HDS 9 info wanted

Hi Guys

In the next few months Im looking to upgrade to a new sounder/chartplotter.

Thoughts at the moment are going with the new HDS9 touch with side scan.

Anybody had experience with these??

I believe the sidescan isnt very good in deep water,thats OK as most of my fishing is in King George Sound(the mrs gets seasick out deep). Does the down scan imaging work well on these units in 60 to 100m depths if I do get out to the shelf????

Am I correct in thinking I need to purchase the HDS9 unit,the platinum map card(to make use of the 3D imaging) and the transducer wich is a 50/200???? unit.

Interested in peoples thoughts both good and bad on these units please.

It is tempting to buy ex USA,had a price of aprox $4400 inc fitting.

Not a 1 eyed Lowrance fan,are there other units I should have a good look at before commiting to buy????

Thanks

Andrew


sea-kem's picture

Posts: 15031

Date Joined: 30/11/09

 Hi Landy Andy. I've just

Sun, 2013-02-24 17:34

 Hi Landy Andy. I've just recently installed one of these in my boat. I haven't bothered hooking up the tranny's as I use a Furuno 585 instead. I bought this unit more for the GPS. I've installed a platinum card and it's awesome. But Talking to some people you might not need to. maybe a gold card will suffice. The unit itself is a dream to use and have barely had the manual out. I bought the 83/200khz tranny and the structure scan one as well but these wil go on my project boat as I will buy another HDS9 for that. I bought bmine from Keogh's marine in QLD The unit itself was $2595 plus the trannies, platinum card came to around $3300 the beat one of the local northern caravan/boating mobs by a grand. But ring up Keoghs and talk to them I was on the phone with them for half an hour getting the full low down, very helpful.

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LandyAndy's picture

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Date Joined: 22/02/09

Thanks for that.Are the

Sun, 2013-02-24 18:27

Thanks for that.

Are the standard and structure scan tranducers seperate units??? If so you buy the 83/200 plus the structure scan correct???? There is no need for the structure scan head unit on these new touch units is there????

Thanks

Andrew

sea-kem's picture

Posts: 15031

Date Joined: 30/11/09

 Yeah they are two separate

Sun, 2013-02-24 22:37

 Yeah they are two separate transducers but as Brad says it just a matter of plug and play. The structure overlay would be very handy in the right situation too as the beam is very wide.

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snappermiles's picture

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Date Joined: 05/11/10

hds

Mon, 2013-02-25 09:35

if you buy u/s your gps will not work they have geofencing which will constantly flash on your screen! if you plan to fish deeper water upto 100 i would be buying the 50/200 transducer!

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fisho-ron's picture

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Date Joined: 26/09/09

no true mate!!as long as you

Mon, 2013-02-25 11:44

no true mate!!

as long as you get the world wide model (not the insight one)there is no probs, i know 100% because my cousin just got one from the usa and it works fine, i have usede it myself...... everything is the same as mine brought hear in perth.

 

agree with the tranny though!!

sea-kem's picture

Posts: 15031

Date Joined: 30/11/09

 Yep the only reason I got

Mon, 2013-02-25 12:04

 Yep the only reason I got that tranny Ron is that I won't fish more than 60m too lazy ;) So that tranny is best suited to 30-50m range where i go.

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PilbaraBrad's picture

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Date Joined: 16/05/07

I have a HDS 9 touch, they

Sun, 2013-02-24 18:32

I have a HDS 9 touch, they are a great unit.  I wasnt too sure about the touch at first, i had a gen 2.  I guess the real advantages over teh standard Gen2 is that the structure scan module is inbuilt, it is really just a matter of plug and play. 

In regards to your questions about structure scan, i have used mine in water to 40 meters, not deep i know but it does still show up contours and changes in the bottom, switching between the two frequesncies helps i find 455hz better in the deeper water and 800Hz in the creeks.  Shallow creeks, rivers etc the structure scan really comes into its own, i guess it has been well published over recent years so no use really going into it here.

I also run an 83/200 tranny on mine given that i usually operate in water less than 10 meters, it more than does the job for everything i do anyways.

 

I have my unit networked up to two other units and the sonic hub, it is great being able to control everything from any of the units.  If you do get one make sure you buy yoursef a screen protector off ebay, about 12 bucks and worth their weight in gold.  Oh i run a navionics Gold card in mine, it is excellent.

LandyAndy's picture

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Date Joined: 22/02/09

ThanksAndrew

Sun, 2013-02-24 18:44

Thanks

Andrew

black gen's picture

Posts: 762

Date Joined: 13/04/11

you say that keoghs marine is

Sun, 2013-02-24 19:53

you say that keoghs marine is the cheapest

chivers marine (site sponsor) have it on their website for slightly cheaper...if they offer site discount then it becomes a bit cheaper again

sea-kem's picture

Posts: 15031

Date Joined: 30/11/09

 Not knocking Chivers but

Sun, 2013-02-24 22:34

 Not knocking Chivers but when they quoted me for the unit they were $500 dearer at the time than Keoghs. Maybe prices have come down since but I did my homework at the time.

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black gen's picture

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Date Joined: 13/04/11

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vfo

Sun, 2013-02-24 20:20

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?153031-83-200-or-50-200-Transducer

 

the 50/200khz transducer has the 83 khz bulit in aswel

read the link above scroll down it will explain it to you

 

im just about to buy a hds10 and was myself wondering which tranny to buy as i already have a 585 with a 1kw, so i will now buy the 50/200 as i can use all the khz with it

LandyAndy's picture

Posts: 169

Date Joined: 22/02/09

Guys,Im getting very close to

Sat, 2013-07-13 18:12

Guys,Im getting very close to buying one of these,saw the accountant yesterday and told him I have been stuffing fistfulls of money in Julias big red box all year,now its his turn to stick his fist in there and grab some back.14 days wait!!!

Looking at HDS9 touch,structure scan transducer,TM260 1kw transducer,platinum+ Esperance to top of QLD.

Is the 1kw transducer too big for Albany waters??? only fished shallow to 60m sofar down there,I believe structure scan will be brilliant in shore down there.

Andrew

LandyAndy's picture

Posts: 169

Date Joined: 22/02/09

Guys.Tax return is in the

Mon, 2013-07-22 19:45

Guys.

Tax return is in the bank.

Do I go with this setup or seek others???

Andrew