I'm about to pull the trigger on a new fishfinder and was trying to get some feedback from anyone who might have an opinion or experience with either of the two I was looking at. It has come down to the Hbird 598CI HD SI or the Raymarine Dragonfly. Both get pretty good reviews and are close in price. The Hbird has more features and I'm not sure if they are gimmicks or useful so opinions on that would be appreciated. It has a switchable transponder that allows for wide angle or narrow view, and side imaging that seems like it would be really useful. It uses standard sonar technology. Many of the other features are similar to the Raymarine (GPS, waypoints, temp, speed, etc). The Raymarine uses CHIRP technology that is supposed to be newer and more detailed and the unit looks a little nicer and more intuitive. I guess my main question is all other things being equal, is it better to have a little more versatile unit using tech with less detail or go for the new tech and sacrifice detail? The side imaging feature looks really cool and useful but not sure if its worth it. I mainly fly fish but will go deep if needed and am fishing out of a 14 foot aluminum lund if that makes any difference. The Hbird has recently been discontinued and is on sale at Cabelas for $600. The Raymarine is around $700.00 at bass pro. Also, does anyone have an opinion on map chips that would work on these units? Lots of people say the built in ones suck. Not sure if one company makes a far superior map of the lakes in Colorado. Thanks for any feedback you can give.
Raymarine vs. Humminbird
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Why not Lowrance? Just wondering.
Just heard good things about these and Hbird is supposed to have really good customer service. Didn't see a lowrance with the same features in that price range. Not opposed, is there a certain model you thought was in the same category?
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Lowrance is not what it used to be, poor to no customer service and the two I have a junk, less than 2 months old and having major issues.
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