localangler Posted March 15, 2019 Report Share Posted March 15, 2019 So figured I'd put this out to the MBG brain trust. My lowrance HDS10 gen 1 is dying. The soft keys along the bottom are not working anymore (no customer support for the old girl). The first thought was replace with another HDS of the current generation but since I'm not the federal government and can't just make more money appear or run in a deficit I need to get into a more reasonable budget for myself. I'd like to stay in the $1k budget (never thought I'd say that for a inshore boat). The two front runners I'm wanting to touch and play with are a simrad go9 xse or lowrance elite 9 ti (both with the 3 in 1 transducer vs the totalscan). Any thoughts on those or similar machines? Second I see different places sell it with different map packs preloaded. One has c-map pro chart and another vendor has navionics+. I really don't have much exposure to the two different map packs as far as how they'd help fishing and navigating. The machine will be used for inshore and near shore in South Carolina along with the annual keys vacation (FMT is not in my foreseeable future so machine compatible isn't much of an issue). I'd just like to be able to see how some of the newer technologies help with say side scan and finding structure when attempting to bottom fish. I saw the simrad can be wired to control my motor guide motor but is that useful or just a gimmick? The boat is a 22te Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HewesYourDaddy Posted March 15, 2019 Report Share Posted March 15, 2019 My personal choice would be the Simrad GO9, or better yet, the NSS9 Evo 2 (EVO2 is discontinued and replaced by EVO3 bit can still be found new in some places). I’ve had experience with the GO and Elite Ti. I prefer the GO. Just a cleaner package and the screen layouts are better (yet similar). I’m looking for a NSS9 currently, to replace my Garmin. I really like the combination of touch screen as well as having a control wheel. My Elite Ti on my last boat had Navionics charts. I absolutely loved that mapping from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcathey Posted March 16, 2019 Report Share Posted March 16, 2019 I’d look around and find a deal on a lightly used evo2 9” or 12”. When running in chop it’s very helpful having that knob for zooming and the processor is very fast. An all touchscreen would be tricky on the tough days. I saw someone sold an evo2 nss12 on THT the other day for $1200 so deals are popping up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownBear Posted March 16, 2019 Report Share Posted March 16, 2019 9 minutes ago, dcathey said: When running in chop it’s very helpful having that knob for zooming and the processor is very fast. An all touchscreen would be tricky on the tough days. You got that right. I'm about 98% fed up with touch screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
localangler Posted March 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 Went by westmarine yesterday, the difference between the displays and cartography of a nss7 evo2 and go9 unit are night and day. The go unit didn't do very well displaying grays and it hurt my eyes. I asked the westmarine guy if the units cartography was really that different even after I set bot units to the same setting and he said yes, I was a bit surprised at that. Guess I will be looking for a nss7 and going even smaller than I wanted just to get better imaging. I tried to find a evo2 like suggested but haven't had any luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fin-addict Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 Anything but garmin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilemaker Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 Right now with a 1,000 to spend I would go with a used simrad or if necessary drop down in size to a new hds7 live with the 3 in 1 transducer. One often overlooked aspect is the processing speed of the unit. The new live units are a lot faster so while zooming and using the functions you will not have to wait for the new chart to show. Usually the simrad are faster but the new live units are the fastest out now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE OUTLAW Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 The saga continues . 🙏🏻 🇺🇸☠️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egrets Landing Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 The Elite Ti has a poor screen making photos and details a little washed out. It was discontinued and replaced with the Elite Ti2 and the issue was fixed is much better. Simrad Go units are cheap for a reason. Single core processor only and the smaller screens have inferior resolution. They also load a chip from the back which is a hassle and the touch screen is a pain in the neck to work all day and totally not precise in any kind of chop. Elite Ti2 9 with 3 in 1 is your best option or Carbon 9" would be even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egrets Landing Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 3 hours ago, THE OUTLAW said: The saga continues . 🙏🏻 🇺🇸☠️ Save yourself the anguish and just sell it now on ebay while its still in the box and recoup more than all of your recent small investment for the switch. All the praying in the world will do nothing to fix the Garmin Charts. The screen shots of your area inshore on G3 are horrible and that is zero exaggeration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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