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Mduncan...I realize this thread has been dead for a while but have a question for you. I'm doing the same thing with my electronics you are...it made a lot of sense. I have an HDS-7 on the console. I just purchased the LSS-2 StructureScan to add to my HDS unit. I had also purchased an HDS-5 for the trolling motor and had planned to network to HDS-7...but the Elite 7 HDI made a more sense to me to have on the trolling motor (wanted the DI option right under me rather than coming from a transducer on the transom showing stuff I had already passed...also wasn't concerned with SI from the trolling motor)...so I exchanged the HDS-5 for the Elite 7.
I had read on another site where a guy posted a comment that his waypoints were not transferring over properly from his HDS to the Elite 7. Have you had a chance yet to play around with that or attempt to transfer waypoints. I copied this guy's comments below. I was just curious if this may be an issue or if others had experienced similar results...or was it operator error. Thanks!
"I played with one over the weekend. The sonar and downscan looked good. They are high resolution. The unit comes with a single combination transducer that is shaped like a boat...about 3" long.
They only contain a NEMA port. No Ethernet, therefore the waypoint sharing does not sync and is unreliable. They communicate with HDS's like the old LCX's and LMS's, which is frustrating.
I loaded a 320 waypoint file onto an HDS with the NEMA connected to the Elite 7 HDI. 320 waypoints loaded onto the HDS and 66 transferred to the HDI...the numbers were random throughout the entire file. I erased everything on both units and tried again. This time 47 loaded onto the HDI.
To load the waypoints on the Elite HDI you must use a micro-SD chip rather than a full size SD card. Ditto the maps. It only has a single micro-SD card slot. When I loaded the waypoint file on the Elite HDI all 320 loaded fine. None of them transferred to the HDS via NEMA. If you load them on the HDS afterwards, they randomly duplicate on the HDI.
If you delete a waypoint on the either device, it does not delete from the other. If you add a waypoint on the HDS it adds to the Elite most of the time.
The two units shared NEMA devices fine. External GPS antennas, water temp probes, gauges, etc.
The additional cost to hook-up the NEMA link between the two units is approximately $100 if you go with a NEMA starter kit, plus an extra T. I hear the starter kits are going to significantly increase in price soon. They are currently $60-$70.
Another observation was relative to chart zoom. On a full page chart the map will zoom down to 30 feet. On a 2 way split screen the map will zoom to 50 ft. When the screen is split 3 ways, like all the advertising pictures show, the map will only zoom down to 100 ft. That is not zoomed in enough to precisely locate brushpiles off the trolling motor. It will get you to the general area.
They do not have an Exit key which makes menu navigation cumbersome. The menus basically mimic the HDS style. They are easy to use, but backing out of them is not as quick.
From what I saw, the Elite 7 HDI is a standalone unit. It will be a good trolling motor option, but you will be limited by map zoom, forcing the use of only two screens for precision structure location. The internal GPS antenna worked well. They use blue plug sonar and power connectors. The installation will be very easy without a NEMA backbone."
