Lowrence HDS 8 and 7

After looking at the Hummingbirds and the Lowrences I decided to go with the Ls HDS 8 in the dash of my 04 Cougar and HDS 7 on the bow. The 8 works great and the structure scan is awesome. The guy who installed it took me out on the lake today and showed me two sunken boats and a road bed and bridge. Then we went by some docks and he showed me how to "see" the fish under the dock using the side image. The bow unit is going to need some work. The existing transducer is not working well so I think I will have them add a new one to the trolling motor. With the structure scan box and networking I can read the 8 transducer off the bow which is good enough for now but cant wait to get the 7 reading directly below the TM so I can zero in on the deep fish. My son Sam and I went out to fish after the lesson and were not disappointed. We found a school of bait being attacked in about 35 to 40 feet and caught bluegill, bass, big white bass, yellow bass and a bonus paddle fish all in the same hole. In about an hour and a half we had about 30 fish between us.

This topic has 17 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 9 months ago by billfish.

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June 29, 2010 at 9:43 pm #305459

fishntrox
Participant

Im extremely jealous of the locators and the fish. Congradulations on your purchase!

June 29, 2010 at 10:49 pm #305460

sdfd504
Participant

Looks good and you better send the gps cords to me sine you didnt post them on the CFF. lol

June 30, 2010 at 1:11 am #305461

billfish
Participant

sdfd504 wrote: Looks good and you better send the gps cords to me sine you didnt post them on the CFF. lol You wish! Hey we need to go fishing some time. I keep looking for you out there. Are you fishing any TX?

June 30, 2010 at 5:00 am #305462

sdfd504
Participant

I will be out tomorrow night fishing the big fish tourney like I do most wednesday nights and then probably wont be back out due to the holiday until mid next week. I figure it will be crazy as all get out the rest of the week so I will keep the boat parked. haha I thought I saw you running the other week but I didnt have time to stop by. lol

June 30, 2010 at 1:55 pm #305463

Cape Fear
Participant

They was great of the installer to take you out and show you how to use it. That is what I call customer service! Did you have to use a adapter/ bezel for the 8 in the dash? I would like to put a 8 the dash and on the bow of my P4 but the dash will not allow the 8 unless I make a modification.

June 30, 2010 at 7:50 pm #305464

Cape Fear
Participant

Could you possibly post a picture as to where/how the structure/down scan transducer is located on your boat. Was there any other mounting brackets other then the Lowrance brackets that were used in the installation? Trying to gather as much good info before purchasing the units. Thanks a bunch.William

July 1, 2010 at 1:12 am #305465

billfish
Participant

Cape Fear wrote:They was great of the installer to take you out and show you how to use it. That is what I call customer service! Did you have to use a adapter/ bezel for the 8 in the dash? I would like to put a 8 the dash and on the bow of my P4 but the dash will not allow the 8 unless I make a modification.The installer does a lot of these and he did not have to use an adapter / bezel for the 8 in the dash.It looks pretty good. I will shoot some pictures of the install so you can see. I thought about a hummingbird but the rail mount did not appeal to me and it would not fit like the 8 in the dash. In fact I bought the hummingbird from Bass Pro and then met with the installer and after going through everything I took it back to Bass Pro and they gave me a full refund and then bought the units from him (a little cheaper than Bass Pro). He buys from a reseller so if there is a problem I just go back to him and he sends to installer and gets a new unit in about 2 to 3 days. He definitely has it figured out. I learned more in the little time with him on the water than reading the manuals. Great guy.

July 1, 2010 at 1:17 am #305466

billfish
Participant

Cape Fear wrote:Could you possibly post a picture as to where/how the structure/down scan transducer is located on your boat. Was there any other mounting brackets other then the Lowrance brackets that were used in the installation? Trying to gather as much good info before purchasing the units. Thanks a bunch.WilliamI will take some pictures. Basically the structure/down scan transducer is in the middle of the boat mounted on a bracket coming off the glass right below the jack plate. I can go pretty fast and still get a perfect side scan. He added the transducer on the trolling motor for the bow unit at no additional charge and I cant wait to get it out there and do some deep drop shoting/vertical jigging. Also want to try it on the spots in Carters Lake in GA which is a deep clear lake.I will get the pictures up tomorrow evening

July 1, 2010 at 12:55 pm #305467

Cape Fear
Participant

I was under the impression that a HDS 8 would not fit in the dash unless there was some modification made. Most of the transducers mount I have seen were mounted on the jackplate. It will be intresting to see your mount. I wish we had someone in our area that offered the kind of service your installer offers.

July 1, 2010 at 2:16 pm #305484

MossBoss
Participant

Cape Fear wrote: I was under the impression that a HDS 8 would not fit in the dash unless there was some modification made. Most of the transducers mount I have seen were mounted on the jackplate. It will be intresting to see your mount. I wish we had someone in our area that offered the kind of service your installer offers.I wish someone in our area offered that kind of service on ANYTHING boat related.

July 6, 2010 at 11:21 pm #305485

billfish
Participant

I apologize for taking so long to get these posted. I was fishing and I jumped off the boat while it was on the trailer at the ramp and the ramp had some nice slime growing on it and I started to slide down the ramp like on ice and next thing I know I was up to my neck with phone dunked and wallet soaked! So all the pictures on my phone were lost until I got my replacement phone today from Verizon. You can see the mount on the dash of the HDS 8 and it is flush. The installer then put the structure scan transducer on the hull below the jack plate (which I have a manual plate) and therefore it stays in the water at higher speeds. This is the side scanning and down scanning HD transducer. The cable for the structure scan transducer then runs up the hull and thru the scupper hole in the motor well and then down through the hole cut for the motor cables. You see a small transducer cable which is the speed / temp for the old unit and the the larger cable which is the structure scan transducer. Does this help?

July 6, 2010 at 11:49 pm #305486

rydogggg
Participant

hey billfish dont feel bad i have done the same thing before on the launch ramp after my cranking died and i needed to stop the boat at the dock i kept sliding down the ramp untill i couldnt touch anymore, my girlfriend and her brother were laughing so hard at me they almost died, nice install by the way looks good

July 7, 2010 at 1:26 pm #305487

Cape Fear
Participant

Thanks for the pics Billfish. I am a little confused on why ECAT had to make a bezel for the HDS to fit on the console of his 08 Puma but you did not on your 04 Cougar unless the consoles are configured differently. I was hoping to put a HDS 8 on my 07 P4 but I am not sure if I would need to make a bezel. Maybe BCB could tell me if a bezel is needed or not. Thanks again for the pics.

July 8, 2010 at 1:55 am #305488

VA FTD
Participant

Where did you mount the control box?

July 8, 2010 at 8:01 pm #305489

billfish
Participant

VA FTD wrote: Where did you mount the control box?It is mounted under the dash – screwed into the console. Very secure and out of the way but accessable.
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