Thinking about a new fish finder, any info

[Yankee Troller]

Here is a good pic showing CHIRP and DI on the same Humminbird screen. 

 

[Chas0218]

I have the raymarine A68 and it is amazing how clear it is. I bought the raymarine after looking at several other brands and I could get it cheaper than most other units while retaining all the features I wanted. Also was really easy to connect into my Raymarine autopilot all plug and go.

[GlassWater Outdoors]

I also used to be a Hummingbird guy but we made the switch to the Lowerance HDS 7s with the touch screen. I have never looked back once. However with that beign said I have several friends fishing the new Hummingbirds and have them linked to their terrova trolling motors and they love the set up. For me it is the ease of use on the HDS that has me hooked on them.

[Xxx]

Thanks Rick that's exactly what the DI looks like, the chirp is the new incarnation of the HDI. It provides basic CHIRP capabilities using the the same HDI transducer. The processor is faster and the mother board upgrade provide clearer views of the bottom surfaces, like plants and fish are in better detail and the ping speed is faster, so you can travel faster over the water and still have a clear display. I was told by a guy I know, he's kind of a geek, but he is also a good fisherman, if you want to see your elite come to life is to go with a Airmar transducer, he put one one his and said it was like a different unit. He also says lowrance used the same ducer as the HDI because if they went with the higher end units ducers the guys that went with the lowrance 7 gen3 would have been ticked off shy of the Ethernet there wouldn't be enough differences to excuse the $$$$ difference, so it had to be degraded somehow and that's what they did. Now if he's lying which I doubt because he is one smart cookie, especially with electronics than I guess so am I. I really want to see this with my own eyes, and I will this spring. He told me all the stuff I need to tell Airmar when ordering, something about they use heat instead of lowrance's way and the need to be in the water, so a shoot through style won't work, the transom mount or the one under the boat. Bill went with the transom mount, that I know.

[Yankee Troller]

The video below will help you understand CHIRP sonar. Lowrance and Humminbird offer up "cheap CHIRP" options. With CHIRP it all comes down to the transducer and how low the q is. All explained in the video, and also on AIRMARs website. A good AIRMAR CHIRP transducer is around $1000 for a thru-hull.

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by Yankee Troller

[Xxx]

Rick they just came out with a transome mount for chirp, so what bill was saying is true, and your higher end units have better ducers. The one transome mount, middle of the road has 4 50/200 transmitters, which it returns 4, just like the key board he was explaining. Makes sense now. So the higher end units might have 2 instead of 1 like the elite has.

Edited March 3, 2016 by pap

[Prof T]

So what's the airmar going to set me back? Looking at a humminbird helix

Edited March 3, 2016 by Prof T

[Yankee Troller]

So what's the airmar going to set me back? Looking at a humminbird helix

FYI....the only HELIX that will CHIRP is the 12". The ducer it comes with out of the box will let you CHIRP. If you want to spend close to $1000 you can make the CHIRP sonar look real good!

[Xxx]

Prof I would look for simplicity if they are easier to navigate I would go another route. Trust me the elite is no mount and go fishing finder, the so called instructions come on a cd and a little piece of paper. I don't think to many will disagree with me on that. So now you need a laptop to run the cd or try to make heads or tails out of the piss poor instructions that come with the unit. Don't get me wrong I like the unit now, I don't think I would have said that 2 seasons ago.

[Sk8man]

For the folks that are new to this sport and/or who may not have the $$$ to buy the latest and greatest gizmo:

 

Forgive me but I think the guy got kinda wound up in his analogy and forgot to discuss what the actual value of CHIRP is and the reason for all the simultaneous frequencies. The basic purpose as contrasted with your older traditional unit and transducer is that the increased information returning to the CHIRP unit leads to better target resolution (e.g. clarity of the "picture") as well as better separation of targets (e.g. being able to distinguish between a clump of baitfish near a school of bait from a fish located there or fish positioned near each other from a single "clump"). Whether this function is absolutely critical to your own fishing situation  is another matter and it comes into play in deciding whether you actually need it or a new unit and transducer.  By the way, you can't just add the CHIRP transducer to a traditional unit to achieve it because the unit can't interpret the multiple signals. For the charter guys CHIRP may be a good option and although it may enhance the viewing for the avid sport fisherman should you get rid of your current unit? I think not. A lot of this is marketing hype as far as creating the feeling of "necessity" or "must have" to sell their products. Even being able to discern bait from fish although important is not going to necessarily put fish or the big ones for that matter in the boat but learning to use what you have properly and effectively, learning from the information you receive and adapting to the situation, and learning to effectively use and adjust your fishing equipment in response to that information is far more important.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Sk8man

[work2fish]

Do either DI or chirp affect the fishawk X4D (blue)?

[Sk8man]

Possibly the low CHIRP if down at or near the 70 khz operating frequency of the Fish Hawk I would think.

[Yankee Troller]

Do either DI or chirp affect the fishawk X4D (blue)?

 

For Humminbird their DI frequency is 455 and 800.

[Sheepdog264]

Humminbird all day, easy to use, and excellent customer service.  When I used to work in retail I'd hear tons of horror stories about Lowrance's customer service, such as being on hold for an hour and then being told there is nothing they can do to help. I currently Have an 858 and love it does everything I'd for lake fishing.

[work2fish]

So fishawk is 70 kHz and because the birds run at 455 and 800 there would be no interference? What frequencies do the lowrance units run at?

[Xxx]

Lowrance is 455/800 same as the birds.

[work2fish]

So there's shouldn't be any interference between lowrance or bird finder/plotters with the fishawk? I'd hate to upgrade only to have my fishawk not work properly

[Xxx]

I have the lowrance elite 7 HDI, late last year I got a old fish hawk I guess it's just the X4 only speed of the ball & temp. The guy was going to junk it, it turns on by its own, so it drained his batteries down to nothing, so I put cigarette plug on and just unplug it when finished, anyway I didn't have any interference problems. I know other guys that have the HDS7's touch screens and the HDS8's and they have the red screen XD4's I didn't hear Lonnie or Scott complaining. Hope this helps. PAP.

[work2fish]

It does thanks.

[hookedupf7]

Well made a trip today to bass pro to look. After talking to the fellow there I ended up going with the garmin. The price seemed rite and he had nothing but good to say about em. I hope I like it!!!

[mikebarb86]

Lowrance elite 7 ti newest model has all in one transducer and structure scan HD gofree wireless chirp sonar everything the hds does but for 800 $ I have been researching for months now and this one tops them all for the price

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Captain Laxton]

X2 on the elite 7 chirp I have one and it does everything I need and didn't break the bank

[backoneerie2016]

I have a lowrance hds7 gen 1. Have had it for about 4 years. I love it. Nothing like it!

[hookedupf7]

I have made a few trips out with the garmin now. It seems to do everything that I want.

[Adk1]

I have the elite 7 previous to chirp. And really like it

Edited May 2, 2016 by Adk1