best marine gps/chartplotter/sonar for the money
 

Looks like my Garvin 178C has cratered, at least the gps portion. The depthfinder portion still works, but I am now officially in the market for a new gps and thinking of spending some major $$ and get a chartplotter/side imaging sonar combo. Been researching for a couple of days and visited West Marine yesterday and was about locked on to the Lowrance with (so called) hybrid down imaging which supposedly gives you the effect of true side imaging. It has a "7 in" screen (actually only about 6.4" of viewing area) and is the Elite 7 HDI Gold (which means it comes preloaded with Navionics mapping software which is supposed to be comparable to Garmin Blue Chart.) WM has a 10% sale ending tomorrow and the unit, pre-sale price, sells for $650 which is a very good price compared to a comparable Garmin 740s at $999, but the Garmin is touch screeen and the Lowrance seems to have a complicated menu, but the Garmin only has a regular depth/fish finder not side imaging. My eyes are also cratering so that's why I want to step up to a larger screen, but can't afford the big screens, the 7-8" version seem just about right. Looking for any advice anyone might have.

I have the hds 7 touch bundle package with structure scan. Its awesome. No complaints. Down and side Images are nice!
And lowrance has great offer going on right now free wii module and free insights for a year plus u get a router for free. U can control your unit from smart phone r pad

sent from my Galaxy NOTE II

I've seen the free offer, but not sure what "Insight" is. Can u elaborate? thx

You record an area that you dont know by passing over it. Down and back etc. Save to sd card open insight onur computer and it will create a contour map of that area. Youtube can better explain.

sent from my Galaxy NOTE II

Just looked at your unit online. If I'm reading the info right, your "structure scan" is better than the "hybrid down imaging" in the less expensive HDI version?

Guessing I've got that wrong since the writeup says it "supports" structure scan so I guess that is another costly option?

Yes the structure scan module is a separate piece

$1800 for the hds 7 touch bundle. 83/200 transducer and hd structure scan.

sent from my Galaxy NOTE II

Garmin pros are easy to use and really good basemaps. Cons are sonar Is not as high quality this is not as much aproblem if you're only doing inshore fishing also not as many bells and whistles as the Lowrance unit.

Lowrance pros and cons are pretty much the reverse of Garmin

Also Garmin doesn't offer any kind of side/down imaging

Been "cruisin da net" today due to the added info everyone has provided (thanks to all) and from what I have found out, it appears that "true" side imaging is awesome, but expensive (and complicated) and may be too much of a "cadillac" for someone like me. I have now gone full circle and I'm back to my original decision that the Lowrance 7 HDI Gold might be the way to go cuz of the price, but the HDS 7 Touch is still tempting me because of its ease of use. I'm guessing that I won't go for the Structure Scan add on (+$600), but I was wondering if the "hybrid" down imaging is available with the HDS if one doesn't have a need for all the "bells and whistles" of SS, but wants the ease of use of the HDS. Does anyone have the HDI and can tell me if it is more more than just hype, kinda like changing the fishfinder icons to fish symbols just to fool the user into thinking you're looking at fish rather than "clutter"? In other words, does the HDI interpret sonar returns as structure and gives you a "pic" just to hype the data or does it present an actual pic of what you are looking at? Just wondering.

Had another question: don't hear or read much about Humminbird units, but that brand was recommended to me by a guide I know. any input on that brand?

I use my gps/chart plotter more than the sonar. I've got the garmin 740s touchscreen, quick and easy to use. Much rather it over anything with buttons.

Garmin is easy to use, cheaper, and as far as reports I've read, more reliable

I have the HDS5. I wish I had bought the 7. I don't see the point in sidescan for the type of fishing I do. Depth and GPS is all I really use with ocassional Sonar. 99% of the time I have my GPS screen up. I don't like touch screen. To many finger prints and fish slime on my screen. What a PITA. Buttons are easier.

new info on the HDI
 

UPDATE: Purchased the Elite 7 HDI today from West Marine. According to the sales rep (and the package), it comes with Navionics Gold, but I had to purchase the ducer separately for about $200. Got home and started reading the instructions, etc. and didn't see anything about tide info so I called Lowrance and was told by the rep that he had just tried out this exact package yesterday and noticed that the "Gold" did not have tide info. He put me on hold and spoke with some SME (subject matter expert) and learned that the "gold" chip is not really the gold chip, it is an "Elite bundle" chip. After he said this, I checked my chip and sure enough, it is labeled "Elite bundle". I asked him what else the chip doesn't have that the gold chip is supposed to have and he said he didn't know so I asked for an escalation and he promised me that a "supervisor" would call me back, but I'm still waiting. I took another look at the packaging and it has a sticker on the box that states "Navionics Gold chart microSD card included" so it is appears that this is deceptive advertising. I called the salesperson at WM and she advised that this is the first she knew of this, but would take the unit back if I wanted to do so. Will update this when I know more.

UPDATE:
 

Just learned that Lowrance is coming out with a software update that will allow the HDI units to extract the tide and current info from the Gold charts. Apparently, I was not the only one complaining about this. So far, my experience with Lowrance Cust. Svc./Tech Support has been positive. Hope it continues.