The freshwater sonar market has become very competitive in the last couple years with Garmin and Raymarine becoming major players. If you’re looking for a fishfinder/GPS combo under $700, you have three great choices: Lowrance Elite-7 HDI, Garmin echoMap 50dv and Raymarine Dragonfly. Let’s put them all to the test and find out which one is the best.
Lowrance Elite-7 CHIRP
Lowrance Elite-7 CHIRP features an extra wide 7 inch screen that makes it easy to display sonar, downscan imaging and mapping in split screen mode all at the same time. The unit offers many features that until now have only been available in the top of the line HDS series. The features include: both broadband and downscan sonar, detailed US lakes and coastal maps, support for Insight Pro and Navionics Gold and Premium, NMEA 2000 networking for waypoint sharing and external GPS antenna connection, Downscan Overlay combining broadband sounder and downscan imaging views, and Trackback allowing to scroll through sonar history and identify key areas.
The Elite 7 CHIRP has a 7 inch wide-screen color display with 3-panel viewing and easy to use menu system featuring 8-page panel selector. The new HDI transducer combines signals for broadband sounder and downscan imaging. There are 2 transducer frequency options – you can either select 83/200 kHz for depths of upto 1000’ or 50/200 kHz for depth of upto 2500’. Both transducers feature downscan imaging for picture-like views of upto 300’. Elite-7 HDI is also compatible with select Airmar transducers used with HDS series and legacy broadband sounder only transducers featuring the blue 7-pin connector. The Elite-7 provides excellent views, so detailed you can even see a lure tracking in the water. With true downscan imaging you don’t have to rely on interpretation, the display exposes fish, structure and bottom contours in near picture-perfect clarity.
To make it easier to find your favorite screen configurations, the Elite 7 CHIRP offers 8 preset page layouts and quick access to all features using one-thumb operation. Page layouts can also be fully customized, you can change the size of each of the displays in the split screen. You can also create your own maps based on sonar recording using Insight Genesis software. An