and like it, I dont have anay experience with any other sounders but would happily buy another lowarance.

 you cant go past a furuno!!

I have the LMS-334c igps. Top unit for what it does. The only minus is that it needs to be reset from time to time. Nice clear readout and on the sounder and chart. Fairly user friendly but it's a constant learning curve with these things.

Have only had a quick look at the Furuno 620, which is the unit which looks the best. If i was to go this way what would you suggest for a gps? My mate has got a Furuno GP32 and always gets us right on the spot.

Also has anyone had any experience with this new structure scan you can get on the Lowrance HDS. It looks like a really good tool if you are fishing shallow reef, snags etc. It was one reason i was leaning to Lowrance. link below.

http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine/Broadband-Sounder-and-Ethernetworking/StructureScan/

theres a set of 5's on my boat and they work brilliantly, i would buy the 7's if the money was there. although ive never seen a furuno in action so i cant help there.

I just got a HDS7 for my boat. Also fitted a thru hull trannie that I am struggling to get right. I have been out twice to play with it, and just can't get a good balance between drift and moving, and I also get a lot of noise at the top of the screen. I may have to get it looked at by someone who knows what they are doing.

I used to have an LCX 25 which was basically the same thing about 13 years ago, but I found the old menu system easier to use. Maybe the HDS8 or 10 with the buttons on the bottom would fix that.

I looked closely at the sructure scan but as soon as I found out it only works up to 4 knots it was a big no for me.

 HDS8 are the bomb! love the replay function on them where you can drive past a lump, then replay on the sounder, line up the crosshairs on the lump and it then puts a mark on your plotter! will def be getting something like this when i get my boat!!!!

very good sounders, we get very good definition from ours.  i also have a jrc ff50 in the boat and i bought the lowerance for a back up sounder and gps mainly for the function as mentioned before where u can save waypoints of ur sounder.  makes life alot easer to go back over a school of fish and ur doing 35 knots

cheers

Good unit

              I think they are all pretty good though, i have seen some great images from Hummin bird and lowrance.

Power and pixels still a main factor........also price and back up service.

I have no complaints with Lowrance.

Cheers

got a HDS-8 - combo chart/sounder. Bloody great ! - well worth shelling out the extra $$ to get the 8. Get all the shortcut keys and a better screen too I think.

the lowerance is a good sounder but they are a throw away unit once they break, out of warranty they are next to useless as they only keep mos of ther spare parts for units that break under warranty. there service is next to nothing with no back up support. so i would stick to your garmin, jrc ff60, furuno as all of them a top units. as for me i run a jrc ff60 and a garmin 551s and have no complants and are easy to use.

thanks rocky

Cheers for all the feedback guys, it has been really helpful.

I think i might up the anti a bit and go with a HDS8, they look like a really good unit, plus in the future i would like to have a crack at the structure scan addition.  Price is a fair bit, just means more hours at work i suppose.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a place to get one of these units? Was looking at ebay, but for the money i would be spending would like to get it locally i think.

on ebay a while ago . Local shops were asking $2700  I paid $1450 from the USA for the same unit. On the HDS7 or 8 screen you can split it three ways if you like, Sounder- GPS and Structure scan how good is that. Cant do that on the 5 just twin screen. Lowrance for hi-tec sounders jmo.

Yeah, i like the way you can split the screens and have all your info on the one unit. As long as the screen size is big enough to read the sounder then it should work great.

Can you alter the divisions of the different screens on the HDS8? So if you want he sounder larger than the plotter etc.?

Just make sure you get a international one as the geofencing is in force.

Mine works well has side scan and through a reputable dealer only thing is you have to wait a while if you have any warrenty drama,s

but i saved about $500 BUCKS ON MINE.

Not sure what there worth these day's.

i can send you the retailer if you want just let me know.

Got mine from All Boats. I am not much of a price shopper though, I tend to buy on impulse.

not letting the cat out the bag, but I'd wait a few more weeks for " an official launch" of a new product from the Navico group ( guys who do Lowrance etc...)

I got a heads-up last night to the new stuff coming in their group and I'm very impressed with the 7 inch combo coming VERY IMPRESSED...

and thats from a blue blood Furuno man...lol

Sweet, cheers Tony i will put it on hold for a while. thanks for the info!

Furuno Sounder and bought the Garmin GPS years ago when it cost just over $2,000 (a lot cheaper now.still has it and both units are excellent.  He's just yelled out, it doesn't matter which sounder you have, you must be able to read it, so practice and read the book from beginning to end.

Notice on big ships last night (2 programmes one on ice breaker and the second on USS Kentucky) all had furuno.

Haha, our sounder we have now is a bottom of the range Navman that doesn't show any detail over 10m. Can't wait to get a decent unit and learn all functions and how to improve the quality of the images.

 I wouldnt go past the Lowrance HDS series mate, they are absolutely brilliant.

hey mate

i have the hds 10 and love it.

i also have a navman 6600 that i use just for the gps now, but the hds has still got better mapping than the navman.

also i had a comercial jmc sounder with a 1kw tranny before the hds, the hds runs rings around the comercial unit hands down.

very easy to use, i would recomend the hds8 over the 7  so you get the soft buttons at the bottom.

 wouldnt bother with the side scan unless you are fishing dams and lakes

saying all that i have freinds that have furuno 585 and they swear by them.

good luck