looking at a lowrance hds-7 Got a FF?GPS

[Richard Bullen]

anyone use or used to use one??

reliability??

service??

maintenance???

[fishman08]

i have the hds10 and love it. The company did have a minor problem with a few of the units at first but just make sure that the unit is updated. I believe lowrance held back the hds 10 and 7's and the problems were with the smaller units that didn't get the update. As for mine i haven't had any problems with the unit, it is very reliable, it is very user friendly and i think you would be very pleased with it. As for maintenance, just unscrew the knob and bring the display in during the winter and you are good to go. As for service you will hear tons of horror stories about the company. I personally have dealt with them twice in the past, and haven't had a single problem in fact it was my fault one of the times as i dropped an older unit and cracked the screen and they fixed it for free, maybe i'm one of the lucky ones who knows. A friend of mine bought his unit through cabelas and says it's a good way to go because they will take care of the problem for you. Hope this helps

[jimski2]

I was at a ---- Marine Store yesterday and they have a good deal on the HD5 unit. The appealing thing is it is loaded with the charts we need. Following the shoals and dropoffs looks good.

[HPORT]

We have an HDS-8 and have a love hate relationship going. The graph is fairly easy to naviagate, my soon to be 16 year old son is our current pilot and with 1000's of hours of Playstation and Ipod experience is getting pretty comforatble with using it.

The link between the autopilot and the HDS is what makes the trip an absolute joy. You can plot a simple or complex course of any length, hit go and sit back and fish. We have a Simrad AP-14, and the HDS helps hold a better course with wind since its naviagating a point, and not reacting to off course to steer.

The hate part is the sonar part, getting the settings correct. Granted this is the first sonar we have used on the boat, so there may be allot on the learning end and not so much on the equipment side. The display is bright, we have it mounted on the dash directly in front of the wheel, thought about mounting to the hardtop, but when running it was easier to view when look ahead as you would naturally.

Can those having a new Lowrance and a good settings cheat sheet, please share the setup. The settings are the only thing I need to get a grip on, the unit has allot auto gain features and default setting that require time to sort out, as one setting may not work for all conditions.

John

[Hookedup]

John, Did your Simrad AP-14 just hook into the the 5 wire data cable from your HDS-8, that is the cable with the yellow, orange, blue, green, and ground wire? And if so how hard was it to hook up and get working? I have the HDS unit and I am hooking up an auto pilot this winter. Thanks Sean

[HPORT]

Sean,

Yeah, it's a real simple install. Off the top of my head I believe its the AP-14 red ( data) wire to the HDS Yellow wire, then the Ap-14 blue (common) to the HDS blue wire.

Look it up before committing, or I can look next time I'm on the boat and get back to you.

It's really a slick setup and you'll wonder why the hell you didn't do it sooner. This winter I'm looking to tie the VHS into the mix, so it can report out my location and give me the coordinates of the boat we are receiving as well, providing they have a DSC equipt radio connected to a GPS.

John

[High Bidder]

Other Simrad units require a different connection than the AP12 or 14 units. On my AP24 I had to build a cable by splicing a Simnet cable to a Lowrance cable. The new cable powers the GPS puck from the Simnet block so you don't use the power supply from the Lowrance unit. It worked great last year especially when I take people along who don't know how to drive a boat.

High Bidder

[Yankee Troller]

They look real nice, but wait till you need their customer service. Or when the unit craps out and they give you $75 bucks towards a new one instead of fixing it. I have had some pretty bad experiences with them lately. Been through a few FF's and Combo's.

[K Gonefishin]

The new HDS units had some bad batches during the first run of units, since then they have been rock solid. Go check out some threads on Thehulltruth.com guys are singing like birds about how awesome they are, TONS of awesome responces very very few unhappy customers...even guys who needed service. The new units come with a 2 year warranty as well, double the LCX series units and others. I'm a guy who has had nothing but awesome luck with Lowrance I currently have 3 on my boat now and my past boat had 3 and my other boats had them as well. nothing but good luck.

I have always used Linda Colt for customer service I only had a question about a network possibility and she answered with 12 hours of me sending the email...if you know how to get service it's stellar.

Linda Colt

12000 East Skelly Drive

Tulsa Oklahoma 74128

1-800-324-1356 ext 8747

Direct Line 918-438-8747

[email protected]