GPS/Fishfinder

[John Jones]

Some swear by sensitivity adjustments, garmin doesn't have that at least on my model.

Hmmm. Which model do you have?  I'm too old to remember.

[RickK]

188C.
What I meant about sensitivity is there is a dedicated gain knob on some sounders that you can adjust to tweek in what you're seeing on the bottom.

[John Jones]

I would bet you have a gain adjustment somewhere.

[Newbie25]

Hey guys I am looking into buying a Humminbird 998C SI Combo. I have been looking at other combos that are in the $1800 price range and I really am leading to the Humminbird because of all the free updates they offer and the ability to use a Navionics Platinum+ card. I heard a lot of horror stories about Lowrance and their customer service plus they do not offer many updates and tend to discontinue products like its their job. I really like this new side image sonar but I'm still not sure if its for real or a gimmick. All my boating and fishing is in the ocean off of New Jersey or in the back bay for flounder. What do you guys think should I go for it or should I get a different brand? If I am going to spend about $2,000 on one of these I plan on keeping it for at least 5 years.

[TheKid]

I plan on buying the Hummingbird as well. Not sure on the size but it will include side/down imaging like the 798ci HD SI Combo.

For the same reasons too Customer Support and it seems you get more features for less.

I found a place that has the 798ci HD SI Combo for $800. Not bad. Compared to the features and prices of all the other units this seems like the ticket for me.

In the end, however, to each his own. It's all personal preference.

[Newbie25]

Thats really cheap for that display. Im going to buy the 998 most likely because I like the fact you can print out spots that you mark. Plus Humminbird to me is a better brand.

[flounderpounder225]

Newbie..
I was just surfing CL here in Pensacola, don't know if this is a deal, might be very negotiable?? This is the Humminbird you were looking at right?? If you would like it checked out, let me know?
http://pensacola.craigslist.org/boa/2180271970.html

Marc

[seagate]

I picked up a garmin 521 and am very happy with it.Seems easy to use still learning find something new everytime I turn it on.

[Circle Hooked]

Hey guys on the Humminbird it's not a bad unit my dad has the 997c on his boat,this is my experience with it,the SI is cool but you have to go slow to use it,and the way they made the plugs in the back,rough water will knock it out,we tape his to stay in, HB says there's nothing wrong with it   maybe they changed that on the new one's,but it still is a good unit,i recommend a thru hull transducer for it though,the transom mount one is huge and throws off it's own wake which reduces readings at speed,also if your used to a Garmin the learning curve is much greater on this machine.

[Circle Hooked]

seagate congrats on the Garmin,I'm still deciding what i want to upgrade to,i was hooked on the Lowrance machine then started hearing horror story's about it so back to square one.

[TheKid]

Hey guys on the Humminbird it's not a bad unit my dad has the 997c on his boat,this is my experience with it,the SI is cool but you have to go slow to use it,and the way they made the plugs in the back,rough water will knock it out,we tape his to stay in, HB says there's nothing wrong with it   maybe they changed that on the new one's,but it still is a good unit,i recommend a thru hull transducer for it though,the transom mount one is huge and throws off it's own wake which reduces readings at speed,also if your used to a Garmin the learning curve is much greater on this machine.

Do you have the same issues using the down imaging? These two features are the reason I want this unit.

When yo say you have to go slow, how slow?

[Circle Hooked]

I think the manual says 7mph or less for SI which is about right on,the slower the clearer though,when i use it for example to fish a ledge,i use the regular mode to get to it then slow down to idle or alittle faster then turn on SD.

As far as reading at speed in regular mode,it will read ok till around 25 mph then the turbulence starts up from the big ducer and blank screen,the ducer has been mounted in 3 different locations and only got worse with moving it,it's now in the original spot,this is a 21 Cobia cc by the way,with my Garmin on my boat it will read at 40 mph but the ducer is 1/4 the size of the HB

I have talked to guys with larger boats that have this unit,the one has a 28 Grady and he has no problem,it must be his boat draws a lot more water so the ducer is more submerged,hope this helps.

[John Jones]

A friend of mine over in Jupiter has a big Regulator with one of the HB SI machines.  He can run fairly fast before he loses the signal.

[Newbie25]

Hey Marc thanks for the heads up about the HB on craigslist but when it comes to electronics I like to buy them new because there is a lot of crap that could go wrong with a used one.

When you guys say that a larger boat may be better to get transducer signals, would you consider a Aquasport 250 XF a good size boat that shouldn't have an issue with signal?

Is garmin better then Humminbird?

[flounderpounder225]

I don't think the size of the boat has that much to do with the success of a ducer reading at speed, and I am speaking strictly about a transom mounted ducer.  When installed correctly, the draft of the boat is really not a factor, at least on planing hulls such as ours, a displacement hull is different.  All of our ducers are just breaking the surface tension of the water while on plane and would normally be in "clean water" if mounted properly.  As mentioned above, on my last boat, the Chris Craft WA my same bottom machine (that I have now) would not read above about 20 MPH, I tried a few different locations.  But, I had a livewell on the transom bracket (20 Gal Barrel) fed through a pick up, mounted on the transom, same side and close to the ducer.  I believe that turbulence is what caused my problem.  Other issues some folks overlook when installing; look fwd from where the ducer is going to be mounted, if there is a strake or chine up there, that can throw back some disturbed water and cause the ducer to lose the bottom.