Lowrance HDS-7 7-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter with 50/200kHz transducer (Insight USA Maps)

Lowrance HDS-7 7-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter with 50/200kHz transducer (Insight USA Maps) Review

Lowrance HDS-7 7-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter with 50/200kHz transducer (Insight USA Maps) Feature

• Marine GPS chartplotter/fishfinder with full-color 6.4-inch SolarMAX Plus display
• High-sensitivity 16-channel GPS+WAAS antenna and integrated Broadband Sounder
• Built-in Insight USA map with highly detailed inland and coastal coverage
• Broadband Sounder technology displays underwater details with extreme clarity
• Supports Sirius satellite weather and radio; measures 8.8 x 6.4 x 3.5 inches (W x H x D)

Suitable as both a standalone unit or a multifunction display for an integrated navigation network, the Lowrance HDS-7 marine GPS chartplotter/fishfinder makes it easy to navigate unfamiliar waters and find the best fishing spots. The HDS-7 starts with a brilliant 6.4-inch SolarMAX Plus display. The sunlight-viewable, wide-angle, full-color VGA display offers a crisp 480 x 640 resolution, so you can enjoy picture-perfect clarity when viewing maps or checking out the undersea floor. The HDS-7 is also extremely precise whether you're navigating unfamiliar waters or scanning the underwater world. The navigator comes with a built-in, high-sensitivity 16-channel GPS antenna that delivers spot-on accuracy, along with an integrated Broadband Sounder.

The HDS-7's full-color, high-resolution VGA display is viewable even in direct sunlight (HDS-8 pictured).

Detailed Mapping
The HDS-7 offers exceptionally detailed electronic charting thanks to its built-in Insight USA map. Insight HD maps combine fantastic detail with exclusive Lowrance shaded relief, giving them the look and feel of 3D viewing so you can easily understand the submerged topography at a glance. With Insight HD maps, you can quickly find fish-holding areas, zoom in with exquisite detail, and easily avoid dangerous shallows.

The Insight USA map combines the inland and coastal areas of the Lake Insight and Nautic Insight HD maps. With Lake Insight information, the GPS offers exquisite fishing hot spots detail for more than 500 popular lakes--including the Great Lakes--plus some coastal coverage. The detail ranges from marked fishing areas to helpful fishery and facilities information. Other lakes are covered, too: Lake Insight provides enhanced shoreline detail and depth contours for more than 5,000 U.S. lakes and identifies more than 100,000 bodies of water. The Nautic Insight information pairs a superior view of coastal bottom structures with detailed coastal and offshore depth contours, in addition to nav aids, for the entire U.S. coastline.

The unit's Broadband Sounder offers incredible display clarity to help distinguish between fish and other targets.

Users can take their charting to the next level with other Insight HD maps and Navionics chart cards (sold separately), which fit inside the HDS-5's high-speed SD card slot. Navionics cards, for example, open up access to the world's largest "seamless" marine electronic chart database, with cards for diverse regions throughout the world. Many of the cards come fully loaded with a wealth of fishing guidance detail, including expert fishing tips and techniques, and include ample memory space to record HDS sonar logs, screenshots, waypoints/routes/trails, and system settings without the need for an additional SD memory card. Within the maps, users can store up to 5,000 waypoints and 200 routes, in addition to plotting up to 10 trails with 12,000 points per trail.

Broadband Sounder Technology
Each HDS unit includes Lowrance's award-winning Broadband Sounder digital technology. As the vital link between the transducer and your HDS display, Broadband is proven to find more fish with greater sensitivity, higher definition, and more display clarity than ever before. With Lowrance's Broadband digital signal processing software, noise goes way down and sensitivity goes way up. The result: Ultimate target discrimination, helping the transducer separate fish from other underwater targets in all cover, in thermoclines, and in all water conditions.

The unit's advanced digital filtering also vastly improves at-a-glance display clarity while sharpening bottom images. By painting a much cleaner picture of targets, you see features that other fishfinders will show poorly or miss completely. To cover even more water, Broadband automatically adds 83 kHz operation to a 200 kHz single-frequency transducer. At 83 kHz, you receive a full 120 degrees of wide-angle coverage.

And Broadband sounding offers incredible deep-water performance. Even at high boat speeds, Broadband keeps a bottom lock at depth, with exceptional targeting of fish arches on the bottom, around wrecks, and within other seabed structures. When used with a high-power transducer, the strong bottom locks and water column detail reach down thousands of feet.

Other features include a pure-white LED screen/keypad backlighting that fully adjusts to zero dim for night vision; support for Sirius satellite weather and stereo-quality radio; and networking options for Ethernetworks and NMEA 2000. The HDS-7 carries a manufacturer's two-year limited warranty.

The HDS-7 offers incredibly detailed mapping of inland and coastal areas.

Specifications

• Display size: 6.4 inches
• Display resolution: 480 x 640
• Display type: 16-bit color full VGA SolarMAX Plus TFT
• Backlighting: Screen/keypad
• Backlighting type: Pure white LED
• Sonar and GPS overlay data: Yes
• Split-screen presentation: Yes
• Multi-language display: Yes, 23 languages
• Sonar frequency: 50/200 or 83/200 kHz
• Transducer type: Choice of dual-frequency Skimmer
• Sonar output power: Max 250-watt peak-to-peak actual; 30,000-watt peak-to-peak analog equivalent
• Fishfinder features: Colorline/Grayline, ASP, FishSymbol ID, FishTrack, FlashGraf, FasTrack, and Ping Speed HyperScroll
• Depth alarm: Yes
• Temperature display: Yes
• GPS antenna type: Internal high-sensitivity GPS+WAAS
• Receiver channels: 16
• Background map: Insight USA maps
• Waypoint storage: 5,000
• Routes: 200
• Plot trails: Up to 10 trails, up to 12,000 points per trail
• Man overboard feature: Yes
• GPS alarms: Yes
• Networking connectors: NMEA 2000, NMEA 0183, and Ethernet
• Built-in backup memory: Yes
• Casing: Sealed and waterproof
• Memory card: Single SD/MMC/MMC+ memory card slot
• Dimensions: 8.8 by 6.4 by 3.5 inches (W x H x D)

Lowrance HDS-7. 7-Inch screen chart plotter fish finder with built-in Insight USA maps. Includes a 50/200kHz transom mount depth and temperature transducer.

Lowrance iWay 600C 5-inch Portable GPS and Marine Navigator and Chartplotter

Lowrance iWay 600C 5-inch Portable GPS and Marine Navigator and Chartplotter Review

Lowrance iWay 600C 5-inch Portable GPS and Marine Navigator and Chartplotter Feature

• Built-in, precision 12-parallel channel GPS+WAAS receiver
• Pre-loaded with complete NAVTEQ maps for continental United States and Canada
• Maps can be updated through the internal USB port with a PC Windows XP, ME, 2000, or Macintosh OS X
• 30GB internal hard drive, with 25GB of storage dedicated to high-detail mapping and satellite imagery
• 5GB of storage reserved for MP3 audio files (20GB for Western Europe models)
• Completely sealed to prevent internal corrosion
• Full one-year warranty

Taking a whole new direction in utility and value, the Lowrance iWAY 600C is the first to offer both precision street-ready and marine-ready navigation, including a wealth of road mapping, plus charting for inland and coastal waters with depth contours. The device also offers a unique display of detailed satellite imagery of cities with streets overlay. All in one complete waterproof package at an affordable price.

Street mode offers 3D (shown here) and two separate 2D veiwing options

A sample of one of the enhanced U.S. lake maps with depth contours

NauticPath provides in-depth charting of U.S. coastal and Great Lakes regions

Birds-eye view with detailed satellite imagery

Plays MP3 files through built-in FM transmitter.

View JPEG digital photos on the huge 5-inch display.

Display and Controls
At 5 inches (measured diagonally), the iWAY 600C's 16-bit color cold-cathode backlit screen TFT touch-screen display is big enough for just about anyone to read easily, even if you are in a truck or recreational vehicle with more distance between you and the windshield, and offers superb readability even in bright sunlight.

The sleek keypad on the right side of the unit offers another entry option for those who have difficulty with, or would just prefer not to use touchscreen controls, and makes it easy to find and perform basic functions quickly.
Speak/Volume: Repeat the last command. Adjust the music and voice command volumes.
Map/Music: Change between the mapping display and the music display.
Menu:  Press this key to show the menus and gain access to most functions.
Find:  Find fuel, lodging, restaurants, other Points of Interest (POIs), street addresses, waypoints, and recent finds.
Power/Light:  Turns the unit on and off. Pressing it once while the unit is on turns on the screen’s backlight.

The keypad is backlit with a bright blue LED that makes it easy to read in dim light.

On The Road - Street Mode
The iWAY 600C provides a robust navigation interface in Street mode, with pre-loaded NAVTEQ maps for the continental United States and Canada and three different options for mapping display -- 2D Track Up, 2-D North Up, and Elevated 3-D. Turn-by-turn audio and visual cues, auto-zooming and automatic recalculation of directions after a missed turn help keep you on track.

• Street address searching, plus auto-routing choices to choose or avoid Toll Roads and Interstates, and avoid Left-Hand Turns
• Mega-memory storage for up to 1,000 addresses
• Safety Passenger Mode allows a passenger to use the GPS features while the car is in motion

On The Water - Marine Mode
In marine mode, the iWAY 600C converts to traditional point-to-point navigation and other features of a chartplotter, with 100 savable and retraceable plot trails in a choice of colors and pecial marine graphic icons to mark favorite spots on the water.

• MapCreate provides shoreline detail with over 3,000 Enhanced U.S. Lake Maps with depth contours for inland waters.
  
• High Detail NauticPath charts for the Great Lakes and Costal U.S. waters offer depth contours, navaids, port servies, tide/current data , and more.

Satellite View
Hundreds of select metropolitan areas of the U.S. and Canada can also be displayed on the iWAY 600C utilizing high-detail, "birds-eye-view", satellite imagery. This is exceptionally useful when you are trying to orient yourself to visually distinctive destinations and landmarks, such as sports stadiums, parks and zoos, prominent buildings, and adjacent waterways.

Media Support
Given its navigational versatility, it's almost surprising that the iWAY 600c offers such robust media features. It has both an MP3 player and JPEG photo viewer. 5GB of onboard stoarage will hold hundreds of songs or photos.  The 5-inch display makes the iWAY 600c and exceptional photo viewer that you can take anywhere.

For MP3s, the iWAY 600c has a full-spectrum FM modulator that wirelessly streams music through an open FM radio channel to your vehicle's own audio system. The device also has an internal speaker and a headphone jack, so you can use it as a music player even when your out of your vehicle.

Specs

• Built-in, precision 12-parallel channelGPS+WAAS receiver
• Pre-loaded with complete NAVTEQ maps for continental United States and Canada
• Maps can be updated through the internal USB port with a PC Windows® XP, ME, 2000, or Macintosh OS X
• 30GB internal hard drive, with 25GB of storage dedicated to high-detail mapping and satellite imagery (10GB dedicated to mapping detail for Western Europe models)
• 5GB of storage reserved for MP3 audio files (20GB for Western Europe models)
• 6.1 inches wide x 4.5 inches high x 2.15 inches deep (15.5cm x 11.55 cm x 5.45 cm)
• Completely sealed to prevent internal corrosion
• Full one-year warranty

What's In The Box
iWay 600C gps portable navigation unit, speaker/cigarette power adapter with volume control and 1/8" stereo jack, suction-cup mounting bracket for windshield applications, USB to PC interface cable for transferring data files (MP3, JPEG, etc.), 110VAC to 12VDC power converter for in-home use (while transferring data files, etc.), iWAY 600C protective cover Lowrance iWAY 600C Portable Color GPS & WAAS Navigation System tackles road or water and all points in between. A true revolution in GPS units. The iWAY 600Cis the new standard for utility and value... the first unit to offer both precision street-ready and marine-ready navigation... including a wealth of road mapping, plus charting for inland and coastal waters with depth contours. Also displays detailed satellite imagery of cities with streets overlay. Not to mention stereo MP3 music player, wireless full spectrum FM modulator, and a picture viewer. All in one complete waterproof package at an affordable price. Display: 3 1/2" diagonal 320H x 240V pixel sunlight-viewable, 16-bit color TFT touch-screen display; Super-bright, white LED backlit screen; Navigation: Built-in, precision 16-channel GPS+WAAS receiver; Simplified touch-screen menus with 5 primary keys; Maps can be updated through the internal USB port with a PC Windows XP, ME, 2000, or Macintosh OS X; Street Mode: 3 selectable mapping displays: 2-D Track Up, 2-D North Up and Elevated 3-D; Built-in, detailed and highly accurate NAVTEQ turn-by-turn database for the continental U.S. and Canada with over 5 million points-of-interest; Turn-by turn audio and visual cues, including auto-zooming and automatic recalculation of directions after a missed turn; Street address searching, plus auto-routing choices to choose or avoid toll roads, interstates, even left-hand turns; Mega-memory storage for up to 1,000 addresses; Safety passenger mode allows a passenger to use the GPS feature while the car is in motion; Marine Mode: MapCreate shoreline detail with over 3,000 Enhanced U.S. Lake Maps with depth contours for inland waters; High Detail NauticPath charts for the Great Lakes and Costal U.S. waters with depth contours, navaids, port servies, tide / current data , and more; 100 saveable and retraceable plot trails in a choice of colors; Special marine graphic icons to mark favorite spots on the water; Media Pla