Sonar wars
How they stack up on the water
By Kevin ShortI've been wanting to do this for a while. I want to find out which of the two biggies in the marine electronics biz, Lowrance or Humminbird, make "the best" electronics.
I started to not use brand names in my little review/test thing here, but then who would I be fooling? I figured that the trip to the Far North with all the bronzies and deep water drop shotting would be a perfect test of whose units are the best; and it was.
Not only did I want to conduct a little test, but a purely un-biased test. I have no ties to any of the electronics companies. I ran Lowrance for 13 years and bought every single one of them. I switched to Humminbird this season and bought all three of them also.
Not that I haven't tried to worm my way into the electronics fold. Lowrance has been purchased by some monstrous international conglomerate that doesn't seem to spend a whole lot of time in a bass boat and Humminbird told me straight up that I run the wrong trolling motor. Huh?
No matter. I'll buy and use what works, hence the test. If it doesn't work, I won't mess with it.
Why, you may ask, did I switch from Lowrance after 13 years? Problems with units that Lowrance couldn't solve or replace. I went for two months last season without a unit because I had one smoke and Lowrance had no units to replace it with. I had a smaller spare unit or I would have been SOL.
I changed to Humminbird to get away from the problems and also for the Side Imaging capability. I have had no problems with Humminbird and I've been pleased with the Side Imaging, but not so crazy about the GPS/mapping or the sonar. Thus the reason for the test.
Here's what I did. On my Cougar this year, I have a 997C Si on the bow and one in the console. I also have a spare (that I've never taken out of the box) in the camper. I've spent all season getting familiar with the ins and outs of the Humminbird units and feel comfortable in the fact that I can make them do everything they are capable of doing.
The Side Imaging is the bomb. It is absolutely amazing the detail that you can see with these units. I used the Side Imaging a lot at Clarks Hill to find isolated patches of rock on the sides of points and it works very well. I also used it at Erie to easily locate several shipwrecks in water from 45- to 75-feet deep. It was amazing to idle along the wrecks and see the entire barge or ship lying on the bottom. Pretty impressive stuff.
So I'm digging the Side Imaging, but I haven't been real happy with the sonar on the 997s. I'm not sure that I'm really seeing everything that's down there. The sonar between the two brands is what I wanted to compare on this northern run, due to the extensive use of the drop shot and the fact that to be effective while drop shotting, it is extremely important that you see what is under you. Very important.
I spent some more of my hip pocket money and purchased a Lowrance LCX 27C. I really wanted a 37 because of the larger screen, but only the 27 was available.
I did not want the available hard drive for two reasons. First, think about this: what's the worst thing you can do to a computer? Drop it and jar the hard drive.
You expect me to believe that there's a hard drive capable of standing up to the pounding of a boat in the Erie Ocean? Just my opinion. Second, I didn't want to spend the extra money for a hard drive to hold maps when all I really wanted was the sonar.
I unboxed the 27 on Monday evening, the first practice day at Erie. I mounted it on the bow, just below the 997, wired everything up and pushed the button. It worked fine for about five minutes, then jagged lines started running across the screen and — poof — it was gone.
Black screen.
No power.
Can't turn it on.
Didn't turn it off.
We're not off to a good start on our test.
I killed the master power to the boat, waited a few minutes and heated everything back up. The 27 worked fine for about four minutes, then the jagged lines, and it froze. I couldn't turn it off. None of the buttons did anything.
@#$%^&^%!!
Kerry ran down the Lowrance tech, Darrell, on Tuesday a.m. and he had a unit to replace it with.
That's the nice thing about Lowrance having service crews at the Elite Series events. They can and will do everything they can to help a brother out. Darrell hooked the fubar unit up in his truck to see what its symptoms were and promptly proclaimed "Wow. Never seen one do that before."
Wednesday a.m. and I'm out on Erie with all electronics locked and loaded. After about 10 minutes getting the 27 fine-tuned, I was seeing my drop shot rig in 40 foot of water. I was also seeing a lot more detail on the 27 than I was on the 997.
I'm not sure why there was an increase in detail as both units supposedly have similar pixel counts. It may have something to do with the type of displays or the actual pixel dimensions on the display. All I know is I can see much smaller detail on the 27. Hmm. So if I'm seeing a difference here, what have I been missing all season? Maybe I need to do some more testing.
I fiddled with the 997, trying to get it to show the same detail that I was seeing with the 27. I adjusted all the sensitivity, tried different frequencies on the transducer, and looked through every menu on the 997, but I couldn't make it happen.
It just did not show the detail that I was seeing on the 27. It's one thing to see these units running a simulator pattern in the store; entirely another to see the units working side by side in the real world, on the same boat, looking at the same fish in the same water. While looking at real drop shots floating through the water, no one is getting paid in advertising dollars to tell you one is better than another.
I spent another three days during the Empire Chase on Erie staring intently at the 27. I floated my dropshot in front of hundreds of smallmouth bass. I saw thousands of gobies on the unit — which was another thing that I simply could never see clearly on the 997.
I could not get either one of the 997s dialed in to show a flock or school or gaggle or whatever they call a mess of gobies on the bottom of Lake Erie. But, I had no problem seeing them with the 27. Go figure.
Another advantage for the Lowrance units showed up during a scouting trip on the Mississippi River out of Fort Madison, Iowa. The shallowest depth range that the Humminbird units have is 10 foot. Lowrance has a 5 foot range.
When you're fishing in 3 foot of water or less, a 10 foot depth range is pretty much useless. Anyone who's fished in a river system knows that you can spend a whole lot of time in some pretty skinny water; lot skinnier than 10 feet.
My conclusion: I'll have both units on my next boat, unless Lowrance cracks the code on the side imaging (in which case I'll be a Lowrance-only guy again). I'll have a 997 on the console simply for the Side Imaging. I'll probably have it mounted on a RAM mount for the ability to put it on or take it off as needed. I'll have a 38, or maybe even a 112 or 113, mounted in the console and probably a 112 or 113 on the bow.
Why two units on the console? GPS. I want to have the ability to mark waypoints from the steering wheel on the 112/ 113 then walk to the front deck and have them appear on the bow unit; it saves a ton of time.
For the majority of anglers, Humminbird with the Side Imaging will allow them to see a whole new underwater world. If you do buy one of the Side Imaging units, get a big one for the bigger screen and the sharper detail.
If you're not concerned with seeing what is beside you (which you should be for the simple fact that you can cover major amounts of water in a short period of time), and you only want to see the highest amount of detail on the sonar, then you need to go with Lowrance.
Again, the larger units will have the most power and show the most detail. It bears repeating that all this is my opinion, with no scientific mojo testing or smoke and mirrors crap. Just calling it like I see it, folks.
So who wins? I'll call it a draw. Lowrance has the edge on sonar and GPS/mapping (a subject for another test) while Humminbird has the Side Imaging technology. Both have a place on my boat.
For more info on Kevin Short or to contact Kevin, check out his Web site at www.kfshort.com.
