Does anyone use a Lowrance HDS-5 gps/fishfinder? If so , what is your opinion of the unit? any comments appreciated.

I've got two HDS 7s and I like 'em. It took two downloads and some help from John at Jet-A-Marina to get set up right but now I'm toppin' cotton! I have read about a lot of people having moisture problems with some of the first ones sold. I haven't had that problem so far but I keep them put up when I bring my boat in. The GPS is great since they just put out a recent update. I was really let down until that came along.

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The only way to have a good fishing spot is to make it yourself!

look around on the net they are still fairly new and a lot of people are having problems

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The fishing was good,it was the catching that was bad

I have a HD-5 with lake insight. I added an alternate program chip for Navionics.
The internal maps built into the HD-5 is what I'd call good enough for your basic info on the lake. However, if your really into knowing the depths and markers of a lake, the Navionics chip is worth the money.
My HD-5 has spoiled me rotten.
The mapping feature with GPS is the greatest part of this unit. I have absolutely no fear of getting lost or being in dangerous waters on or in unfamiliar waters. This unit is amazing, to say the least.
There is a update coming anytime now for downward and side scanning similar to the Hummingbird units. From what I've seen on the web, this upgrade will be the bomb! Perhaps waiting to purchase for the upgrade would save you some money.
I can't praise my unit enough. I would buy it again. Many of my fishing buddies have purchased this unit for their boats after riding with me on the water!
I've had absolutely no issues with moisture and I leave my in the weather, on the boat at all times.
You simply can't go wrong with this unit... it's all they say it is.
It does take a while to figure out how to use it, but once you do... your buddies will be so jealous!
Good luck

I have the 7 and 8. Only difference is screen size. For the water problem, that was earlier in the year. The seals that were supplied to lowrance were defective therefor water was getting into the units. Yes that was a major problem. From what i read and understand they have since switched companies and that problem has been taken care of. Now there still may be units sitting on the self that had that problem and hadn't made it out into someones hand. What i seen was anything assembled after June has the new seals. Now for the Structure Scan, the update came out last month. It also has updates for the other functions of the unit not just Strucrture Scan. The structure scan will be on sale in the next week or two. I'm hearing Nov. 12th. That will be an additional $600. It comes with the "box", ducer, ethernet cable and power cable. You can connect up to 3 HDS unit to this box and recieve the imaging on all three units. If you don't plan on buying this addition, you can still run the update on your unit.

Now i'll say that both of my units work great and don't have any problems with them. I'm just waiting on the Structure Scan to come out.

I have a 5 on the bow and I love it, I did not think I would ever need Gps
on the front seat but it is great. For my brushpiles , I can just get close
with my 1197 and big motor, shut it down and proceed quietly to the
brush pile.

as far as sensitive, I can see a 1/4 oz jig at 20 feet easily,
I was chumming some with some 3 inch shad cut up
in small pieces , I could watch them fall on the screen.

good luck
MO

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I have a HD5x and it is nice, thinking I should have bought the next size up but I didnt need 3 gps in the boat, just wondering how the new add on's will work and no water problems, but the unit is only 6 mo old and stored inside.

what are the base settings on the hds units sen. color . ping . speed .

From what I have gathered around the forums is that there was a sealant problem with some of the units (7 was real bad). Anything built after the first of June pretty much took care of the problem. If I was to get one today, I would make sure it had a build date later than June. Have read that they are also making an effort to improve CS. Time will tell....

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Remember, what is common knowledge to some is a revelation to others.
All men are equal in the eyes of fish
Member of the AZZHEIMERS CLUB: Spend half of my time trying to remember something I never knew

I'm not sure there is a "base" setting. As far as I can remember, without walking out to the boat to look, their all "adjustable"
For instance, the scroll speed is 1/2 speed, normal speed, 2X speed and 4X speed. The color has like 14 different settings and all of those can be tweeked. The ping is also adjustable.
My experience has been that everyone's settings are different than mine as I constantly adjust everything just to "see" what happens. :-)
Never satisfied with any setting.
One of the really great features I enjoy is the ability to change the zoom in/out feature on the sonar and the map.
I've completed the recent program update, but haven't been out on the water to see what the unit will do differently.
Fantastic Depth, or er... Fish finder.