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Post by rocfish on Mar 14, 2013 8:20:27 GMT -5
No this not a commercial for the little blue pill. I couldn't resist. Sorry ;D
Actually I am close to taking the plunge on the new Lowrance touch screen with structurescan. The size I am looking at is the 7" model. I know bigger is always better but the price difference between the 7" and 9" is insane. The 7 is bad enough. I am planning on installing the unit on the front deck of my bass boat so it would be right at my feet when I am fishing. On using the touch unit I would most likely split the sonar mode with either down scan or side scan. But I worry the image will be too small to be usefull.
I guess my real question is, would you pass on the 7 and save up for the 9?
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Post by mwardncsu on Mar 14, 2013 9:19:10 GMT -5
The HDS7 is really something like 6.4" diagonal. The 8 is 8" or maybe a little over, so there is a fair bit of difference. With Sidescan, the wider & more pixels you can get, the better. The 8 (and 10) also add some nice "ease of use" features with the soft-keys - makes changing settings, pages, screens a lot easier than navigating as many menus.
The downside is you pay almost 2X for the 8 over the 7......
I know several guys with HDS7's and using it for side-scan - it does work and adds value. However, if you are planning to put it down at your feet on the deck, it is going to be that much further from your eyes than when on the console, and a bigger screen is going to be important. If you split the 7 between sidescan and regular sonar, then you are losing that much more of the horizontal pixel density & size to display the regular sonar panel....
Not likely wnat you want to hear, but you may want to save up for the 9, or keep your eye out for a deal on a used HDS8 Gen 1, or maybe even Gen2.
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Post by bigjon on Mar 14, 2013 10:37:00 GMT -5
If there is any possible way to block Wish, Bigun and SS from responding to this post it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and get it done, heck go ahead and get Hotdog too just to be safe!  Keep saving! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2013 11:09:09 GMT -5
In before the block.  No muff to tuff!!!!! (would make a good user name)...........They don't sell that stuff at Wal•Mart. You young un's keep waiting on the 10's and us old bastages (plus wish) will be popping our little blue pills and giving all of those 7's and 8's the best 2 minutes of their lives. ;D and........ I'll never understand why the good lord put a woman in charge of something so good.  |
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Post by wishforfish on Mar 14, 2013 11:18:02 GMT -5
A good bull turns down no cow.
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Post by bigjon on Mar 14, 2013 15:49:54 GMT -5
I rest my case your honor! |
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Post by striperjohn on Mar 14, 2013 15:54:42 GMT -5
Just like the joke goes "lets run over there and jump that one--nah let's walk over there and do em all!" I got a buddy that takes the little blue pill to keep from peeing on his feet--duh. Oldie but goodie. ;D
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Post by hotdog on Mar 14, 2013 16:06:40 GMT -5
Good thing you wrote that Bigjon. I was starting to feel left out.  All I can tell ya is mines big enough to have all the fun I can get away with.  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2013 16:17:37 GMT -5
Dear Mods, alas I humbly admit, I am easily led astray. Bigjon goaded me into posting that. ( insert real tears here).
Dear leo, I know you tried to warn me about bigjon over the years and I wouldn't believe or listen to you. I apologize. (insert real tears here)......Since I have seen the light ( insert a whole lot of real tears here) and I promise not to let bigjon any where near it, can I borrow your jet boat next month to hit the river??
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Post by rocfish on Mar 14, 2013 16:45:10 GMT -5
Thanks mwardncsu. The truth is hard to take but better to face it now than buy the 7 and wish you'd spent the extra for the 9.
Out of curiosity, how would you rate the sidescan and downscan for striper fishing?
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Post by mwardncsu on Mar 14, 2013 17:00:59 GMT -5
Out of curiosity, how would you rate the sidescan and downscan for striper fishing? Neither are a "must have". Folks have been catching fish for a long time with out them - heck, they were catching them without any electronics or just the old school Lowrance flashers. However, its a tool that can help make the search easier. When I 1st got mine, I focused on downscan. Pretty pictures of trees, but it did help me more quickly learn what I was seeing on the regular sonar - bait, trees, brush, fish, etc - by comparing the two, I learned what the regular sonar was telling me. Now I rarely allocate screen space to downscan. The way my SS xducer was installed was greatly limiting my sidescan performance. Basically blocking the upper 30 degrees from horizontal on both sides. I did not know what I was missing for a long time until getting on a buddy's boat that had a good install. When I changed mine last spring I could now see all kinds of things I was missing. Sidescan is MUCH more valuable than downscan for locating schools of fish or bait. Bentrod has a post somewhere on here recently that has some pics of fish that we spotted with sidescan last fall as we were leaving a cove after catching bait. We were about to head up the lake a few miles, but spotted those fish, went up a little, set out boards pulled back and doubled up in minutes - stayed in the cove where we were the rest of the evening and ended up with near double digits, all because we spotted a small pod of fish 100 ft or so off to the starboard side of the boat just before we jumped up on plane. It can also help you chase down bait in the creek when throwing the net. Though I find myself throwing off the rear deck over the motor now more than I used to so that I can see the sidescan while being right over the SS xducer, vs. 20+ ft away from it.... |
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Post by bigjon on Mar 14, 2013 18:36:07 GMT -5
roc, I apologize for hijacking your post but in my defense you did leave the door open! ;D |
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Post by rocfish on Mar 14, 2013 19:01:58 GMT -5
I knew I'd open a can of worms with that headline Bigjon. I fully deserved it. You guys were funny.
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Post by 2 oars & a trash can on Mar 15, 2013 7:39:58 GMT -5
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Post by bigjon on Mar 15, 2013 8:07:25 GMT -5
Apparently that includes smoking a cigarette! |
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