1

Lowrance Elite 5 Hdi Review

Lowrance Elite 5 Hdi Review

Lowrance is popular for making extraordinary fish finder for a long time. Lowrance Elite 5 Hdi has been loved by many anglers for its extraordinary service and features. Lowrance is popular for their downscan technology. This fish finder is perfect for both recreational and advanced fishermen.

Today we are reviewing lowrance elite 5 Hdi. Lowrance Elite 5Hdi offers great performance along with a very reasonable price. It is powered with smart hardware and offers great features for not only fishing but also fun. It can be used for recreational to professional purpose.

Display

This fish finder comes with a 5-inch display. The display comes with a 480×480 pixel color LCD. It may not be the fish finder with the biggest display, but it surely is enough for an angler. The display offers great detail and the resolution is fine too. One of the problems of a colored display is that it is hard to see it in direct sunlight. The contrast and brightness of this TFT display are good enough to see in the direct sunlight.

You can adjust the backlight of the fish finder to see the display at any time of the day & night. You can also view all the details at a wider angle. In a nutshell, the display of Elite 5-hdi is fantastic and offers all the great detail in good resolution.

Downscan Overlay

Downscan imaging is a fantastic technology which allows you to see a photo ob objects beneath your boat. Besides that, you can see the structure with rocks, trees and other also. Downscan imaging is a fantastic technology which allows you to see a photo of objects beneath your boat. Besides that, you can see the structure with rocks, trees and other also. Downscan imaging is loved by serious fisherman as they can be benefitted hugely. The hybrid dual imaging technology makes it super easy to find the fish in the water.

Besides that, the traditional Sonar is there to guide you. If you are not familiar with the new downscan overlay, you can use the traditional sonar. You can combine and analyze the both downscan and traditional sonar to have a fantastic idea for finding fish spots.

GPS

Just like an advanced fish finder, Lowrance Elite 5 Hdi also comes with GPS. These fish finders are usually called fish finder with GPS combo. The GPS antenna is built into this device.

This fish finder comes with the preloaded map of the U.S which includes the coastal charts with more than 3000 lakes and rivers. The charts have detailed spec and information.

Navigating via this fish finder’s GPS is quite easy; as the GPS machine allows saving up to 3000 waypoints, you can save up to 100 retraceable plot trails. You are allowed to update the maps on Lowrance 5 HDI and choose to upgrade to Navionics Gold, Lake insight, Nautic Insight, Hotmaps and etc. You can use the sd card slot and use them.

Mapping with Lowrance Insight Genesis

Let’s assume that you are fishing in a place where there is no pre-installed map and you want to make a map by yourself. With the help of the Lowrance insight genesis it is possible to create your own map. In order t create a map you need to go to the fish finder’s settings and enable the Sonar recording to the memory card and move the entire are which you want to be in the map. Right after finishing this, you can upload the maps to the computer and use the Insight Genesis software (paid/ yearly)  to process the data.  Right after processing the data, you can download the file to your memory card and insert in the fish finder to have your own Map. Isn’t it interesting?

Split-screen data viewing

Did I forget to mention that it supports splitting the screen into 3 panels? Well, you can split the screen into three panels to see charts, DownScan and broadband Sonar all in one page. You can put them in side by side for easy viewing and data analyzing.

Frequency & Power

This fish finder’s broadband sounder has 300-watt power while the maximum RMS power output is 5oo watts. The broadband sounder’s depth is 1000’ with 83/200 khz. While, the downscan imaging max depth is 300’ with 455/800 khz.

Installation

The installation process of this fish finder is relatively very easy. Since it comes with all four frequencies, it is a child’s play to install it. You can remove the old transducer and mount the new one into that spot. Mounting is super easy in a kayak or plastic hulled canoe. If you face any trouble you can use marine silicone also.

For the fish finder, it can be mounted on a small flat area or you may use a fish finder mount. As a result, both these sonar offers you to see detailed or wider view of the beneath of your kayak or boat. Thus, it’s a suitable fish finder for almost all types of work.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Very competitive price
• Big 5-inch colored display with 480×480 resolution
• Downscan Overlay for better understanding
• Easy to use the tilt or swivel bracket
• Easy installation
• GPS included
• GPS alarm
• GPS Map included
• Chart plotter with basemap
• Waterproof sdcard slot
• Space saving design
• Split screen to view several data on screen
• Trackback feature with saving 3000 waypoints

Cons:

• No major cons

Who will be benefitted with Lowrance Elite 5 Hdi ?

This fish finder will generally benefit both the advanced fisherman and for recreational purpose. Despite the amazing advanced features, it is super easy to understand them. Though you may have to go through the basic learning curve, but it is very easy once you read the manual.

Conclusion

We hope that our Lowrance Elite 5 Hdi Review will help you to choose whether this suits you or not. If you don’t want to invest a lot but want to use advanced features, then thus fish finder is a winner for sure.