Lowrance Announces New HDS CARBON Line
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:43 am
Lowrance Announces New HDS Carbon Line
The Lowrance brand from NAVICO has announced the next evolution of their HDS series of SONAR, chart plotter, and multi-function display instruments, which they are calling the CARBON model. The first innovation in this model is, perhaps, the model name, as using CARBON is a deviation from previous naming conventions which had followed a succession of generation numbers. The products replaced by CARBON were called GEN-3, so we can infer that CARBON is a fourth-generation evolution of the original HDS.
There are three areas of significant improvement in CARBON compared to prior models:
--the display technology
--the computing power
--the SONAR technology
THE DISPLAY
The HDS CARBON devices will be available with screens of 7, 9, and 12-inch diagonals. The pixel resolution will be as follows (previous HDS GEN-3 resolution in parenthesis):
HDS 12 CARBON = 1280 x 800 (1280 x 800)
HDS 9 CARBON = 1280 x 720 (800 x 480)
HDS 7 CARBON = 1024 x 600 (800 x 480)
In the HDS 12 CARBON model, the screen resolution is the same as the prior HDS GEN-3, but in the HDS 9 CARBON and HDS 7 CARBON, the screen resolution is improved. The HDS 9 CARBON and HDS 7 CARBON screen resolution will be better than most competitor's products in the 7-inch and 9-inch screens. This may be most important because the smaller screen models are likely the best sellers models in the HDS line (due to the significant price premium for the big 12-inch model). The improvement in screen pixels is particularly impressive for the HDS-9 CARBON, which will have more than twice as many screen pixels (2.4-times) as the HDS-9 GEN-3 models. The physical dimensions of the screen don't change, but there will be more than twice as many pixels shown, and a clearer and higher-resolution image should results.
As a comparison, I will throw in the original HDS-8. It had a 4 x 3 aspect ratio display with 800 x 600 resolution, for a total pixel count of 480,000. The HDS-9 GEN-3 had a 800 x 480 display, actually quite a bit fewer pixels at 384,000 than the HDS-8 original product. The new HDS 9 CARBON will have 1280 x 720 or 921,600 pixels, which will be about double the original HDS-8's screen.
In addition to improved resolution, the new displays are said to have wider viewing angles and to have improved thermal characteristics which will be an advantage when used in very warm ambient temperatures. The displays are also described as multi-touch, the backlighting is by LED lamps, and there is improved anti-reflective coating.
Since a multi-function display like an HDS CARBON is intended for use on open boats, the number-one criterion for the display is brightness. The display must be viewable in very strong sunlight. I haven't found any screen brighness specifications (NITs) for the new display, but Lowrance does call it "Ultra-bright," suggesting that it is a premium display in terms of brightness.
THE PROCESSOR
Lowrance has generally been very silent and reluctant to disclose any details about the computer processor that they use in the HDS devices, but with the introduction of CARBON they now mention that the processor is a dual-core device. From this we can infer that prior models were not dual-core processors. But they are still cagey about details and only say the processor "has enough reserve...to drive future high powered fish-finding technologies." Perhaps the only inference to be made is the HDS CARBON models have improved processors compared to earlier products.
In addition to a dual-core processor, there is also speculation that the amount of memory has increased. This is quite reasonable speculation because each core of the dual-core processor will need its own memory. On that basis it is likely the CARBON model has doubled the amount of random access memory (RAM) compared to prior models.
THE SONAR TECHNOLOGY
The SONAR technology of the HDS CARBON is hard to decipher unless you are an ardent follower of Lowrance's trade names for their many echo-location methods. For me, it's a confusing array of marketing names. As best as I can tell, the significant change that arrives with the HDS CARBON is the ability to perform frequency-modulated pulse-compression SONAR (which is often discussed by marketing folks and anglers as "chirp") in two frequency ranges simultaneously and to display the rasterization of the signals separately on a split screen. The inferred advantage of being able to do this will be the ability to have the SONAR cover different cone angles simultaneously, with a higher-frequency band giving a spot beam and a lower-frequency band providing a broad beam. Using two frequency bands has been possible in prior devices, but being able to simultaneously use two bands in pulse compression mode is the innovation of CARBON.
The HDS CARBON can show via Ethernet network the displays of other SONAR. Of course, this advantage only accrues to someone who owns two SONAR systems that support the networking feature.
A chart comparing SONAR and other features between the HDS GEN-3 (or is it HDS III) and the HDS CARBON helps to differentiate the feature sets.
As can be seen in the tabular presentation above, the new features in the CARBON models are limited to the improved display technology and the simultaneous dual frequency-modulated pulse-compression echo sounding ability. Lowrance apparently forgot to include the improvement of dual core processors.
PRICES
The new HDS CARBON models are priced as follows:
HDS-12 CARBON = $3,149
HDS-9 CARBON = $2,049
HDS-7 CARBON = $1,249
For more model and price packages see
https://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/HDS-Carbon/
The Lowrance brand from NAVICO has announced the next evolution of their HDS series of SONAR, chart plotter, and multi-function display instruments, which they are calling the CARBON model. The first innovation in this model is, perhaps, the model name, as using CARBON is a deviation from previous naming conventions which had followed a succession of generation numbers. The products replaced by CARBON were called GEN-3, so we can infer that CARBON is a fourth-generation evolution of the original HDS.
There are three areas of significant improvement in CARBON compared to prior models:
--the display technology
--the computing power
--the SONAR technology
THE DISPLAY
The HDS CARBON devices will be available with screens of 7, 9, and 12-inch diagonals. The pixel resolution will be as follows (previous HDS GEN-3 resolution in parenthesis):
HDS 12 CARBON = 1280 x 800 (1280 x 800)
HDS 9 CARBON = 1280 x 720 (800 x 480)
HDS 7 CARBON = 1024 x 600 (800 x 480)
In the HDS 12 CARBON model, the screen resolution is the same as the prior HDS GEN-3, but in the HDS 9 CARBON and HDS 7 CARBON, the screen resolution is improved. The HDS 9 CARBON and HDS 7 CARBON screen resolution will be better than most competitor's products in the 7-inch and 9-inch screens. This may be most important because the smaller screen models are likely the best sellers models in the HDS line (due to the significant price premium for the big 12-inch model). The improvement in screen pixels is particularly impressive for the HDS-9 CARBON, which will have more than twice as many screen pixels (2.4-times) as the HDS-9 GEN-3 models. The physical dimensions of the screen don't change, but there will be more than twice as many pixels shown, and a clearer and higher-resolution image should results.
As a comparison, I will throw in the original HDS-8. It had a 4 x 3 aspect ratio display with 800 x 600 resolution, for a total pixel count of 480,000. The HDS-9 GEN-3 had a 800 x 480 display, actually quite a bit fewer pixels at 384,000 than the HDS-8 original product. The new HDS 9 CARBON will have 1280 x 720 or 921,600 pixels, which will be about double the original HDS-8's screen.
In addition to improved resolution, the new displays are said to have wider viewing angles and to have improved thermal characteristics which will be an advantage when used in very warm ambient temperatures. The displays are also described as multi-touch, the backlighting is by LED lamps, and there is improved anti-reflective coating.
Since a multi-function display like an HDS CARBON is intended for use on open boats, the number-one criterion for the display is brightness. The display must be viewable in very strong sunlight. I haven't found any screen brighness specifications (NITs) for the new display, but Lowrance does call it "Ultra-bright," suggesting that it is a premium display in terms of brightness.
THE PROCESSOR
Lowrance has generally been very silent and reluctant to disclose any details about the computer processor that they use in the HDS devices, but with the introduction of CARBON they now mention that the processor is a dual-core device. From this we can infer that prior models were not dual-core processors. But they are still cagey about details and only say the processor "has enough reserve...to drive future high powered fish-finding technologies." Perhaps the only inference to be made is the HDS CARBON models have improved processors compared to earlier products.
In addition to a dual-core processor, there is also speculation that the amount of memory has increased. This is quite reasonable speculation because each core of the dual-core processor will need its own memory. On that basis it is likely the CARBON model has doubled the amount of random access memory (RAM) compared to prior models.
THE SONAR TECHNOLOGY
The SONAR technology of the HDS CARBON is hard to decipher unless you are an ardent follower of Lowrance's trade names for their many echo-location methods. For me, it's a confusing array of marketing names. As best as I can tell, the significant change that arrives with the HDS CARBON is the ability to perform frequency-modulated pulse-compression SONAR (which is often discussed by marketing folks and anglers as "chirp") in two frequency ranges simultaneously and to display the rasterization of the signals separately on a split screen. The inferred advantage of being able to do this will be the ability to have the SONAR cover different cone angles simultaneously, with a higher-frequency band giving a spot beam and a lower-frequency band providing a broad beam. Using two frequency bands has been possible in prior devices, but being able to simultaneously use two bands in pulse compression mode is the innovation of CARBON.
The HDS CARBON can show via Ethernet network the displays of other SONAR. Of course, this advantage only accrues to someone who owns two SONAR systems that support the networking feature.
A chart comparing SONAR and other features between the HDS GEN-3 (or is it HDS III) and the HDS CARBON helps to differentiate the feature sets.
As can be seen in the tabular presentation above, the new features in the CARBON models are limited to the improved display technology and the simultaneous dual frequency-modulated pulse-compression echo sounding ability. Lowrance apparently forgot to include the improvement of dual core processors.
PRICES
The new HDS CARBON models are priced as follows:
HDS-12 CARBON = $3,149
HDS-9 CARBON = $2,049
HDS-7 CARBON = $1,249
For more model and price packages see
https://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/HDS-Carbon/