# Still looking at FF/GPS units



## MAK (Dec 15, 2017)

I believe West Marine has 15% off everything on the 23rd and they show the Elite 7 in stock at Tampa. Not sure what the Bass Pro sale price was but may be worth checking.


----------



## Guest (Nov 17, 2018)

Get an Elite 7, or even better an Elite 9. Then get the Florida Marine Tracks chip. Don’t do what I did and get something else first, you’ll end up wasting money.


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

The Elite Ti was discontinued and replaced with the Elite Ti2 which has an improved screen.
The screen on the discontinued model is not very good and particularly on the 7" and 9" models.
If you get one of those get the Ti2. Better yet, try to find a Carbon 12" or 9" as it was also replaced by a new unit but has a good screen and more capabilities than the Ti. The old Tis and Carbons will have big pricing discounts all over since it was discontinued and has no pricing restrictions.


----------



## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Egrets Landing said:


> The Elite Ti was discontinued and replaced with the Elite Ti2 which has an improved screen.
> The screen on the discontinued model is not very good and particularly on the 7" and 9" models.
> If you get one of those get the Ti2. Better yet, try to find a Carbon 12" or 9" as it was also replaced by a new unit but has a good screen and more capabilities than the Ti. The old Tis and Carbons will have big pricing discounts all over since it was discontinued and has no pricing restrictions.


What was the HDS Carbon replaced by?


----------



## No Bait / Lures Only (Apr 10, 2011)

firecat1981 said:


> So after all the previous discussions I was all but sold on the Lowrance Elite 7ti. I went to basspro and it was on sale, but they had no more units, and said they weren't getting restocked. They did not know if it was discontinued, but I've noticed all the sales went away and it's getting harder to find them in general.
> 
> So it's back to the drawing board. There is a sale on the Hummingbird helix 7si, I'm not in love with the form factor but it got decent reviews. Also there is a sale on the Lowrance Elite 9ti, again I'm not in love with the mount, and I think it's pretty huge for a small boat, but it's a good unit.
> 
> Thoughts on the Helix? Or a big unit on a small boat?


What ever unit you decide to buy, remember that west marine matches prices. By the way I purchased lowrance elite 7ti n very happy with it.


----------



## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

So is the general opinion to stay away from the Hummingbird helix? In favor of the elite ti models?


----------



## matauman (Nov 4, 2014)

Just received an email from raymarine and they have a sale on and some open box stuff at good prices. I have the a78 and added the navionics chip and like the setup. Especially on new water as it has satellite images as overlays.
http://www.raymarine.com/bfcm2018/?...il&utm_campaign=black-friday-2018-instruments


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> What was the HDS Carbon replaced by?


 Live


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

matauman said:


> Just received an email from raymarine and they have a sale on and some open box stuff at good prices. I have the a78 and added the navionics chip and like the setup. Especially on new water as it has satellite images as overlays.
> http://www.raymarine.com/bfcm2018/?...il&utm_campaign=black-friday-2018-instruments


Those charts are a mess for anyone running a skiff outside of a main marked channel in any challenging area. It is a general reference chart at best which does not work well in shallow areas. The images provided are mostly low res so they go fuzzy when zoomed and they are dark and also dated. Trying to use it on new water that is not deep would be a very uncertain, worrisome and a risky endeavor.


----------



## redfish5 (Jun 28, 2011)

Egrets Landing said:


> The Elite Ti was discontinued and replaced with the Elite Ti2 which has an improved screen.
> The screen on the discontinued model is not very good and particularly on the 7" and 9" models.
> If you get one of those get the Ti2. Better yet, try to find a Carbon 12" or 9" as it was also replaced by a new unit but has a good screen and more capabilities than the Ti. The old Tis and Carbons will have big pricing discounts all over since it was discontinued and has no pricing restrictions.


How is the screen improved from the Ti to the Ti2? Their website seems to show both resolutions at 800 x 480


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

The screen is totally different. I think they put the same screen as they used on the Carbon units
and it looks a lot better although it may be the same screen res. Richer and the glare and angle issues were addressed.

The larger screens have the best resolution. 12" is best for most boats as the resolution is nearly 300% better than most 7" screens. You can see the difference in the res if you are running truly high res imagery but low res native data like what navionics provides will render about the same on all of the machines. A unit that has great capability cant make a low res image look any better than it really is. But a unit with less capability can't fully render a high quality image degrading the image's potential.


----------



## redfish5 (Jun 28, 2011)

Thanks for the feedback. Bass Pro has the 9” Ti on clearance for $599 and I have some gift cards, so it’s tough to ignore. I do plan on running the FMT chip. While I would like a top of the line model, budget does play a factor. I’ll snoop around for a carbon model as well.


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

The 9" Ti screen looks really bad. I just had one running in FTL with FMT. Not impressed.


----------



## Guest (Nov 21, 2018)

Please tell me the Lowrance units have improved since my last big purchase! I had an lcx15 & a lcx16 several year ago and my fishing buddy also had two lcx16’s! We used them mainly in our offshore boats but I had a gimble on my skiff also. We both had nothing but problems from the units! Sent back to Lowrance multiple times because the scren would invert! I let mine go with the boat when I sold it but told the dude, hey they work... when they want to so it’s on you now to keep them or replace them!


----------



## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Boatbrains said:


> Please tell me the Lowrance units have improved since my last big purchase! I had an lcx15 & a lcx16 several year ago and my fishing buddy also had two lcx16’s! We used them mainly in our offshore boats but I had a gimble on my skiff also. We both had nothing but problems from the units! Sent back to Lowrance multiple times because the scren would invert! I let mine go with the boat when I sold it but told the dude, hey they work... when they want to so it’s on you now to keep them or replace them!


I’ve had an HDS5, 7 and 9Touch and they are all pretty crappy. I’m about to bite the bullet and get a Humminbird Solix 12 and be done.


----------



## Guest (Nov 21, 2018)

I have a little garmin handheld that I use on the rare occasion of hitting inshore rocks for shallow water grouper. But other than that, I don’t need one for fishing anywhere on the Nature coast, been fishen these waters so long I forget which ramp I launched from sometimes!


----------



## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Boatbrains said:


> I have a little garmin handheld that I use on the rare occasion of hitting inshore rocks for shallow water grouper. But other than that, I don’t need one for fishing anywhere on the Nature coast, been fishen these waters so long I forget which ramp I launched from sometimes!


I use one for fishing deep structure and just a little for navigation. I like to know where to run if my navigation craps out.


----------



## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

In previous threads everyone was telling me to go with the Lowrance elite 7ti. I understand these are much better units then their predecessors. Well I couldn't pass up this deal. The 7ti was on sale for $699 a few weeks back, but I'm at bass pro getting the 9ti for the $599 special, with the total scan transducer and navionics+. With some old gift cards I'm only out $549 after tax.


----------



## rickc (Nov 7, 2018)

Egrets Landing said:


> Those charts are a mess for anyone running a skiff outside of a main marked channel in any challenging area. It is a general reference chart at best which does not work well in shallow areas. The images provided are mostly low res so they go fuzzy when zoomed and they are dark and also dated. Trying to use it on new water that is not deep would be a very uncertain, worrisome and a risky endeavor.


i must say for running shallow water and backwater marshes and creeks my favorite is the navionics platnium in satellite view. you can easily see the deeper channels and find spots you never knew existed.


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

rickc said:


> i must say for running shallow water and backwater marshes and creeks my favorite is the navionics platnium in satellite view. you can easily see the deeper channels and find spots you never knew existed.


Yeah.. its like running on really bad tires for a long time. You don't realize how bad they really are until you get new ones. So many people running it only know what they know which is that exactly that kind of experience. Any image is better than no image. Or they take it to a place like 10000 islands or Biscayne Bay or the keys and finally realize it creates so much uncertainty in challenging areas it's like running blind.


----------



## rickc (Nov 7, 2018)

Egrets Landing said:


> Yeah.. its like running on really bad tires for a long time. You don't realize how bad they really are until you get new ones. So many people running it only know what they know which is that exactly that kind of experience. Any image is better than no image. Or they take it to a place like 10000 islands or Biscayne Bay or the keys and finally realize it creates so much uncertainty in challenging areas it's like running blind.


opinions vary

it works very well for me in northwest florida.

maybe you just have a crappy gps unit.


----------



## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

So I was talking to a coworker today. He has been running 2 of the Elite 7ti's on his boat and absolutely loves them. He's a bit upset that my 9" was cheaper then his 7's, lol.

My unit came with both a navionics+ chip, and Lowrance's C-map chip, as did his. He was running the Navionics because everyone said it was way better. However he decided to try the C-maps when he added the second unit just for curiosity. 
He was blown away by how much better it was. He said the C-maps have more and more accurate contour lines, and have marked debris piles with notes you can look at for better details.

Now this being said, he is an avid bass fisherman, so I'm not sure if this translates out to the salt. When the time comes I'll try both chips and see what happens.


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

rickc said:


> opinions vary
> 
> it works very well for me in northwest florida.
> 
> maybe you just have a crappy gps unit.


Not true. I have 2 EVO3 12s, an Evo3 9", an EVO3 16" an HDS Gen 3, an Elite Ti 9 and Elite Ti 12. And its not even close to opinion. As I said, you can only know what you know so your opinion is based just on that. I have studied all the options side by side in detail. The charts don't lie. They show what they show and the imagery is what it is. If you saw how poor the Plat + really is based purely on empirical observation it would be completely obvious. But I will say if there is any place in FL where your chip could be considered better it is in NW FL. Overall, running that area is a breeze compared to NE FL and South FL. Thus the imagery and map detail can be less and still be OK to avoid a problem.


----------

