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.