but a little frustrating sometimes.

While the Lowrance is a little harder to learn how to operate, it gives you much more options on the way to setup the unit. You can pick exactly what data you want to be displayed, where you want it displayed and how big you want it displayed. This can also be different on each screen. With Humminbird you select what data you want to be displayed, and it is done so across all screens except for certain navigation and done in a way that it eats up a lot of screen space. For some reason you cannot remove your "heading" form one of the navigation fields on the Humminbird, and that is really irritating to me. To me, it seems like the Lowrance operates more like a computer with it's menu systems, so if you use computers a bunch, you can pick up on it pretty quickly.

Customer service with Lowrance use to be TERRIBLE, but there was a huge internet revolt when they had their best customer service person quit (Linda Colt). Since then, Lowrance has made some pretty major changes (from what I have read) and the reports of their service seem to be getting much better. I have had to call a few times, and never had an issue getting through, so it has been good for myself.

2 year warranty, which is the longest in the biz as far as I know, and a year longer than the Humminbirds. Humminbird does have the Humminbird Select program, which will extend your 1 year warranty to a 2 year warranty, but only if you have an 800, 900 or 1100 series unit, and only if you sign up for the program while your unit is still under the 1 year original warranty (I'm pretty sure that is how the program works).

The Lowrance seems to be a little better at canceling out interference on the sonar screen. I am not sure if this is from the broadband sounder or noise filters or some other reason, but the Humminbirds seem to have considerably more interference issues. With that said, there seems to be quite a few people having issues with the Lowrance 4.0 software giving them issues. When they go back to 3.5, it clears up the sonar issues.  I personally went to the 4.0 software, had issues and switched to 3.5 and the issues cleared up.

Take all that for what it is worth. Both brands have things I love about them and things I cannot stand. Either brand will do what you want it to do, and do it well. It's just a matter of which one you like better.


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## Nothin but Fish (Jul 20, 2011)

I think you will find that the service from Lowrance is pretty darn good. Here are some of my screen captures from yesterday....

Here are lots of fish @ 30'...






Here are more @ 40...






Revealed in the trees...






Here is a "Trac Back" from 238' ago....no other unit can do this period....<")))><






Here is an example of Structure Scan showing me that the fish were on the left side of boat....


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## RockyS (Jul 20, 2011)

Bill its people like you that make me want to stay with Lowrance when I upgrade.  Im cuurently using a lms 480 and want a hds8.  If for say I get a hds 8 console and a 5 at the front could I link them together.  Would you be able to see the same things on the front one you as you can the rear one.  Would you still be able to use 2 transducers (1 front, 1 rear)?
Thanks


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## Nothin but Fish (Jul 20, 2011)

Yes and yes....you can network them together and share all date (except chart) and you can have say the front unit use aducer on the trolling motor and the console unit use the ducer thru hull or on the stern. They can share waypoints, stucture scan, etc. Drop by the deal in Athens on Friday or Saturday if you can and I'll show you how it all works.


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## Timbo 66 (Jul 20, 2011)

But that is not with side imaging or down shot is it? I was told you must have one LSS1 per unit for that.


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## tonyf (Jul 20, 2011)

RockyS... I have a HDS8 at my console and a HDS5 at the bow and it works just how Bill said. I think I made a good choice with Lowrance. At times I wish I had an 8 up front also but I like how the 5 is mounted in the factory area.


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## tonyf (Jul 20, 2011)

Tim, I can view the side imaging and down scan on either unit... at the console and up front. You network the units using the LSS1 box.


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## Timbo 66 (Jul 20, 2011)

Tony, so with 2 units and one LSS1, both will have si and down shot. But you must have two LSS1 transducers and two sonar transducers is that correct? If so how do you mount two transducers on the tm? How have you been?


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## juniorbassman (Jul 20, 2011)

Thank you guys for the replys.  This has all been really valuable information in making my decision.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with lowrance.  I'm going to get a HDS 8 on console and an HDS 7 on the bow.  Thats the plan as of right now!


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## tonyf (Jul 20, 2011)

Timbo 66 said:


> Tony, so with 2 units and one LSS1, both will have si and down shot. But you must have two LSS1 transducers and two sonar transducers is that correct? If so how do you mount two transducers on the tm? How have you been?



Tim, You only need 1 LSS1. Both unit will use the box (brain) to network them. The si and down scan will be using the transducer that is mounted at the rear of the boat. For 2d you can set both units up to use their own transducers... bow will use the one on the tm and the console will use the one in the rear. That should be about as clear as mud the way I explained it.  

And I have been working A LOT. I think I am going to make a trip up to Lanier this week / weekend. Go drop shot and catch some spots.... hopefully


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## tonyf (Jul 20, 2011)

juniorbassman said:


> Thank you guys for the replys.  This has all been really valuable information in making my decision.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with lowrance.  I'm going to get a HDS 8 on console and an HDS 7 on the bow.  Thats the plan as of right now!



I think you are making a good decision. I put a 5 at the bow and now wish I had a 7 or 8 up there.


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## RockyS (Jul 20, 2011)

Thanks guys.  Sorry for the hijack, but I'm thinking the same things.  I figured it was more feasible to post here than to start a whole new thread.


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## evans_usmc69 (Jul 20, 2011)

Guess it's all personal preference on Lowrance and the birds. I had a HDS 7 and hated it. Got an 898 and 998 now and couldn't be happier. Actually just got my 998 back from Humminbird, died on me because of "water damage". Don't understand it because the unit has been through plenty of rainstorms and held up fine, guess it was a slow leak. Before you start hating too much on it, my dad went through 4 HDS 7's before he finally got one that would hold up to the rain and he was out of a graph for around 3 months with sending the HDS 7 back and forth to Lowrance. 

For me, it's a really simple choice. Made in USA vs made in Mexico and they are both the same exact price retail if you add in the extra $$$ you pay for the other transducer. How many other products do you know of that are the same price when comparing made in Mexico to made in the US? Plus one of the main reasons I like the birds better is the lack of the lss-1 box. Just more stuff to buy to get what the birds already offer. With say a HDS 7 & 8 set up, you have 2 normal transducers and the structure scan transducer. With a 898 & 998 setup, you have 2 transducers that does 2d, SI, and DI. You would have to buy an extra structure scan transducer to have the capabilites from the bow of your boat. This might not be that important to you, but I love the side scan on the front of my boat. It has helped me stay on cover a lot better than I ever thought it would.

They both are pretty similar in what they do. I didn't have the structure scan on the Lowrance(really glad I didn't get it) but as far as the 2d goes, I honestly believe the Humminbird 2d is better. I had the HDS 7 on the bow and it was horrible. Everytime I touched the trolling motor, blue screen and unable to see anything. No problems like that with the 998 or 898 on the front.

Guess what I'm trying to tell you, is go and try both of them out and keep an open mind. My dad and I had nothing but Lowrance until he got the HDS 7 and now we run nothing but birds. Get a demo with both of them and see which one you like better, you might be suprised.


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## secdawgs (Jul 21, 2011)

Three Rivers Marine is offering a package deal on the the HDS 10 and HDS 8 w/ LSS1.

http://www.bbcboards.net/zerothread?id=705187


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