Lowrance Elite-7x HDI Sonar or Combo units

[wapiti]

Has anyone looked at or had any experience with these units? They are shown in the Cabela's spring catalogue and I have seen some pretty good prices for these units. Any opinions?

[starcrafttom]

I have been looking long and hard at the hds-7 elite. Not the 7x. the 7 x has no gps mapping, hence the lower price. While I was out with Peter in his boat I got some hands on with a hds-7, not the elite, and was able to use the broad band fish finder for the first time. WOW. So much better then my raymarines. The elite has broad band and downscan, which gives a better picture of the structure. With the elite, but not the regular hds line. You can over lay the two on top of one another. It seems from my reading that the broad band gives a better return on fish and bait and the downscan gives you a picture like image of the bottom and structure. I would love to see it in real time in a boat but I still thing I will buy it soon.

[wapiti]

Thanks for the reply, but I was specifically looking for information on the 7x model other than a larger screen how does it compare to the Garmin echo 550?
Wapiti

[starcrafttom]

the 7x and the hds have that same broad band fish finder. I was very impressed with it. Add to that the down scan and you have a hell of a great unit.

[chromer]

I found this video from SaltPatrol helpful

http://vimeo.com/15426536

[Jazzmanic]

Yeah, the ling trip the other day was the first time I even used the fish finder on the HDS 7. I'd been meaning to set-up the ff like in the video from Salt Patrol that Dwight posted but didn't get a chance to do it before the trip. Even so, the broadband sounder worked real well.

Tom seemed to like it! I'll probably go up tomorrow and set-it up per the video. Can't wait for salmon fishing. It's a pink year, which is always a bonus.