HDS9 info wanted

[LandyAndy]

Hi Guys
Come tax time Im looking at upgrading my old Lowrance gear to the new HDS9 touch.
Any of you guys using one or got to use one on a mates boat????
Im told the sidescan imaging in no good in deep water,fair comment I understand how sounders work.MOST of my fishing is done in Albanys King George Sound in sub 20m waters so that wont be a problem for me.
Does the DSI work OK in deep waters on these units(80m to 200m at the shelf down there)
I believe I need to get the HDS9 unit,a platinum map SD(to use the units 3D capabilities) and the structure scan transducer which I believe is a 50/200 unit.
Only got one price at the moment,around $4400 installed:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
Would like any thoughts on these good or bad.
Any other units I should be looking at before I buy????
Thanks
Andrew

[Tombie]

Friend just installed a 7-Touch with structure scan..

Must say - very nice!!!!!

Structure scan is amazing!

[roverrescue]

Andy,
Im not up to speed on the HDS gear but just as a general point with some experience of different flavours... unless I was installing in a full cabin boat I would stay away from touch screens if I had a choice?

One of the local gurus uses the 7 I think with side scan and loves it. You do a lot of miles up this way and always watching the sounder looking for structure/ bommies/ wonky holes. Tom says he has found more marks since running the side scan than years of a standard 50/200 unit.
The extra width while moving between spots means you can drive over but to the side of a wonky and still see it, then double back and sound it up properly. On his boat side scan works fine in 30m+ on the plane (20 ish knots)

S

[LandyAndy]

Andy,
Im not up to speed on the HDS gear but just as a general point with some experience of different flavours... unless I was installing in a full cabin boat I would stay away from touch screens if I had a choice?

One of the local gurus uses the 7 I think with side scan and loves it. You do a lot of miles up this way and always watching the sounder looking for structure/ bommies/ wonky holes. Tom says he has found more marks since running the side scan than years of a standard 50/200 unit.
The extra width while moving between spots means you can drive over but to the side of a wonky and still see it, then double back and sound it up properly. On his boat side scan works fine in 30m+ on the plane (20 ish knots)

S

Have been told make sure I use screen protectors in an open boat.
Had a demo of the HDS touch at the last boat show,the beauty of that side scan imaging is as soon as you see something interesting you just touch the screen and it saves it as a waypoint:cool::cool::cool::cool:
Thanks
Andrew

[roverrescue]

most sounders hooked onto a network have that cursor functionality...
IMHO you always need to come off the plane and go over a potential mark a few times

Can you get the power and features of the HDS9 without the touch screen? The touch screens I have seen in non cabin boats are annoying, water drips, windspray, salty hands...

S

[LandyAndy]

Will enquire.
Andrew

[Aussie]

My fishing buddy has the HDS10 (non touch screen model) it's got all the bells and whistles, side scan, GPS, iPhone docking module, it's bloody fantastic. We use it heaps and it'll take you a while to start getting the most out of it. After using it I would go for the touch screen model

[Kevo]

Andy,
as another idea, have you thought about separate units for sounder and gps? It would be worthwhile looking at the price of say a HDS7 Chartplotter only and an HDS7 Sounder Gen2 with structure scan. The ethernet/Ethext cable linking the two is only about $40 so you can get the functionality of a combo unit. By the time the combo unit is set up with twin screen view the screen size of each wouldn't be much different to smaller separate units. I have the HDS7M chartplotter and HDS5x sounder and think they are great. Upgrades are easy to do yourself too.

I do not like combo units due to the screen size and if say the gps buggers up then you are without a sounder too until repaired. Also a bit dubious about touch screen with smelly and dirty bait fingers!!

Just ideas...

regards
Kevo

[LandyAndy]

Kevo.
Really only want a single unit.As its only a little tinnie not alot of room for extra units.
Andrew