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| Looking at putting one on the boat this year. What makes a HDS worth the extra cash? |
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Posts: 393
Location: Hopefully on the water | From What I have seen and read on these the difference with the HDS is the High Defenition. The Elite would be "normal" sonar, GPS(pending model) and down scan imaging. I am looking them also as the price point of a 7" combo like this is interesting. |
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| Can they both run Navionics premium chips? Thats what I use in my HDS now |
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Posts: 1252
Location: Walker, MN | Nolan - 2/5/2013 10:44 AM
Looking at putting one on the boat this year. What makes a HDS worth the extra cash?
I was wondering the exact same thing. |
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Posts: 1142
Location: NorthCentral WI | I just got the Elite 5 DSI for Christmas, and now the Elite 7 comes out, of course. Anyways, I do know the Elite 5 can use Navionics Premium chips. The Navionics Platinum HD is not compatible with the Elite 5 (maybe it is with the 7?).
Probably the biggest reason the Elites are cheaper is because they do not have the capability of adding structure scan among tons of other upgrades like the HDS. However, for a newer unit that includes internal GPS, they are tough to beat for the price. Not sure if I made a mistake only getting the DSI model though? Time will tell. I definitely like the looks of the downscan imaging. Nice that the new Elite 7 has all of the features of the other Elite models combined. |
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| Does any one know for sure if the Elites can be networked? |
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Posts: 633
Location: Madison, WI | According to the lowrance website they can be linked together or to hds units. Just ordered one tonight!
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Posts: 1252
Location: Walker, MN | I think these will sell big time. |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Lebanon,Mo | My 2 should be here tmrw or Friday. I got the broadband models (no DSI) |
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Posts: 183
| Elite 7 can be networked via NMEA 2000 to share waypoints only. The Elite 7 has the same screen as the Touch 7 just not Touch |
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Posts: 315
| All of Lowrances units are HD at this point in terms of sonar. The elite units are not able to be networked and they are not able to have additional accessories hooked up to them like structure scan. When you hit the pages button on an elite unit the several pages that pop up are your choices. HDS units can be tailored in any way you would like and to me just the ability to shrink my sonar side to enlarge my chart portion is enough for me to go HDS. No matter which way you look at it you are getting a quality machine and thats whether you go with Lowrance or H-Bird. All of the newest Lowrance units will run either Navionics or Lowrances new Lake insight chip which is a great chip I ran it most of last season. |
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Posts: 315
| sorry I would have to look more into the NMEA 2000 waypoint sharing...it makes sense seeing that you can hook up a LGC 4000 to it... |
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Posts: 315
| my bad...looks networkable to me!! |
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Posts: 176
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Are you sure u cant resize the windows on these?, that would suck. |
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Posts: 315
| So I finally got a chance to hook one of these up at work and they are dang nice graphs!! finally went to the regular blue connector for power and ducer wires instead of the "D" style connector that the other elite series comes with...there is a NMEA hook up so they have the possibility of being networked that way which is a more costly method than an ethernet cord but none the less it is still possible...I only messed with it for a bit but unless I am missing something I found absolutely nothing in the tabs that would allow me to resize windows, and I wish Lowrance would just use the standard size SD in all of their graphs!! Mini SD cards suck!! |
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Posts: 176
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Are mini sd cards even available from Navionics, i checked their website and didnt find anything. |
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| You should be able to resize:
http://www.fishtec.co.za/Lowrance%20Elite7%20HDI.htm |
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Posts: 267
| I know the Universal 2 trolling motor sonar wont work with the DSI but will it work with the broadband sonar of the HDI 7? Ive checked on Minn Kota's site and these HDI 7 units are not yet listed as compatable but am wondering if their documentation needs to be updated? I notice the HDS Gen 2 sonar is also not listed on the U2 compatability list either and Im not sure that's the case. |
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Posts: 176
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Great questions Goose, i was wondering the same thing.
Also the Mini SD card may be a deal breaker for me.
Edited by PANTLEGGER 2/22/2013 2:09 PM
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Posts: 315
| So a mini SD card is nothing more than a mini card that slips into the regular size SD card! all of the last few years of Navionics have mini cards inside of the Regular Card that comes inside of the package when you buy it as well as Lakemaster from years 09-2011, and any of the newest available Lowrance insight cards starting in 2012. |
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Posts: 315
| So I did not find the option anywhere in the menu but after seeing that link I believe it absolutely there. Perfect bc resizing is a MUST HAVE!! Great Unit!!! |
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Posts: 176
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Thanks Lookin4, i havent bought a card in a long time. Im thinking of getting the Elite 7 base model with mapping and regular sonar (no DI), the only question is will it work with a minnKota US2 transducer. I have a 334 now and want to upgrade to the elite 7, who do i call or e-mail to find out if the same cord i boought for my 334 to the US2 will work on a new Elite 7. |
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Posts: 574
| Decent video about it on youtube..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l4BJOFrPWA
Pretty interesting unit.. Might have to look into it further myself..
Anyone know if I can put my waypoints from my HDS on it without networking them? HDS has the full sized SD card.. Elite has the micro.. Hoping/assuming I can.. |
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Posts: 315
| Gonna go ahead and say that especially if the unit is only sonar unit yes it will definitely work with your same US2 cable b/c that cable is the blue connector....and jason if you use a blank SD card with a micro inside of it and save your waypoints from your HDS or LCX or whatever you have and then take your micro and put it into your Elite it should still work b/c with cards with micros, all of the information is actually on the micro...hope this helps. |
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Lowrance Elite 7