Lowrance HOOK Reveal 5 HDI Contour+

The Hook Reveal fish finder series was released by Lowrance in 2020. The units in this series are available in various bundles with different transducers and accessories. In this post, we’re going to cover the Hook Reveal 5 unit that comes with the 50/200 kHz HDI skimmer transducer and the Contour+ charts. For reference, this is the Lowrance part number 000-15857-001.

Key Features and Specifications

• Screen: 5″ diagonal, 800H x 480V pixel matrix, color TFT, with LED backlight
• Sonar: Standard CHIRP & DownScan
• Transducer: HDI skimmer
• Max. Depth Capability:
  CHIRP: 3,000 ft (914 m)
  DownScan: 300 ft. (91 m)
• Frequency and Coverage (with the included transducer):
  CHIRP: 12° @ 200 kHz & 29° @ 50 kHz
  DownScan: 4°/57° @ 455 kHz & 2°/38° @ 800 kHz
• Power Supply: 12 VDC (10.8-17 VDC min-max)
• GPS: Internal, WAAS/EGNOS/MSAS
• Maps: C-MAP Contour+
• Routes, Waypoints, Tracks: 100; 3,000, 100 (10,000) points per trail)

Sonar and transducer

The Lowrance Hook Reveal 5 HDI Contour+ offers two types of sonar. These are standard CHIRP and DownScan. The unit supports multiple frequencies, including 50/83/200 kHz for the standard sonar, and 455/800 kHz for DownScan. The Hook Reveal 5 units do not support SideScan (at least not the models released so far). So, if you’re looking for one with SideScan, you should check out the Hook Reveal 7 models, and above. The Hook Reveal 5 units also do not support ForwardScan, Active Imaging, or Active Target sonar.

The HDI skimmer transducer included with this Hook Reveal unit is pretty much the old, classic model. It’s the 50/200 kHz HDI transducer for deepwater scanning. It features 20 ft. (6 m) of cable, comes with a transom mount, and has an internal temperature sensor.

The transducer casts two conical beams for the standard CHIRP sonar. Their coverage is 12° @ 200 kHz, and 29° @ 50 kHz. Since it’s a deepwater transducer, the maximum depth range for the CHIRP sonar is 3,000 ft. (914 m).

For DownScan, the transducer casts oval beams. Their coverage is 57°/4° @ 455 kHz, and 38°/2° @ 800 kHz. The maximum depth that can be achieved by the Down Imaging sonar with this transducer is 300 ft. (91 m).

The unit offers a fairly decent range of standard sonar features. The first on the list is FishReveal. Before the Hook Reveal units, this particular feature was available only with the Elite units and above. FishReveal offers the possibility to view the fish arches from the CHIRP sonar mode, into the DownScan window. This can give you a better view of the fish positioning in relation to vegetation and structure. Among other standard sonar features, we can count A-Scope, Bottom Lock, Split Zoom, Circular Flasher, Fish ID, various alarms, and more. The unit also offers the possibility to record sonar and scroll back through the sonar history.

Navigation features

Similar to the Lowrance 000-15692-001, this Hook Reveal model comes with the Contour+ charts. This chart platform offers a few extra features over the previous Inland Basemap. They offer coverage for the inland and near-shore coastal areas of the continental United States, Hawaii, and Bermuda. It offers high-resolution 1-foot contours for over 15,000 U.S. lakes and 9,400+ Canadian lakes. These charts also show various points of interest with improved icons, as well as custom depth shading.

The unit also supports premium charts such as C-MAP Lake Insight, C-MAP Insight Pro, C-MAP MAX N, and MAX N+, C-MAP Precision Contour HD, Navionics Gold, Navionics+, Navionics Platinum+, and more. Plus, it has the Genesis Live feature which offers the possibility to create your own bathymetric maps.

The unit is equipped with a 1 Hz internal GPS receiver. It also supports GLONASS, MSAS, WAAS, and EGNOS for position augmentation. It has route creation, track recording, and waypoint creation functions. You can save up to 3,000 waypoints in its memory, 100 routes, and 100 tracks. Each track can have up to 10,000 points.

The Hook Reveal units are currently some of the most basic fish finder and chartplotter combos from Lowrance. Thus, they do not support Radar, AIS, or external GPS.

Control unit features

The Lowrance Hook Reveal 5 unit features a SolarMax display with a diagonal of 5 inches and a pixel resolution of 800H x 480V. It has LED backlight (>1000 nits) and offers an angle visibility of 80° top/bottom, 85° left/right. It is keypad-operated featuring 8 keys. It has an easy-to-use interface and is also IPX7 waterproof.

As we’ve mentioned above, the unit does not have networking features. Differently put, it does not have NMEA or Ethernet ports, and does not have Bluetooth or WiFi. However, it does have one microSD card slot which you can load with a premium Navionics or C-MAP charts card, or with a blank card for Genesis Live mapping and data backup.

The unit comes with the standard tilt mount. The box does not include a unit cover or an in-dash mounting kit. The transducer comes with a transom mount; a trolling mount is not included.

The Pros

• Standard CHIRP sonar;
• DownScan sonar;
• Supports 50 kHz;
• HDI Skimmer transducer for 50/200/455/800 kHz is included;
• Multiple sonar features such as Fish ID, A-Scope, Bottom Lock, Circular Flasher, Colorline, Sonar Recording, Overlay DownScan, etc;
• FishReveal;
• Fast and accurate GPS;
• Contour+ charts for more than 15,000 US lakes and 9000 Canadian lakes;
• Genesis Live;
• Compatible with superior charts from Navionics and C-MAP;
• Adjustable backlight for superior readability;
• MicroSD card reader (1 slot);
• Bracket mount included;
• Fairly easy to install.

The Cons

• No networking features;
• No wireless connectivity;
• Unit cover and in-dash mounting kit are not included.

Summary

The Lowrance Hook Reveal 5 HDI Contour+ is a fish finder and chartplotter offering standard CHIRP sonar, DownScan, GPS, C-MAP Contour+ charts, and Genesis Live real-time mapping. It includes the 50/200 kHz HDI transducer for Low-High CHIRP and DownScan. It can be used for both inland and bluewater fishing. It’s also one of the most affordable 5-inch fish finders and GPS combos with down scanning sonar and an included transducer.