The Raymarine Element 7HV oozes quality, and it looks reassuringly expensive with a beautiful black plastic casing...
Standard fittings in the box included a solid trunnion mount base with solid knobs, plus a seal and fittings for flush mounting. I was not expecting a combination fishfinder and chartplotter but it turned out to be a real bonus.
The various fish finder functions really help find the fish; DownVision gives a clear picture below the boat, scanning 1.2MHZ in shallow water and 350KHZ in deeper water; Sidevision displays the view port and starboard, Realvision 3D gives a whole 3D image either to the bow or stern; and there is a conical sonar display.
I was able to interpret remarkably detailed images of the area under the boat that the Raymarine Element 7HV produces and I could see both fish and bottom displayed clear and sharp on the 7-inch screen.
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The screen features a sharp, high-resolution picture giving fantastic clear results even in bright sunlight. The Raymarine Element 7HV boasts a quad core processor for faster loading, redrawing and much sharper graphics performance.
I enjoyed using the push button controls, preferential to a touchscreen when you’ve wet fingers (as anglers often do!). These buttons are all neatly arranged and positioned to the right of the screen. The top bright orange button can be pushed to mark fish and fishing hotspots as you see them on the fish-finder screen as well as for marking waypoints.
The home button shows an apps page where you can select your required function. The bottom three buttons allow you to programme your preferred choice, single or multiple screens.
Below all these buttons is a black rubber cover sealing a Micro SD card. To the rear are just two waterproof cables, one connects the transducer, the other connects power and other functions.
Pros
- High resolution bright screen Hypervision 1.2MHz
- Simple Lighthouse Sport operating system optimized for fishing
- Push button controls
- Raymarine support
- Integrated GPS/GNSS receiver
Cons
- Tiny Micro SD Card
- Chart updates have to be done via Micro SD card
Verdict
This unit is a shallow mount, ideal for fitting to a console in a small boat. To have both a good chartplotter and fishfinder combined in one unit is a bonus, the added functions of tide direction and speed particularly helpful whilst fishing. You soon learn how to interpret the great detail shown by the fishfinder to your advantage, and Raymarine offers first class product support should you have any issues.
Details
Screen size: 7" / 178mm
Processor: Quad core
Width: 10" / 264mm
Height: 6" / 163mm
Depth: 6" / 150mm
Surface height: 2" / 61mm
