Lowrance Hook 7 Review

I bought this unit with intent of installing it on the front of the boat and hooking it upto the Lowrance Elite 7 CHIRP that I already have. To my amazement I realized the Hook doesn’t support networking. I thought that this is essentially the same unit as the Elite 7 CHIRP, not so. They removed several features and buttons which is why the price is lower. If you don’t need networking this might be a good unit for you, it doesn’t have nice graphics and is accurate.

Easy installation. And that’s where it stopped for me, slow map loading and zooming, lost depth readings and sonar/down scan constantly freezes and delayed GPS. My old elite 5 was a better product.
I persevered for 3 month and finally gave up on the hook 7 and replaced it with a Garmin 95sv and loving life once more.

I knew when I bought it that the Hook 7 was just an upgrade on the trouble-prone Elite series, but I assumed they had fixed the bugs. I assumed wrong. The sonar worked OK, but otherwise this unit was a disappointment. The Navionics card that came with it just did not work well, and nobody at tech support seemed to know why.
The processor is just too slow for anything beyond 25 mph. The charts start turning to blank white space. I was also lead to believe that the Hook 7 can record sonar logs and upload them to Navionics. No; it can’t.

I wound up selling it and getting a Garmin Echomap 73sv Chirp. Now that is an awesome fish finder. I have used Lowrances in the past, and some were quite good, but after the Hook 7 debacle I’m a Garmin fan.

Call me unimpressed. Sure, the Hook 7 is bigger and brighter than the old 5″ units, but otherwise very similar. The menu has hardly changed, and you still have to tinker with the sensitivity to get the look you want. It’s bigger, so you may to relocate it to a new spot. The plugs are also bigger, and now there are two instead of one, so you can’t just plug and go, you have to drill more holes. The mount is still flimsy plastic and doesn’t swivel like a RAM mount. OK, the screen is bigger so you can walk away from it or make split views, but otherwise I don’t see any functional upgrades, at all.

The Hook 7 is an unpredictable unit that will show 2-foot depths in deep water. It’s like it just couldn’t calculate past 2 feet! Lowrance tech support sent a new transducer to fix this, and this time it froze at 18 feet. Was it just some refurbished spare? I called tech support again to complain and I was told I’d have to ship their clunky transducer back at my own expense and let them test it out before getting a replacement. My old unit was Garmin, and I would have been a lot better off if I’d just stuck with them.

I purchased the hook 7 as a replacement for my smaller Garmin. It is simple, graphics are crisp and clean. Various options on settings. Though you need to take time to set the sonar to get the max benefit and clarity out of it. It is a decent, affordable fish finder. If you want a simple, affordable, dependable unit? This will work.. seen alot if hating on this unit. But, I have used it and has worked flawlessly. It does what I need it for..

I purchase my Hook 7 to fish on Lake Michigan. I’m very disappointed in both the GPS and Sounder! The GPS is slow and with the Navionics card, is not very accurate. When I’m in 90 feet of water the chart shows 70 feet! Sometimes I have to stop the boat and shut off the machine and restart the machine because of no GPS. BUY GARMIN

I just sent my unit in for replacement (shipping at my expense).
I was hoping I had just recieved a bad unit but after reading the reviews on here I’m now sure I wont be happy with the replacement. My unit is exhibiting the same symptoms as the others listed here.Screen freezing,GPS quitting,have to re-boot it several times during a trip.
I originally had intended to purchase a GArmin but was suckered in by the low price.
Luckily I did get the extended warranty so if the replacement does the same thing I will be sending it in for store credit.

Disappointed got the Hook2 7x 2 weeks ago zoom doesn’t work siren sound not working (enabled) only flashes warning on screen and screen reading doesn’t change (not in sim mode) depth range all over the place moving or sitting still.white screen as mentioned above contacted customer support 2 weeks ago via email still no reply this unit is being returned

Bought my hook 7 triple shot before Minnesota opener 2018.
had nothing but issues from the start. 12.7 volts and the unit would shut down numerous times. Fishing in 8 feet of water and depth would jump from 15 feet to 0-500 feet. Called support they sent me a new unit for $325 and reimbursed my money when they got my bad unit. however had issues with the 2nd one too. Just got a full refund from my local L&M supply store. Plan to research Garmin and Hummingbird and try again.