Humminbird 597ci HD or Lowrance HDS-5? - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Lipripper92592 · 02-12-2013, 09:05 AM

Can't tell you much about the humminbird, but I had the HDS 5 for a few weeks and wasn't too happy with it off la jolla. The unit will let you see each individual fish in a bait ball, it has that much detail. I have also seen as screen shot of about 4 carp at a depth of around 10 feet that is so detailed you can tell it is a carp. If I was normally fishing in less than 60-80' I would have kept it. MY only and major gripe was there is no zoom function. You have to look at the entire water column, at that is determined by depth. So here is my paddle out of La jolla.....screen set to 30 feet....paddle a bit....set screen to 60 feet...paddle a bit....then hit the canyon....no depth registered.....pass the canyon, set up screen to view 80 foot column, then on to 100' and so on. Mind you that you have to enter the main menu, and navigate a bit to set the screen, it's not one touch zoom in zoom out. In 100' of water, most fish are just a little blob on the screen, you can barely make it out, and if you have salt splash on your screen, you'll miss them completely. Go for the HDI 7, ( if that fits your bill, and get the best of both worlds) you get Chart, HD 50/200 or 83/200 combined with DSI on a 7 inch screen. You can get one for under $700, probably some deals out there for a bit less. Let us know what you get and why you made that choice. Good luck.

02-12-2013, 09:05 AM	#6
Lipripper92592 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 516	Can't tell you much about the humminbird, but I had the HDS 5 for a few weeks and wasn't too happy with it off la jolla. The unit will let you see each individual fish in a bait ball, it has that much detail. I have also seen as screen shot of about 4 carp at a depth of around 10 feet that is so detailed you can tell it is a carp. If I was normally fishing in less than 60-80' I would have kept it. MY only and major gripe was there is no zoom function. You have to look at the entire water column, at that is determined by depth. So here is my paddle out of La jolla.....screen set to 30 feet....paddle a bit....set screen to 60 feet...paddle a bit....then hit the canyon....no depth registered.....pass the canyon, set up screen to view 80 foot column, then on to 100' and so on. Mind you that you have to enter the main menu, and navigate a bit to set the screen, it's not one touch zoom in zoom out. In 100' of water, most fish are just a little blob on the screen, you can barely make it out, and if you have salt splash on your screen, you'll miss them completely. Go for the HDI 7, ( if that fits your bill, and get the best of both worlds) you get Chart, HD 50/200 or 83/200 combined with DSI on a 7 inch screen. You can get one for under $700, probably some deals out there for a bit less. Let us know what you get and why you made that choice. Good luck.