What’s up guys. It’s been a while but I finally have my little girl old enough to brave the boat and the weather is getting better so I can start looking at fishing again. Great to see some decent fish starting to pick up. Hoping to get into some FL and topwater action soon along with many nights with the ole green light.
I have been wanting a second fish finder for the boat and really like the HD units. I found the HDS5x at Bass Pro for $384 and a $100 rebate. That’s pretty cheap.
I guess the new Elite7 coming out and being right around $500 means most people won’t still pay $500 for a 5" HDS unit.
What do you think? Should I just spend the extra 2 bones and get the Elite7? Has anyone bought one yet? Remember this is a second unit, and won’t share screen space with a gps, just sonar.
I’ve had an Elite-7 for a few months now and like it. Nagigating through the menus is different from what I am used to on my old unit, but I’m getting used to it. Since you are just comparing the HDS-5X compared to the E-7X and won’t have GPS, it’s just a matter of wether that extra 2" of FF screen is worth it to you.
Just give me a call if you want to come out and see an E-7 in use.
If I add the structure scan at the same time when I buy the HDS5 I can get another $300 rebate. Not sure what real world cost on the structure is but retail is $500. So at most $500 total for an HDS5 with structure.
If you are looking at $500 anyway. I would look at going with an Elite-7x HDI ($495). You wouldn’t have the side scan, but you would have downscan, along with the typical broadband sonar, and a 7" screen. I never had one, so I’m not sure how much sidescan buys you striper fishing. Also, I would think a 5" screen would be a little smaller than you would want if you were going to use the sidescan feature much.
Very true on the 5" being too small once u divide between sonar and down/side scan. And u will never have down scan on w/o having your sonar up as well. With the 5 you will be doing a lot of switching back and forth and it can be a pain.
If you don’t pull in the winter or any other season when fish are on the banks I think sidescan is useless. This winter was the first time I really used the sidescan. I would see the fish out to the side of me and speed up the TM a little then kill it once my boards where gettingclose to where they were. Causes the herring to come to life and go every which way causing a reaction strike.
I really only use down scan over deeper water and prefer it in 45-80’ of water, specially when they are stacked on the bottom. I have seen them so tight that it looks like the bottom but down scan will show each individual fish. It will also show structure that may appear to be a bait ball. Learned from that after dropping a couple jigs in a “bait ball” that was actually a tree/brush in 50’.
Just trying to give u an idea if side/down scan is what u really want. If just wanting a plain sonar I would go with HDS if wanting just down then the elite
Have u thought about “interference” if running more than one transducer? Don’t quote me but I thought running 2 ducers in 50’+ of water they kinda bounce off each other giving false returns. i Don’t know what u already have but is networking an option to only use one ducer.
Well I was really talking about spending $300 but you guys started talking down scan, sidescan and I started looking at spending $500. Really $300 is what I want to spend. Maybe I could look at selling my Grmin and just buy the Elite 7 with gps. I just figured having a 4" gps dedicated and a 5" sonar dedicated would be better than a combo 7".
Not sure about interference, but I would not be running the Garmin sonar while running the HDS. I would have to look into whether I can deactivate it, or it may run all the time.
Sounds like for what you are wanting the hds5 is the way to go. I never thought about it…I wonder if the transmitter is even transmitting a signal when just in gps mode? Im guessing it is, but like you said, you may be able to turn it off.
On the Elite series you can disable the sonar at any time by going into the settings and selecting “stop sonar.” I have an old X-100C for my sonar and an Elite 5DSI side by side on my console. I use the Elite for my charting and rarely use the downscan. The ducers work off 2 different frequencies; so I’ve never felt the need to disable the downscan. I have very limited experience with HDS but guess the same would hold true.
Thanks for the help guys. I think I am going to go with the Humminbird 596 HD DI. It has a higher resolution screen, more powerful transducer, and comes with the DI for about $360.
I took the family out on the boat yesterday to check everything out after sitting for 5 months. Carbs had a few cobwebs in them but ran fine after the first few minutes. Everything else is working great. Time to get rigged back up for fishing.