Elite 7HDI or HDS 5?

[super_hawk2012]

If you ha a choice which would u choose?

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[zackblain]

Have read a lot of bad things about the first elite 7's that came out. They've probably worked out the glitches by now though

[bayofquintecharters]

A lot depends on what you plan to add

You have more networking options with an HDS. You can add radar etc to an HDS.

If you plan on running it as a stand alone unit then the bigger screen is better.

Scott

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[butchy28]

I have both units. I love the elite 7 especially for the price.

[ontherise]

I chose the hds5 gen. 2 and absolutely love it. It's a sick piece of equipment.

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[super_hawk2012]

I picked the brain of a lowrance pro at the Toronto sportsman show. After a lengthy conversation he has convinced me that that elite 7 would be my best bet. Based on the fact that there won't be anything additional I will add. The only thing I wish the elite series had like the HDS series is the wireless hookup to an iPad or tablet. That would be great to have.

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Edited February 10, 2014 by super_hawk2012

[dick black]

have fished with 2 different friends that have elite 7s, not impressed. I bought a hds 7 and am very happy witj it. biggest draw back is I paid for a lot of features that I will never use, but ad far as fishfinder, gps, c

chartplotter goes it is yop notchg

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[TyeeTanic]

There's another big plus going with the HDS vs. the Elite.  The Elite can only read map cards up to 2GB, while the HDS can read map cards up to 64GB.  This means you cannot view maps with major detail on the Elite (such as 3 ft contours), while you can on the HDS.  These highly detailed maps help you locate good lake structure that will hold fish.

 

Also, I believe the HDS has a stronger sonar signal. It is fully digital while the Elite is an analog signal.

 

I had an Elite 5 and changed it to the HDS 5, way better  - my maps are awesome and my tracking is really good too.

[Andre wallyandre]

The Elite 7 is a 16X9 screen instead of a 4X3 for the HDS

The ELITE 7 HDI has more screen area and has higher pixel density than an HDS-7 Gen2.

The processor is a bit slower on the Elite

The signal is as strong with the Elite: he use the same Broadband signal has the HDS

The latest version V3.0 allowed the same mapping capabilities of the HDS

HDS offer more if you intend to use: radar, sonic hub etc...

Reading a 32g card is not true; it's the max. chip you can use to record. Navionics are using 2G chip

With the HDI you got the downscan; you can get it with a HDS except if you buy the LSS-2

[FleetTracker]

I'd say the processing power of the Elite series and HDS series units is the biggest differentiator for your average fisherman. The HDS units are super fast to react to major pan and zoom intervals while the Elite units will be lagging and thinking leaving you to constantly wait for the screen to refresh. I've had both. I'm impatient so HDS it is.

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[FleetTracker]

Also notice you get a 2 year warranty on HDS and just 1 year on Elite. Not a big deal but something you should pay attention to when your main engine or kicker isn't running... HDS draws 200mA less (.7A vs .9A). It must be the backlighting technique on the HDS because despite the resolutions listed for both units in the specs, the HDS display is much crisper in my opinion.

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[Andre wallyandre]

The HDS-5 has 480X480 pixels

The Elite: The display of the Elite 7 HDI is 800 x 480 pixels, a 15:9 aspect ratio, on a 7-inch diagonal with LED backlighting.

3D mapping with the HDS

 

They are both excellent units.

 

[FleetTracker]

Wallyandre - you realize the pixels are directly relative to the display size right? (H x W) There is no difference between the HDS 5 and Elite 7 resolution. The only difference is the backlighting scheme.

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[TyeeTanic]

OK, after being questioned by Wallyandre, I did some digging.

 

It seems the Elite 5 series has limited mapping capabilities (can only read up to a 2GB card) and a weaker sonar.  But the Elite 7 HDI has SD high capacity capability, and the same sonar as the HDS - so it's an upgrade from the Elite 5.

 

The high capacity SD is important as some map chips are bigger than 2GB.  Andre refers to the navionics chips, but all the ones I've seen only have 30ft contours.  The Lake Insight map for lake ontario is around 8 GB and has 3ft contours.  So depending on which lake you fish on, and what you need it for, you may be interested in a unit with a high capacity SD reader. 

[tlox]

I run an HDS5 with Lake Insight.  Does everything I need it to do, great piece of equipment.  Sometimes I wish I had a unit with a bigger screen but all in all, nice piece of equipment.

[lineman49]

  I had 4-  Elite 7 hdi units on my boat last summer could not get a good one to work, ended up with a HDS 7 towards the end of fall fishing about 4 times useing it & had no problems with it so far , waiting to use it this spring with fingers X - ed.    As of now I would not recommend the elite 7 & would take a good look at Garmins.   J m $.02     

[Andre wallyandre]

The Elite7 can read all the maps except the Platinium.

Don't forget to update you're unit with the latest update: V3.0

Edited March 3, 2014 by wallyandre

[Tripleduece50]

Lineman- What kind of failures did you experience with your 4 different Elite 7's?

[ontherise]

How do you go about updating?

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[lineman49]

Lineman- What kind of failures did you experience with your 4 different Elite 7's?

  Some times the GPS would work ,then it wouldn't. Same with the fish finder.  Then it might be working fine & just go off by itself. I would then have to restart the whole unit from scratch.loosing all my wpts.  Each unit had a diff. problem. Even Lowrance support couldn't figure them out.  I rerouted the wires, isolated them, did everything Lowrance told me to do. Luckily I took out the extended warranty or I would have been holding my hand on my a$$!   After the 4th. one they said "Maybe We have a problem"!  & I upgraded to the HDS 7.(which has been around a while longer)  as I said I have had good luck with the Hds 7 so far,  knock on wood!    At any rate I would advise taking the ext. warranty for at least a yr.  West marine did the exchanges with no ques. asked but I did explain to them what each unit problem had/did at the time.  

Edited March 3, 2014 by lineman49

[lineman49]

How do you go about updating?

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  Go to lowrance.com find  "updates"  , find your unit , down load to a sd. card, then into your unit. I beleive they take step by step you thru the whole process.   or let your kids do it! lol

[Andre wallyandre]

Some videos on the Elite7:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l4BJOFrPWA&feature=youtu.be

 

http://youtu.be/O7H6hZ5VGGw