Lowrance 140-26 HDS-5 5-Inch Baja offroad GPS Chartplotter Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this to replace a Baja 540c that had been stolen from my truck while it was parked at the Serra Madre Villa LA Metro Rail parking garag. I had been using the 540c to great success and it worked fine for me for many years. My primary use for this is chasing desert races in California and Mexico which is where a product like this excels. THIS IS NOT A GPS FOR CITY DRIVING. If you need turn by turn directions or street maps there are many other quality products that do this better. I had become aware of the Lowrance HD models a while back and they intrigued me but I already had a great unit and didn't need to spend money replacing it. I was somewhat concerned about having the GPS antenna internal to the unit but that does not seem to be a problem. The first time I used this I zip tied it to my friend's Bronco center console and it worked well there not great but good enough. Before spending the extra money on the external antenna I wanted to try it where I was going to mount it on the dash of my F150. Once I installed it in my truck and tried it out my fears about the internal antenna went away. It acquired quick and never lost connection when mounted in my windshield. If you plan on mounting this in a metal dash or deeper in the vehicle then the external antenna would be a good idea. I have seen them installed this way with out the antenna and they don't work very well. This seems to be a good size for my uses it is big enough to see but not so big that it dominates the cab. On the dash it barley blocks my view of the road ahead. I like having it up on the dash so I don't have to move my eyes far from the road when checking it. The HDS5 is much faster than the 540c. Even with lots of data being displayed there is no lag or hesitation when moving about the screen. The OS is improved over the last one and works much better. To me it looks like they are preparing the OS to work with touch screens. It is very different from the old OS and I had to read the manual to figure it out but once I learned the new features and functions it is a great improvement. It now looks and works like it was designed recently instead of 2 decades ago which I guess is true. Installation takes some work but is not impossible. This will depend largely on how and where you want to install it. My installation used the provided bracket bolted to the top of my dash. This required the removal of the radio. You can simply wire a 12v power plug on to it and set it down in the cup holder or cut a hole in your dash and recess it. It all depends on your skill and what you want the end result to be. There are no "installation kits" so any install will have to be custom.

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