Lowrance Elite 7 CHIRP

15354 Views 44 Replies 13 Participants Last post by clackaram, Dec 17, 2014

setthehook

Discussion Starter · Jun 30, 2014 (Edited)

8

Had my new Elite 7 CHIRP (Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse) delivered about 10 days ago and have had three trips on three different lakes to test it out.In summary, it is awesome.As stated before and in my own words CHIRP bridges the gap and in some cases jumps the gap between traditional sonar with HDI and HDS with Structure Scan. The gap it bridges is related to cost. It is not as expensive as HDS with Structure Scan. It does jump the gap in the sense that color definition of fish/bait is greater than traditional sonar with HDI.I would even debate that CHIRP (depending on how you fish and for certain species) is equal to or better than HDS with Structure Scan.

200kHz

Medium CHIRP

High CHIRP

Medium and High CHIRP

Medium and High CHIRP jig on bottom

I still need to play with it a bit more and get the HDI Skimmer 83/200 455/800 transducer as opposed to the standard 83/200 transducer.Adding DownScan to the screen will make it even better.

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walleye seeker

· #2 · Jun 30, 2014

it looks awesome Dave, we are going to stay about 50 feet behind you in the tourny

setthehook

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 30, 2014

walleye seeker said:
it looks awesome Dave, we are going to stay about 50 feet behind you in the tourny

OK. If you are talking about the CWA Plo tourney, I will not be fishing it. I have volunteered to cook brats and burgers for the dinner though.

rvinson

· #4 · Jun 30, 2014

Nice unit!! Does that support insight genesis?

walleye seeker

· #5 · Jun 30, 2014

setthehook said:
OK. If you are talking about the CWA Plo tourney, I will not be fishing it. I have volunteered to cook brats and burgers for the dinner though.

sorry to hear that, then let me borrow your boat LOL see you at the dinner

setthehook

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 30, 2014

2

rvinson said:
Nice unit!! Does that support insight genesis?

Yep.

As always when fishing I am recording Insight Genesis data to create better maps of the lakes I frequent. Below are a few pics before and after.
Factory loaded maps:

Insight Genesis maps:

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rvinson

· #7 · Jun 30, 2014

Very Nice!!

lvrider

· #8 · Jun 30, 2014

Me wants

andyrm66

· #9 · Jun 30, 2014

Chirp is cool. I looked long and hard at the RayMarine Dragonly just because it has it, ended up going with the bird just for the fact you cant make maps with the dragonfly.

tal0362

· #10 · Jul 1, 2014

Setthehook,

The returns (graph - medium) are similar to what we used to get on our old Lowrance units. I still have a 322c that is better than my (now antiquated) HDS 8 side scan when running at at 200khz.

I will wait patiently for your Insight maps to appear on my favorite lakes.... Or did they change the agreement?

andyrm66

· #11 · Jul 1, 2014

tal0362 said:
Setthehook,

The returns (graph - medium) are similar to what we used to get on our old Lowrance units. I still have a 322c that is better than my (now antiquated) HDS 8 side scan when running at at 200khz.

I will wait patiently for your Insight maps to appear on my favorite lakes.... Or did they change the agreement?

As long as you check the "privacy" box, your data is yours. Another reason I choose the birds.
Privacy
What happens to a consumer’s sonar log once they are submitted to Insight
Genesis? Is the sonar log data kept private?
During the upload process an Insight Genesis user has the option to share their sonar logs
for the benefit of the Insight Genesis community or to keep them private.
• If the privacy option is chosen:
- The data, including contours, depths, waypoints, routes or tracks will never be
used by anyone, including Navico or other subscribers.
• If Privacy is not chosen:
- Only Contour data may be used by Navico in products and/or
integrated into an Insight Genesis community layer that would benefit all Insight
Genesis subscribers.
- No waypoint, note, route or trail data will ever be used by Navico or any other
user.
- No contour data will be used unless there are multiple, usable contributions in
the same area of a body of water.

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setthehook

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 1, 2014

2

tal0362 said:
Setthehook,

The returns (graph - medium) are similar to what we used to get on our old Lowrance units. I still have a 322c that is better than my (now antiquated) HDS 8 side scan when running at at 200khz.

I will wait patiently for your Insight maps to appear on my favorite lakes.... Or did they change the agreement?

Tal0362,
Agree that they are similar (Medium CHIRP to older units) but there are visible and non-visible differences that make CHIRP a little better. The non-visible part is the pulse compression and signal variance that results in a clearer picture. Less clutter and fish/target separation are the visible results. I don't have my 332 anymore or I would hook it up beside the CHIRP to see the differences. I still have some learning to do with my new Elite 7 so I don't know that I have captured the best screen shot showing the abilities of CHIRP.

As for mapping. Those who have an Insight subscription can take advantage of maps on tens of thousands of bodies of water across the world...believe it or not there are as many international map creators as there are domestic. Here is the list for CO:
Arapaho Bay, Aurora Reservoir, Big Beaver Reservoir, Boyd Lake, Calkins Lake, Carter Lake Reservoir, Chatfield, Lake Cherry, Creek Lake, Douglas Reservoir, Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir, Grand Lake, Horsetooth Reservoir, Ish Reservoir, Lon Hagler Reservoir, Lonetree Reservoir, Monument Lake, North Catamount Reservoir, Park Creek Reservoir, Pueblo Reservoir, Steamboat Lake, Tarryall Reservoir, Trinidad Lake, Williams Fork Reservoir. Even the CO list is not current...I know because I started on another lake so who knows, yours might be mapped or partially mapped even if it is not on the list.

Each big blue dot on the below maps contains multiple mapped locations/lakes.

To those who don't want to upload publically or don't want to chose Insight Genesis as their mapping tool, that's fine. You can keep your maps private but at some point your "secret" locations on your lake will eventually be mapped. And just because you have secret parts of a lake mapped does not mean everyone will suddenly show up on your spot decimating the area of your fish...it just does not happen that way nor is that easy. There is more to fishing than having a map. Plus, what service out there allows you to pay a fee (small when compared to map chips or mapping services) and download every one of the lakes on the 52 page list of bodies of water? Go ahead, name one.

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tal0362

· #13 · Jul 1, 2014

Very interesting. Maybe will have to replace the Humminbird 998 on my walleye boat with an insight genesis and CHIRP technology Lowrance unit.

LONGHORN

· #14 · Jul 1, 2014

Talo - I was Lowrance all the way but I just traded that Lowrance HDS8 to a friend of mine and went back to Bird. The reason - MY mapping data is MINE and I know it can't be shared because I'm not making my maps while connected to the internet. I will add: Autochart is sweet! It's easy to work with and the maps are better looking imo than the Insight maps. Lowrance says that data won't be shared but will it really remain private? Maybe I'm just a paranoid laker type fisherman.

setthehook

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jul 1, 2014

LONGHORN said:
Maybe I'm just a paranoid laker type fisherman.

I think you are and you probably are not alone.

If you'd like to start another thread comparing mapping capabilities of different manufacturers I'd join in on that one.

rvinson

· #16 · Jul 1, 2014

LONGHORN said:
Talo - I was Lowrance all the way but I just traded that Lowrance HDS8 to a friend of mine and went back to Bird. The reason - MY mapping data is MINE and I know it can't be shared because I'm not making my maps while connected to the internet. I will add: Autochart is sweet! It's easy to work with and the maps are better looking imo than the Insight maps. Lowrance says that data won't be shared but will it really remain private? Maybe I'm just a paranoid laker type fisherman.

Ive been thinking about going with hummingbird.... I originally bought my HDS-5 Gen 1 with the intent of purchasing Dr. Depth software... But that software has been purchased(I heard by hummingbird) and is no longer available

Unfortunatley my Gen 1 HDS is not compatable with Insite genesis either

setthehook

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 1, 2014

rvinson said:
Ive been thinking about going with hummingbird.... I originally bought my HDS-5 Gen 1 with the intent of purchasing Dr. Depth software... But that software has been purchased(I heard by hummingbird) and is no longer available

Unfortunatley my Gen 1 HDS is not compatable with Insite genesis either

Your Gen1 was manufactured 4-5 years ago, Dr. Depth was purchased a little over a year ago. The technology curve is moving a bit faster.

As in any big purchase, I urge everyone to perform a comprehensive needs based analysis.

LONGHORN

· #18 · Jul 1, 2014

rvinson said:
Ive been thinking about going with hummingbird.... I originally bought my HDS-5 Gen 1 with the intent of purchasing Dr. Depth software... But that software has been purchased(I heard by hummingbird) and is no longer available

Unfortunatley my Gen 1 HDS is not compatable with Insite genesis either

I was a Dr. Depth user until they sold it. I still have the program on a newer laptop which I NEVER put online. It's my mapping cpu. One thing I really appreciate about Autochart is the fact that the old Dr. Depth files transferred over and load right up on my Bird. Nice touch for those of us that invested time with the old version of the program. I'm really enjoying the Bird so far. Feel free to PM any questions you may have if you get serious about the Bird.

rvinson

· #19 · Jul 1, 2014

setthehook said:
Your Gen1 was manufactured 4-5 years ago, Dr. Depth was purchased a little over a year ago. The technology curve is moving a bit faster.

As in any big purchase, I urge everyone to perform a comprehensive needs based analysis.

The dr. Depth software was still available when I purchased my HDS unit... But was no longer available by the time I had extra cash to get the software

rvinson

· #20 · Jul 1, 2014

LONGHORN said:
I was a Dr. Depth user until they sold it. I still have the program on a newer laptop which I NEVER put online. It's my mapping cpu. One thing I really appreciate about Autochart is the fact that the old Dr. Depth files transferred over and load right up on my Bird. Nice touch for those of us that invested time with the old version of the program. I'm really enjoying the Bird so far. Feel free to PM any questions you may have if you get serious about the Bird.

Thanks, Will do!!

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