Lowrance Elite 4 V. Humminbird 386Ci

[jkroosz]

I am looking to upgrade my electronics, while staying on a budget. 

Being new to chartplotting, down scan, etc, maybe some insight on the Lowrance or Humminbird units would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

[tnriverluver]

I am not familiar with that HB but I have both the Elite 4 DSI GPS and the Mark 4 DSI GPS units and I am very impressed with their imaging as far as structure and fish goes. They are great units for the price and very easy to learn to operate even for an old fart like me LOL. I bought mine on sale at Cabelas at a much lower price than what I can currently find either. I am looking for another Elite to install on another boat I own. I was sold on these units after watching a video on Youtube of a guy crappie fishing under a bridge and you could watch his 1/16 oz jig and the crappie biting it!

[Wayne P.]

You need to read the entire specs on any unit you are considering to see if has the features you want.

 

The two you listed are pretty much identical traditional GPS/2D sonar models with the Humminbird having about twice the power.

 

Neither one has down scan, but both units are in a series that have a down scan model.

The down imaging model from Humminbird is the 386ci DI and has GPS, 2D sonar, and down imaging

The down scan model from Lowrande is the Elite 4-DSI and has GPS, and down scan.

[tnriverluver]

I will add that in my case space was at an absolute premium and I was replacing 2 old Eagle Cudas on one of my boats and needed units of about the same size.  My other boats are a 1542 Tracker flatbottom and an 8 ft Basshunter so space is also a huge issue with them.  If you have the space I would recommend stepping up to the Elite or Mark 5 DSI units.  For not much difference in price you get a even much more readable screen and they seem to be on sale quite often.  Pay very close attention to what you are buying though because they are offered in DSI, non DSI, GPS, and non GPS models.  The non DSI and GPS models are very cheap now.