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Lowrance Elite-5 HDI – Review

October 11, 2013by Matt Trucks1 Comment

lowrance FIOverall totally glad I waited for this bad boy! Like its big brother the Elite-7 this unit is just as powerful in a more compact design. The smaller design is perfect for kayaks. The screen being smaller also prolongs battery life. Here is the breakdown.

Pros:

  • Compact
  • RAM Mounts Mounting System
  • Good battery life
  • High Definition Display
  • Broadband Sonar and DSI Scanning
  • The ability to overlay the DSI image over the Sonar Image
  • Navionics Gold add on
  • All in one transducer
  • *Lowrance Transducer scupper mount Kit works on the Jackson Kayak  Big Rig

Cons:

  • Large Connecting plugs for power and transducer. Hard to wire for a kayak install. *(Updated) With West Marine 2 Wire Caps wires can be run through a 1″ hole and capped off water tight!
  • Oversized transducer. Cannot scupper mount on Jackson Cuda 14, 12, Cruise, or Big Tuna

As i stated the connecting plugs are over 1″ in diameter. I still have not found a through hull wiring pass through of this size that will be water tight. *(Updated) See Big Rig Install Here!