Help Upgrading My Electronis

[HardcoreBassin]

Hey everyone,

I have an '05 Stratos 275XL.  I just started getting back into fishing and using the boat again.  As I was out on the water last weekend I realized, "wow, these electronics are ancient."  I am looking to upgrade from the Lowrance Mark 4 (at the helm) and the Lowrance X52 on the bow.  The Mark 4 transducer is on the transom, the X52 transducer is on the trolling motor.

 

I've had my eye on the Lowrance HDS-5.  I want to keep the cost as low as possible, but I don't want to wind up getting crappy electronics.  For now, since the budget is tight, I'm considering upgrading just 1 of the units and then upgrading the other in the spring.

 

I want something that is easily upgradable in the future.  I want to eventually put side imaging transducers on and possibly other sensors.  Not sure how "energy efficient" the new color screen models are?

 

What electronics do you all have? I'm looking for opinions, suggestions, comments, concerns...

 

Thanks in advance for the help!!

 

-Dale

[Wayne P.]

Any advanced electronics are going to use more amps than what you have.

 

You decide what technology you want and how much you are willing to spend to get it.

If you want the side looking imaging feature, you would want a BIG screen.

Side Imaging/Side Scan/SideVu/Side Vision image sizes are based on the range setting, not the depth like traditional sonar and the down looking imaging units.

 

 I use Humminbird Side Imaging units

[gulfcaptain]

Honest advice, I would save and buy the upgraded unit/units you want.  I would probably save up and get the Gen2 HDS-7 with structure scan. I'd save up and pay a little extra and have a bigger screen, this way if you wanted to move to a 9" or larger unit you could put this one up front.  And with the different views, the bigger the screen the easier it is considering you could have 3 screens up at one time so looking on a 5" screen split up isn't going to be that big of a display.   Hope this helps a bit.