would this fish finder be over kill for my boat

[fishman393]

Hello. I have a 15ft. With 10 hp. Aka John boat.. I fish lake norfork weekly but can't afford any fancy boat right now. I was offer a deal for a hds 7 gen 3 with 3d structure scan. My question is that to big of a fish finder for my small boat. I mainly fish bass and crappie. I travel all over the lake just have to launch in odd places. But i can get anywhere i want.. My thinking is in 2 years I should have what I need for a better boat and can take it with me. 

[A-Jay]

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

I say Go For It !

A-Jay

[fishman393]

I'm thinking really hard about it. The reactions from all the bass fisherman at the lake is going to be funny. They really hate it when I fish there tournaments in my small boat and get top 3. Just thinking it's a bit much for that little boat. I currently have 2 of the lorwance elite 4 hdi . With down imaging but the screen is so small and hard for my old eyes to see

[Wayne P.]

You can't have too much information and a larger display is better with the imaging technology.

I have a 16' boat with a 9.9 HP outboard and was set up this way when fishing Tuesday:

I have another 10" unit also.

[fishman393]

Nice I thank you for your time. Think you sold me.. one other question which I reading up on now.. is where to place the transducer and if I can link them together with one of my other di units. And if the motor will be in the way of the si and 3d. If I place it on the transom. If not I will be mounting the fish finder on a board that I can move from from the back when driving to the front while fishing. 

[Wayne P.]

Can't help you with Lowrance stuff, don't use them.

[Team9nine]

1 hour ago, fishman393 said:

My question is that to big of a fish finder for my small boat. I mainly fish bass and crappie.

As Wayne stated, no such thing as too big. I ran basically the exact same boat as you for 8 years and had 3 similar units mounted on mine

 

1 hour ago, fishman393 said:

where to place the transducer and if I can link them together with one of my other di units. And if the motor will be in the way of the si and 3d. If I place it on the transom. If not I will be mounting the fish finder on a board that I can move from from the back when driving to the front while fishing. 

I believe the general recommendation is to go to the right of the motor if your prop spins clockwise in gear. At least that is where I went with mine and it seemed to work fine. You do need to be careful with making sure you don't align it with any bottom strakes or rivet lines if possible. I mounted mine between ribs and away from rivets where I had a smooth flow of water. Also watch for trailer bunks. It is possible that with the small engines and limited space, the engine might block some of the SI signal to one side. You won't know for certain until you actually set everything up and then go test n the water. Didn't seem to happen in my jon boat with my 10hp, but my larger aluminum with the 40hp has that issue. Should be able to go to any of the Lowrance forums online or contact tech support to find out about linking. I would imagine most of the higher end units will allow it.

-T9

[eddallen]

What other model Lowrance units do you have?

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard!

I'd buy it. Wish I could afford one for my kayak.
Yeah, I'd have a big one mounted on my gunnel.
Why not?

[fishman393]

51 minutes ago, eddallen said:

What other model Lowrance units do you have?

I'm using the lowrance elite 4x hdi. I upgraded the transducer so I have down imaging on one of them. They are just so small. 

But buddy offered the hds 7 gen 3 with the 3d scan for 1700.  Not to bad from what I can see. So I could get that or a used 20 hp for the boat. 

[TomLowrance1]

Lowrance Gen3 is a unit you can add more accessories to when you are ready. I would be glad to answer any questions... Tom Branch Jr - Lowrance Prostaff

[fishman393]

2 minutes ago, TomLowrance1 said:

Lowrance Gen3 is a unit you can add more accessories to when you are ready. I would be glad to answer any questions... Tom Branch Jr - Lowrance Prostaff

So what I can't seem to find is what would I need if u got this to run two fishing finder. Like keeping one on my elite 4x. And add the hds 7 to it. I see 3 network ports on the 3d scan box could I just plug it in to that so I could just have the small one on back and the big one on the front. 

[TomLowrance1]

Any elite series unit has to be run thru nema2000 to share waypoints with a Gen3.

[Chris at Tech]

20 hours ago, fishman393 said:

With down imaging but the screen is so small and hard for my old eyes to see

I think you answer your own question here.  If you can't see the small one, get the bigger one.

20 hours ago, Wayne P. said:

You can't have too much information and a larger display is better with the imaging technology.

I have a 16' boat with a 9.9 HP outboard and was set up this way when fishing Tuesday:

I have another 10" unit also.

Showoff

[00 mod]

I have 2 Helix 9's on my 16' jon boat.....

Jeff

[A-Jay]

Just now, 00 mod said:

I have 2 Helix 9's on my 16' jon boat.....

Jeff

You Stud.

A-Jay

[WPCfishing]

I use a Lowrance 5x HDI, works for me!

I do like the Ray Marine Dragonfly.. Both are reasonably priced.

[WIGuide]

There's no reason not to. Just because you don't have a big boat doesn't mean you can't have a big locator. I would definitely go for it!

[gim]

The structure scan generally does not come with the units unless they're offering some sort of package discounted deal.  I bought an HDS7 last spring and eventually I'd like to add that feature to it but I know its going to be expensive.

[S Hovanec]

Go for it.  I run a 17' boat with a 10" on the bow and a 5" and 7" on the dash.

[Ratherbfishing]

On 3/12/2016 at 5:49 PM, gimruis said:

The structure scan generally does not come with the units unless they're offering some sort of package discounted deal.  I bought an HDS7 last spring and eventually I'd like to add that feature to it but I know its going to be expensive.

As GIMRUIS said, the Structure Scan feature does NOT come with the basic unit so don't get sucked into that.  You either buy it from the beginning as a bundle or you add it later (at about half again as much as the basic unit).  In other words, the basic unit, by itself, does NOT have side-imaging.

[Kevin22]

You cannot link an elite 4 to anything as it has no sharing capability. All it has is wake-up capability which means you can remotely wake up the unit. The elite 5 has sharing capability, but only with other 5's. The 7"+s can share with each other.  

[fishman393]

Thanks guys I ended up getting a great deal on a humminbird 999ci hd si. Can't wait to hook it up and get going.