2 stand alone's or a ff/gps combo?

[NickR]

Alright I've been looking to upgrade my electronics this year and am stuck.

I'm looking at an hds 10 ($1500)

Or a hds 7m and a garmin 550c. ($900)

Has anyone had experiences with these units or have any possible alternatives? Want to keep the price around 1500 and want at least 10" of screen.

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[rolmops]

My personal preference is 2 independent units that communicate. That way you have a lot of screen  and never a problem of having to push buttons to switch between functions. You might buy Furuno 582 on steroids units such as a Furuno 627 or a Si-Tex svs 650 as fish finders and a very fancy GPS and still be at no more than $1200 .

It is a good idea to ask the same question at  "The Hull Truth"  there are some very knowledgeable people there.

[GAMBLER]

I have 2 FF/GPS units on my boat.  If one goes down, you have a back up of either.  If you get dual frequency transducers, you can run them both at the same time and see a lot more with 2.  It is amazing what you see with a 50 khz transducer compared to a 200khz transducer when the fish are deep.  You get the exact opposite when the fish are shallow. 

[Sk8man]

If it were me I'd be looking at separate units. If one component goes down you still have something to go with while the other is repaired or replaced rather than fishing totally "blind" .

Edited March 9, 2014 by Sk8man

[traveling man]

I use 2 units and I carry a handheld gps for a back up.

[chowder]

Go with 2 separate units. You will be glad you did!

[magic7777]

You can use navionics app on your smart phone as a back-up and a tablet as long as it has GPS built into it. I just got a NEXUS 7 and plan on that as my back-up or just to mark the way points of the fish to steer thru a hot spot.

[TyeeTanic]

I say because the two separate units includes and hds7,then go with 2 units. You will be glad to have a full screen chart and full screen ff. I have a ff/GPS unit and another separate GPS. I pretty much always have the ff on full screen and rely on the other unit for my position.

[J.D.]

If I could do it all over again, I would find a good gps/ff combo unit, and buy 2 of them, running one full screen ff, and the other full screen gps. Would only have to learn one software menu, and if one crapped out, I could go duel screen on the other while the bad one was out for repair.

[jason]

I just purchased 2 ff/GPS combos hds 8 and I'll run them as a separate units until one craps out.

[Mike M]

I've run a HDS Gen 1 10" screen past two seasons. Very happy with unit. Always run split screen FF/Chartplotter. Have 83/200 transducer. Thinking about switching to a airmar p66 ducer cause  I've read so many good reviews. Since 1995 I've had 2 hardtop style boats. Most of my electronics including the HDS are mounted to the cieling of the hardtop. This keeps them out of the sun and any moisture. Electronics have been problem free for all these years. I've heard all the bashing of Lowrance products and service. Guess I'm in the minority, I like there products, the resolution,pixal count and there features. Tech support has been fine. I've called them many times for tech support trying to learn the unit.

[jason]

I'm mounting mine on the ceiling. I also have the airmir transducer. Can't wait to get the electronics set up.

[Tomkatt1]

Take a look at the Furuno 587 and the garmin gps ...check reviews on Hull Truth

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