electronics

If you stick to Lowrance you can still use your current power cables, transducers and networking. You will only need to add the LSS 1 cables and transducer. I have HDS 8 on back and Elite 7 on front. The 7 screen is awesome and about the same size as the 8. The nice thing is the DI is built in so you wont go through your battery like you will running the LSS 1. The HDS units have a ton of stuff on them that you will never use on the bow so unless you are going with a 10 inch screen the extra cost of an 8 vs the elite 7 is a waste.

In my opinion the differences between the HDS 7 and HDS 8 are huge and I own both units. The screen size for the HDS7 is listed at 6.4″ (less than 7″) and has pixel count of 480X640.The HDS 8 has a screen size of 8.4″ and a pixel count of 600 x 800. If you do any split screening this is where a HDS 8 shines. When scanning ledges I have my screens split 4 ways. Chart, 2D Sonar and Side and Down Scan. Plus as BCB mentioned those soft keys at the bottom on the 8s are so handy. The additional card slot in the HDS 8 is also a nice bonus. I always leave a blank card in it and make frequent hard copy saves of my waypoints and screen shots. I really wish I would have spent the extra money then and bought two 8s.Another nice feature with the Gen 2 is that the latest software release allows map sharing. If you have both units networked you only have to buy 1 map card. Another recent feature is the built-in PDF viewer. You can scan manuals and so forth and save them to your HDS to view when needed. Hopefully Flyswatter will chime in. He has converted from H-Bird to Lowrance.