Posts: 546
Location: MN | RyanJoz - 6/4/2012 9:23 AM
Lowrance gets my vote. I have owned a HDS 5 for 3 years now and have not had one issue. I have the lake insight model. I have my unit in a portable case that I made with a suction cup mount for the transducer. I had my HDS next to a 588SI and the Bird would black out over bait clouds and not read the bottom. His would not distinguish the difference between weed pockets and baitfish near the bottom either. You can use the HDS as a flasher too if you ice fish. I don't know much more about the bird, but if you have any questions about the HDS feel free to shoot me a message.
Just as a reference, both units were given a factory reset just before any testing was done to see "out of the box" differences. All testing was done on Lake Kinkaid. Lowrance's customer service has definitely come a long way also in the past few years. Buy what you like the best is the best advice ANYONE could give you.
IMO, you are not comparing two similar units. The HDS 5 with the Lake Insight and Structure Scan is a more expensive and advanced unit than the 588 SI. I would say that the 798ci HD SI is more comparable to the HDS 5 with those features. The power output on the 798ci HD SI is much higher than on the 588 SI, (which is no longer made) which is could be the cause for the black out issue you mentioned. Humminbird offers an ice pack as well for their units to convert them for ice fishing. I purchased a ram mount for my 798 SI and use it as my gps with a Lakemaster chip. Which, now that it comes to mind, are now exclusive to Humminbird since Johnson Outdoors now owns both Humminbird and LM.
This is not an attack on Ryan, but I just wanted to make sure you had some more information about the two units.
Edited by mtcook16 6/10/2012 7:53 PM
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