1. Begin your review here
4. Submit your review Please enter the characters you see below into the box beside it, then click 'Submit Review'. This helps prevent automated spammers.
Lowrance HDS-8 Fishfinder GPS Chartplotter Tips For Writing A Good Review
•
Rate the item from 1 to 5, where:
•
Explain in simple terms why you like or dislike the product based on the product's functionality and your experience using the product
•
Avoid single-word reviews, bad language, contact information (email addresses, phone numbers, etc.), or URLs
•
All submissions are governed by our Terms of Use
Got questions? Occasionally we receive reviews from users who are experiencing problems with items.free Q&A service to help resolve your problem.Q&A page to ask a question and we will respond with an answer to get you back up and running!
Recent reviews for this item: Big DOUG, April 17, 2012 I chose the HDS8 Gen2 because I was familar with the older
522gps sonar. It was a fast learn process to convert from
one to the other. I have owned it for about 3 weeks and
like it but, there is one major problem with it. The
system for some unknown reason like to reboot itself when
the keep pad is depressed. This happens about once an
hour while powered. Lowrance tech support says to send it
in for evaluation. I like the system but do not want to be
without it for the opening of fishing. So hopefully the
will come up with a software update to fix the problem. Brother, August 29, 2010 i did buy a HDS-8 and the mapping is horryble Lowrance are
working only for the US side dont buy one if you leave
somewhere else in the world. Lin, May 23, 2010 I had high hopes for this unit. Unfortunately, Lowrance and
Navionics seem intent on marketing products that are simply
not ready for the customer. I live in Alaska and fish the
south central area, Kenai Peninsula, Cook Inlet, North Gulf
Coast, and Prince William Sound. I'll start with the charts
first. The Lowrance Base map is crude compared to Garmin.
The depths are tiny, nearly impossible to read, especially
when underway. They numbers are north oriented only, which
means if you are using "Course Up" and heading south, you
better be able to read the numbers upside down or sideways.
There are also LOTS of errors in the mapping. Where land
should be you have sea, where sea should be you have land.
BE VERY CAREFUL if using this in the fog. It also does not
show submerged or awash rocks as well as the Garmin does.
The Insight chart is worse and absolutely useless in
Alaska, it is so highly pixilated that all detail is
unreadable and ends up being a huge blob. Do not spend any
money for this worthless feature. OK, now for the very
spendy Navionics charts. It is VERY buggy and not ready for
public consumption. When I can get the data to display,
which takes multiple reboots and other fiddling, it too is
north oriented so again you better learn to read upside
down or sideways. It suffers from the same tiny little
fonts that cannot be changed. When a waypoint is selected,
you get no data displayed such as time, distance, bearing,
lat/long or any other useful information like my 6 year old
Garmin gives me. The only way to get it to display is to
pan the cursor to the location you want to go to and leave
it there. Now you have a little window in the lower left
corner with all the info displayed. The sonar seems to be
pretty decent but I have yet to get anything close to the
little fish arches they advertise on the screen regardless
of depth. I can see the fish and structure pretty well and
even saw jigs descending to the bottom or on the retrieve.
There are lots of other little quirks with this unit and I
could write volumes about them, but I'm not being paid to
do that. I am trying to educate potential buyers of a poor
product. Bottomline: Sonar is good. Software and charts
SUCK! Stick with Garmin or be prepared for major
disappointment. Lloyd, June 23, 2009 Very High res, top of the line.
