San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Hey guys my friend has finally got his boat up and running and he wants to upgrade his fish finder.
He doesn’t do internet so I’m in charge of figuring out what unit would be the easiest to learn.
He in the $500 to $600 budget range, would like to get a unit that has side scan, I’ve found 3 possibilities, any info or opinions were help.
The three are Garmin, Lowrance, and Hummingbird.
Friends boat is a small aluminum boat (Lund)
Thanks in advance

RE-POST

I have a Lowrance 7 hds gen3 I'd be willing to part with. I think I saw someone selling their Active imaging sidescan which is compatible with unit.
I'd be willing to trade for maybe a reel or we can work something out pretty cheap.

viewtopic.php?t=1799
heres that transducer on here

Hey Surfer John do you have a price your looking for, I have a Lews speedstick combo and ?
Do you know how to install it, he was a little worried about that?

Going back to the original question, I believe you cannot go wrong with any of those brands... Garmin, Lowrance, and Hummingbird.
I hear lots of good things about Garmin but have never used their units. I have personally used Hummingbird and Lowrance and
my 2 cents for what it is worth is that I have been very happy with all the Lowrance finders that I have used over the years in
my kayaks and boats.
Hope you find what works best for you, but with the technology today, any of them should do the job.

It’s down to the Lawrence 7” or the Garmin 7” both side scan
We’ve been wondering which might be easier to learn or are they basically the same, the unit he has is a piece of s——-t
So pretty much we never really used one.

vito1023 wrote: Sat Apr 19, 2025 7:08 am Hey Surfer John do you have a price your looking for, I have a Lews speedstick combo and ?
Do you know how to install it, he was a little worried about that?

Lews speedstick combo is fine. Easy to install, Youtube has tons of videos or I can send my son he put our Livescope in and our Ultrex trolling motor in. Aspiring Electrician/Lineman. I think the Gen3 is only compatible with totalscan transducer not the active scan transducer that Ohdashiz is selling.

Seeing as I forgot how to send a private message I’ll try to exchange messages here I guess, unless you would give me your number.
What kind of shape is the unit, does it all work properly if I was to buy the correct transducer?

Sent you a PM yesterday

I have a Lowrance HDS9 with mt bkt, transducer and cover. Doesn’t have side scan. $100 I upgraded so don’t need any more. Works perfect Sherpa

My friend wants to get sidescan, but thanks, did you upgrade to?

I have a Lews speedstick combo

How do you like it?