Lowrance and Humminbird are perhaps the two biggest names when it comes to sonar/GPS fish finder units on the market today.
While both are great brands in their own right, some differences separate the two.
In this article, we will look at those differences and pick what fish finder brand we think is ahead of the game.
Reputation – Lowrance vs Humminbird
Lowrance has a high reputation among the recreational and tournament fishing crowd. A Lowrance fish finder is easy to use, gives anglers a plethora of features and options, and comes with all an angler could need when out on the water.
Features like Chartplotting and accurate GPS, down scan and side scan, featuring a crystal clear high definition display and incredibly accurate sonar readings at a decent price range for multiple budgets, really sway the recreational angling communities to purchase their products. The reviews of anglers who use Lowrance are, therefore, generally very positive.
Humminbird has been a company at the forefront of sonar/GPS fish finders and is incredibly popular among anglers across the world as well.
Humminbird and Lowrance are really neck and neck in the fishing scene in my local area, and it’s tough to say if one really outclasses the other in anything other than minute details.
Humminbird has great sonar capabilities with its down imaging, side imagining, and GPS features. The newer models have gone high-tech with touch screens and are incredibly user-friendly, probably more so than Lowrance. Humminbird is also compatible with LakeMaster contour map cards.
The reviews of anglers and guides who use Humminbird fish finders in the field are like Lowrance are glowing and positive.
Features – Lowrance vs Humminbird
Lowrance
Seeing how Lowrance is tailored to recreational anglers, it lacks some of the high-tech radar and navigation features that are required when fishing far out from the land on the open seas.
While the GPS used in Lowrance units is still more than capable of aiding any angler in fishing situations, with the ability to waypoint specific spots, chart and map waters, and having the ability to use cards like Navionics to illuminate the contours and depths of a particular body of water or in some cases all major and popular waterways in a particular state or province.
The Down Imaging and Side Imaging quality is comparable between a Lowrance and Humminbird fish finder and gives a sharp and clear picture of what’s below.
Humminbird
Humminbird fish finders like Lowrance units have a plethora of features for angling, from down imaging, chart plotting, GPS, side imaging, and more.
Humminbird is incredibly user-friendly with an interface and settings/menu that is incredibly easy to change on the water depending on your current fishing situation.
One of Humminbird’s new features to have come out rather recently is the SmartStrike feature; this feature takes the body of water and LakeMaster contours and uses a special algorithm to give the user likely fish locations; this algorithm allows you to input data such as fish species, weather conditions, time of day and year, water conditions and wind.
After inputting the data, the algorithm will show on the contour map the likely fish location. This is just one of many features that Humminbird fish finders give anglers.
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Technological Innovations: Humminbird vs Lowrance
Lowrance
Lowrance has some of the most detailed and crisp imaging in the sonar industry, allowing you to see structure in incredibly fine detail, from individual branches, stumps, and trees, to individual fish in a school.
This technology really helps anglers figure out what’s going on below the surface compared to the older units of years past that showed blobs with very little detail other than that there was indeed something under your boat.
Like Humminbird and other brands, Side scan, down scan, and GPS are included in most Lowrance fish finders as well.
Some Lowrance fish finders also have their amazing FishReveal technology; this tech minimizes weaker sonar returns and boosts solid returns to give crystal clear separation for fish in schools in great detail.
Last but not least, another capability that can be included or sold in certain higher-end Lowrance fish finders is the LiveSight technology.
LiveSight Sonar gives anglers the ability to track their own lures or fish movement in real-time with a wider coverage area and at greater distances than previous models.
Allowing you to fine-tune any presentation or pinpoint a specific fish or school of fish, this feature works great in jigging applications in particular.
Humminbird
Humminbird like Lowrance has quite a few technological innovations in their own right. We already touched upon the SmartStrike features that help anglers find potential fish hangouts based on conditions and species, but they also have much more to offer.
Including the regular Humminbird down and side imaging, they now have MEGA down imaging in their fish finders.
This increases the depth readings to 200 feet while offering 20% more clarity and detail on display. With MEGA down imaging, they also now have the full 360-degree MEGA imaging to give you an all-around view of the water around your boat.
One other great feature is the I-Pilot setup which links your GPS/sonar unit to your trolling motor, allowing you to follow set contours by depth using autopilot, allowing you to fish while the trolling motor does all navigation work on its own.
Mapping System
Lowrance
The Mapping on the Lowrance line of fish finders mainly consists of different C-MAP packages depending on the state, province, or region you live in. Along with C-MAP, you can also purchase the Navionics SD card of maps for your region separately for incredibly detailed bathymetric mapping of your favorite bodies of water.
Navionics is the best choice between the two, and we recommend all anglers purchase Navionics for their contour map needs instead of relying on the built-in C-MAP package.
Humminbird
Humminbird has Integrated mapping systems in each GPS unit and is based on data from both LakeMaster and the NOAA, but some of these maps, like C-MAP, can be pretty bland without much detail on some bodies of water.
Like Lowrance and Navionics, we highly recommend buying the LakeMaster SD map cards for your state, region, or body of water.
These maps are, in my opinion, generally more accurate on many bodies of water than Navionics, and in terms of aftermarket mapping solutions for fish finders, wins.
User Interface
Lowrance
Lowrance is pretty user-friendly and straightforward with its interface design and layout. Giving you a simple menu and options to choose from in terms of switching from GPS to Down imaging, for example.
You can also easily switch your sonar and GPS settings quickly and easily in most cases with a Lowrance fish finder. You can also have up to 4 split screens to see multiple sonar and GPS readings simultaneously.
Humminbird
Humminbird is on the same standard in terms of user interface with Lowrance, and in my personal usage, having owned and used both brands of fish finder actually seems to be quite a bit more user-friendly and easy to use and change things like settings.
But all things considered, any angler can figure out either fish finder easily enough.
Popular Fish Finder Models
Lowrance
The Hook Reveal is Lowrance’s entry-level range sonar fish finder. Even though it is considered an entry-level unit, it’s still packed with features.
With the Triple Shot model fish finder, you get conventional sonar, structure downscan, and side imaging. The split shot models have conventional sonar and downscan but lack the side imaging sonar feature.
This model also has Lowrance’s FishReveal technology, which applies the colored fish arches to the downscan images.
This is a game changer for fish finders in this price range and arguably is most important in these entry-level models.
The FishReveal technology helps entry-level anglers identify fish signatures on sonar easier when downscan would give a more subtle image that entry-level users might miss.
The Elite Ti2 series line is for the avid anglers who want the most out of a fish finder without spending the money of the top-priced units, such as anglers that fish up to multiple times a week and are focused on success.
It’s a professional-grade fish finder for a mid-range price and offers some great features and value.
The Elite Ti2 is a significant step up from the Hook Reveal series as it offers touch-screen technology and wifi connectivity, allowing you to connect to your phone, share waypoints with others, and link up with multiple units without the need for cables.
The Elite Ti2 uses Lowrance’s Active Imaging transducer to produce high-definition and crystal-clear sonar images.
The HDS is Lowrance’s professional-grade fish finder with a touchscreen, Active Imaging transducer, the highest level of wireless and wired connectivity, and great performance.
It also offers Lowrance’s LiveSight technology – which offers a real-time view of the water and structure below, including real-time fish movement. It even allows you to view your presentations, your lure depth, fish reactions to it, and more so that you can adjust accordingly.
It’s another valuable tool for your fishing arsenal that helps set Lowrance apart from the competition.
Humminbird
The Helix series is the new bread and butter fish finder line from Humminbird. It has some excellent sonar capabilities, including the mega MEGA 360 imaging and down imaging.
The 360 imaging can be used as sonar which views the depths in a full 360 degrees around your boat, or if you wish, you can switch it to side imaging only.
Along with the GPS and Lakemaster capabilities, they also feature the Coastmaster cards as well for the saltwater angler.
They also have variants in the networking capabilities, with the G2 and G3 models not having networking and the G3N and G4N models being networking capable.
These fish finder models are also Bluetooth compatible with your smartphone Humminbird app.
The Solix series is Humminbird’s high-end fish finder. It has a large flat-screen display featuring chart plotting and excellent GPS and can even be used to see radar for any incoming weather that may be moving into your area.
Features such as MEGA imaging+, dual spectrum CHIRP, Autochart live, and I-Pilot are all included.
The sonar readings are sharp and highly detailed, and the contour and charting displays are some of the best in the industry.
The Piranhamax is the cheapest fish finder offered by Humminbird and is pretty bare bones, featuring down imaging as the only real feature.
This fish finder is made for two particular groups: ice fishermen and kayak anglers.
Humminbird offers ice fishing packages with a mobile carry case and battery setup, making it incredibly light and mobile.
As well as having swivel mounts to adjust as needed. The sonar transducer is also a double-beam setup allowing you to choose between narrow and wide sonar cones.
Picking the Winner: Lowrance vs Humminbird
In our book, when used on the weekend or even on a professional or serious level, such as guiding or tournament fishing, Lowrance takes the cake. It’s really hard to beat their layout and setups.
The main reason for this decision is the Livesight and FishReveal technologies on the newest generation of sonar units.
These features really shine once you learn to use them, and if you try them, there may be no turning back to any other brand of sonar unit on the market today.
Conclusion: Humminbird vs Lowrance
While we picked Lowrance as the winner, it doesn’t mean that Humminbird is not a capable unit by any means, and the two brands are arguably the top two fish finder unit brands on the market today.
So in a way, it’s kind of like comparing apples to oranges, and you may find that a Humminbird fish finder may be better suited for your type of fishing. But Lowrance should be the clear pick for most anglers today.
