03-02-2015, 05:21 AM
Lowrance is now owned by Garmin. All the service advantages that you had with Lowrance are now gone. Garmin is putting a great deal of innovation into their units. I have been using Lowrance for 40yrs, just bought a new HD8 Gen 2 . Know lots of guys that use Birds and love em. My sense is that find a unit that has what you want, in the price range you want and go with it. Check Cabela's Spring Sale flyer. They have the unit I just bought for an incredible price. Remember that the changes in the technology is so fast, what is the cat's meow today will be replaced by something mo'better in a few months. You won't be able to keep up unless you have very deep pockets and can replace your unit yearly !! Down Scan, structure scan, 360 scan, etc, etc. All of these have come out in the last 2-3 years along with increases in speed, clarity, and ease of operation. I doubt that there is much difference in overall performance between any make !!!