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Lowrance HDS/ LSS1 Structure scan

9K views 26 replies 15 participants last post by  jignpig 
#1 ·
Does anybody have any first hand experience with these units? Im specifically looking for someone who has used the new LSS1 Structure scan module with their HDS unit. Im currently slated to buy an HDS 10 w/ structure scan module for my Skeeter, but I would like to hear any thoughts anybody has on the matter. Is it worth the money?
Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Unfortunatley dude I don't think anybody out here in Colorado has purchased the unit yet,being that it is quite expensive and was pretty much just released.I do know that they did sell some out at the Bass -A-Thon in Anaheim and guys out west are raving about it,I havn't seen much feed back yet from the guys out in Texas yet.Join up over at westernbass, calbassin, texasfishingforum.com and ask your question and I can guarantee you will get answers on the unit.Those boards are filled with guys that are heavy into bass fishing and tournement fishing and will spend top dollar on the latest technology,baits etc to give them a edge.Not dissing CO anglers but most people here in CO won't spend $2500 on a graph and another $600 on the structure scan or 16 dollar lucky crafts,$250-$300 dollar rods,$150-$250 swimbaits etc but guys in states were bass fishing is huge will especially in California.

The units look so amazing,I would love to have one for my boat.I would wait just a little longer and start browsing the forums out there.Reports should start to pick up as anglers across the country start to get there hands on the structure scan.

The SS pictures look so sick,that down scan would be awesome.


Good luck TMC.
 
#3 ·
Thanks GM.   Luckily for me at my last trny (which I got my Azz kicked at) I got paid at the casino we were staying at  ;)  so I have the money to blow on this contraption. I found one of the new Biosonix today and it should be in the mail tomorrow (I had no idea those were so hard to find right now) and I'm going to pick up a 36V Motorguide this Saturday and I will get some AGM batts lined up. My trny rig is nearing completion!  I love casinos!
 
#4 ·
Nice mad cat!

I know setthehook has a HDS7 and I am almost positive he will be springing for the LLS1 scan. Problem is not many people use their boats this time of the year.
I am interested in checking it out but in the kind of fishing I do it just doesn't seem worth it to me.

Now reels in rods in the price range Grolsch talked about it no problem haha! :eek: :D
 
#5 ·
I have the HDS7 and will likely be installing the LSS in 2010. One of our club members has the LSS, he put in on last week. I have not talked to him yet so I dont know how well it works. I hear that a forward speed of 2+ MPH is necessary to get a good pic...that concerns me as that speed wont work for lindy rigging.
 
#6 ·
Boondock said:
Nice mad cat!

I know setthehook has a HDS7 and I am almost positive he will be springing for the LLS1 scan. Problem is not many people use their boats this time of the year.
I am interested in checking it out but in the kind of fishing I do it just doesn't seem worth it to me.

Now reels and rods in the price range Grolsch talked about it no problem haha! :eek: :D
 
#7 ·
Not to throw a wrench in your plans, but have you thought about Humminbird? I have the 997 and love it. They don't charge for the updates and according to the unofficial Humminbird forum they will have all new color palettes, including the same yellow red of lowrance... I got use the unit about 25 or so days this summer and really feel its money we spent. Also, i think the HBs are much easielr to use than my dad's Lowrance units. HB's will be equiped with down scan this year too...
 
#8 ·
jignpig said:
Not to throw a wrench in your plans, but have you thought about Humminbird? I have the 997 and love it. They don't charge for the updates and according to the unofficial Humminbird forum they will have all new color palettes, including the same yellow red of lowrance... I got use the unit about 25 or so days this summer and really feel its money we spent. Also, i think the HBs are much easielr to use than my dad's Lowrance units. HB's will be equiped with down scan this year too...
Thanks jignpig

Does anybody else have an opinion on the HB units? They really arent all that much cheaper and they have a little less funtionality as far as Im conerened
 
#9 ·
The_Mad_Catter™ said:
jignpig said:
Not to throw a wrench in your plans, but have you thought about Humminbird? I have the 997 and love it. They don't charge for the updates and according to the unofficial Humminbird forum they will have all new color palettes, including the same yellow red of lowrance... I got use the unit about 25 or so days this summer and really feel its money we spent. Also, i think the HBs are much easielr to use than my dad's Lowrance units. HB's will be equiped with down scan this year too...
Thanks jignpig

Does anybody else have an opinion on the HB units? They really arent all that much cheaper and they have a little less funtionality as far as Im conerened


I have one alsoCattman! Love it! I want to see the HD LSS in action. If the down scan works the would be my final decsion on buying the it instead of the HB
 
#10 ·
That LSS1 looks like the greatest advance in sonars since liquid crystal replaced paper. One thing though. In all the demos and pictures of screens I've seen, I have yet to find one that shows FISH! Trees, yes. Rocks, yes. Roads and cliffs, yes.

But, is it a "fish scan" too? Or, are fish images simply just arches like they are now on 2-D? If so, I'm not sold. If there's far better fish separation and clearer definition, then it will become a "must have" for me, 2nd mortgage or not!
 
#11 ·
Tarponjim said:
That LSS1 looks like the greatest advance in sonars since liquid crystal replaced paper. One thing though. In all the demos and pictures of screens I've seen, I have yet to find one that shows FISH! Trees, yes. Rocks, yes. Roads and cliffs, yes.

But, is it a "fish scan" too? Or, are fish images simply just arches like they are now on 2-D? If so, I'm not sold. If there's far better fish separation and clearer definition, then it will become a "must have" for me, 2nd mortgage or not!
With my HB you can see fish holding on structure and schools of bait fish. Bigger fish stick out better then the small ones.
 
#13 ·
A couple things to think about with the HB's. The TVG option... HB whoops Lowrance in the shallow water department... Just go to Walleye Central and read all the bad reviews in Shallow water. TVG, allows you to see a fish that is 5lbs the same at 100ft and 25 foot. Also, the Jig tracking is awesome without Tvg enacted. I caught some great fish at Horsetooth this fall and got to watch them come up to my drop shot and lay it down on it!!!

You will have tons of adjustabilty with gain between the TVG on Setting and TVG off Setting. It is also awesome for Highspeed searching...

I think you are right...the difference in price is not huge, but also think about no external hardware on the HB. One less thing to have to wire or worry about. As for the extra functions in the I don't see ther being a huge advantage. HB is very progressive with the updates they offer and you don't have to pay for them...ie down scan this early spring will be available on the 997's and alreadt out for 1197's.

Either way you go you aren't going to be dissapointed $2k+ on any sonar unit opens up a whole new book regardless of what box it comes in...

Check this site out www.xumba.scholleco.com

PM me if you want to talk about the HB and I'll Give you my number...
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the input everybody!!! Over the weekend I found myself having a deal plopped into my lap. The deal is on a HB 1197 and for the money I am going to pull the trigger. That being said I would still like to hear some field data on the HDS because I still think I like them, but in this economy the better price wins for me every time
 
#15 ·
One of the guys here in Pueblo got an LSS1 two weeks ago (from Denver Bass Pro). After his first trip out (just before the cold snap) he said the images look just like the photos on the website. It's easy to see the structure and hard to see the fish.


Hmmmmmmm.........
 
#16 ·
When scouting with sonar remember... The structure will always be there, the fish won't. The biggest problem alot of folks have with the new technology is that they cannot see a true advancement in fish separation from structure. What everyone has to realize is that the anglers who use the highest end sonar are never looking for fish. They are looking for areas they KNOW fish will be at a given time and the better they can understand and record lake bottoms the happier they are with their investment.

A fish finder isn't a fish finder. You are the fish finder. ;)
 
#18 ·
longdraw said:
What everyone has to realize is that the anglers who use the highest end sonar are never looking for fish.

A fish finder isn't a fish finder. You are the fish finder. ;)
Um, I guess I don't know squat then, because when I use my sonar, I'm ALWAYS looking for FISH! I think its called "fishing,", not "rocking," or "mudding," or "structuring." ;D I don't care too much about rocks, twigs, trees, mud, or whatever else is down on the bottom. Guess I'm a low-ender.

I want to know precisely how many fish are in my cone, whether they're my target fish, relative size, exactly where they are in the water column, if they're moving, whether they're reacting to my lure, how close they're getting to my lure, and when they're about to eat my lure. I can determine most of this with my LCX, but thought maybe this new structure scan would make it more clear. (perhaps not!)

Heck, I know where the fish are. Finding them is fairly easy. Most any decent sonar will do that. Figuring out what they're doing, thinking, and/or how they're reacting is the harder part.

If the fish are there, I don't care what type of structure it is at that moment. For later reference, yes. But as they say, "You can't catch 'em where they aint." I need to know my lure is in thier face, and to what extent, and what the fish think about it.

Thankfully, it sounds like I can hold off on the 2nd morgtage for a while! From what I've read, cost doesn't equal benefit yet for the Lowrance. Yet . . .
 
#20 ·
The software seems a lot like what I've been using for years....Just with better pictures.

Yep.. I've been a low ender...Don't go there zman!....The sonar I've used has always given me depth...I can make out bushes and trees...humps...edges and drops...Just not fish. It's always helped me find areas to fish...places where fish may be, which is definitely an edge over those with no sonar at all. However, having gone out with people that have higher end units....I've seen how much time is wasted fishing good spots ...that simply don't hold fish at the time I'm fishing.

It's pretty cool knowing that "rock on the bottom" is actually a walleye, and watching fish come in...come up ....or down on my bait...Actually fishing where fish are, and not just where I think they should be...

I think it would be cool if the picture quality of the Structure Scan was added to existing units, being able to switch between structure scan and the technology currently in use. Kinda the best of both worlds. Can you do that? If you can, I'm sure at a reasonable price everyone would love to have it.

I did notice one other thing. Did they call it "Structure Scan" because they know the limitations of the technology? The name seems to accurately identify the capability of the software, without promoting any fish finding ability. You'd think if that was a strength, they'd want to promote the heck out of it. After all, we all want to find more fish.
 
#22 ·
I haven't seen that the new HDS units, or the tructure scan, offer any advantage to me for the kind of fishing I do most of the time. They draw cool pictures, but I don't see any real technical advantages.
 
#23 ·
longdraw said:
What everyone has to realize is that the anglers who use the highest end sonar are never looking for fish. They are looking for areas they KNOW fish will be at a given time.
I think this point is more valid in shallower situations when someone is fancasting an area or using a presentation that covers large densely structured areas faster i.e. weedbeds, shallow rock point, or bars. But deeper water with more vertical presentations or trolling it is very advantageous to be fishing directly to fish, not just "fishy" spots, let alone the benefit of knowing what depth a suspending fish or where a roaming fish is at.
Think of striper fishing at Powell, you could fish a lot of good structure without ever coming across a single fish, this is where the ability to look for fish wins. Likewise seeing a 3 pound largemouth buried in a dense weed column isn't very likely, and your point of finding the dense weed column is more appropriate.
In the end much like everything we buy, it just another tool in the toolbox. Might be great for one job and pointless for another.
 
#24 ·
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