HDS-5 or Elite 5?

[bandsr4me20]

Im stuck between the two and im not sure which one i should go with.  Can somebody explain what the main differences are between them?  Thanks for any help!

[5bass]

[movedhere] Fishing Tackle [move by] five.bass.limit.

[bandsr4me20]

anyone?

[Todd Driscoll]

The Elite 5 is priced more economically.  Given that, the Elite 5 only has potential for NMEA 0183 communication, whereas the HDS 5 has NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000 (for networking external antennas, temp probes, fuel flow sensors, etc.) and Ethernet (linking units with each other and with StructureScan, Sirius Radio).  Screen color resolution is less for Elite 5 (8-bit) vs HDS 5 (16-bit) so a little less detail shown for Elite 5.  Same goes for sonar power and internal memory, less for Elite 5.  The HDS 5 is available with Insight mapping, and Elite 5 just has basemap mapping.  Elite 5 has one year warranty, HDS 5 has two years. 

[bandsr4me20]

thanks for the help!  really cleared some things up.

[bandsr4me20]

do all the hds units come with lake insight installed on them?  ive seen some that say enhanced us basemap and then some say lake insight.

[Fish Fast]

No not all of them come with Lake Insight.  I believe that costs an extra $50 or $100. 

I too am debating on the above 2 units.  I am leaning towards the elite 5 due to cost and the fact that I dont need all of the "overhyped" features of the hds 5.  The local walleye guy that runs charters has 4 lowrance 522's on his boat and claims he can see baitfish, sub-surface larvae hatches (mayfly's), thermoclines, etc. If he doesn't need the extra resolution, then neither do I (not to mention the elite 5 has a better gps than the 522's). 

If you want side sonar or greater networking ability, then maybe you do want to spend the extra money on the hds

My deal is, I am not a tournament fisher.  I have got to draw the line somewhere.  To network a couple hds 5's or 7's, with side imaging....you are looking at over $2000.  d**n!  I can go buy a brand new 9.9 hp mercury four stroke kicker and have it installed for that much.......ughhh....sorry for the RANT and I certainly didn't mean to HI-JACK this thread!

[bandsr4me20]

is there a product emulator for the hds 5?

[Todd Driscoll]

No, right now there are no plans to release an emulator for HDS.  The stability of the emulator varies to much  depending on the user's computer and operating system to provide 100% reliable results.

[bandsr4me20]

is there one similar to it?

[renegade8379]

I just purchased the HDS 5 with U.S. basemap.......I doubt any other units are very similiar to these units.  My last unit was the lms 332c and after a day on the water with the HDS 5, I'm a little disappointed.  To me, the processing speed is much slower than my last unit.  I just did the software update for the HDS units, but still it's slow in comparison.  Also, my old lakemaster chip doesn't give me anything more really than the basemap.  I suppose I'll get used to using the unit and would like to know if there's a way to turn off the transducer while the unit is still running???........I don't like fishing shallow water with the sonar on and when I want to put the boat up on plane, I have to wait at least a half minute for the unit to load back up if I have it turned off.

[renegade8379]

Another question of the HDS 5..........If I purchase the power node to use my 2000 antenna with this unit, will that speed up the processing time at all???......just wondering how much the internal antenna taxes the processing time.

[Todd Driscoll]

Renegade, to shut power off to the ducer, just select "stop sonar" under the sonar menu.  The external LGC-4000 won't speed up processor time, but will give you a tighter GPS position.  This antenna provides an update rate of 5X/sec, while the HDS internal antenna and older 2000s and 3000s update just 1X/sec.