Texas Transplant
Well-Known Member
Some here will probably think I've lost my mind, after everything that I've said about Humminbird Electronics in the past, but I've installed and started to use one of the new Humminbird Matrix units (w/smartcast) on my boat. The details later.
Basically, I received a very nice email from Humminbird, asking me about my experiences with their products; comments that I have previously posted here; and also an offer. Email and other items courtsey of Greg Walters initiative.
I have (in the past), performed many product evaluations, both personally and professionally. For some time, I've been involved in selecting different software and hardware products for use within industry. That coupled with my evaluations of where I believed Humminbird to be, led to an offer to be on their field test staff (no, this is not a paid position). Those items that I'm using/testing, that come under the umbrella of released products, that the public can use, I will report on here. If in the future, I happen to be able to test or evaluate something that is new and un-released, then that will be kept private. Having said all that, here goes.
I received and installed the Matrix 17 unit recently. After unboxing it, and reading all the instructions, I proceeded to do the insall on Saturday. Installation of the main unit was straightforward, and it powered up fine. I also installed the antenna for the remote sensor (smartcast), but more on that later.
I was on the water for about 8 hours yesterday, and my initial reports are that the unit was working very well. Good interface, easy to read/use (bow mounted, trolling motor transducer w/temp). I decided to use the unit all day, with the standard factory settings. I'll test and use some of the custom settings next time out.
Factory settings brought up the screen with fish ID off (my preference if it's working correctly), no zoom, depth and temp readings shown in larger format.
I believe that the unit preformed well, in it's first test. Gave good detail, and I believed what I was getting back on the screen. This unit has enough power to be able to give good results. It was easy to identify balls of shad, suspended in the water. Also did a pretty good job of identifying and separating fish near or on the bottom. Good signal separation on other suspended fish.
It has an interesting display. On the far right of the screen, in a narrow vertical window, it has somewhat of an 'activity screen' that bubbles when it is about to display fish/structure etc. It's somewhat of an early indicator window, that let's you know it has 'found' something. Unit changed scales well, when changing depth.
I'll post a second report on the smartcast unit itself.
My first report/evaluation is that this is NOT the same old Humminbird unit that I have used in the past (and cussed in the past). Will it do all the things advertised - not sure yet. I'll do some additional checking in the future.
I've included the link to the matrix 17 info page.
Tex
http://www.humminbird.com/matrixpublic.asp?ID=335
Basically, I received a very nice email from Humminbird, asking me about my experiences with their products; comments that I have previously posted here; and also an offer. Email and other items courtsey of Greg Walters initiative.
I have (in the past), performed many product evaluations, both personally and professionally. For some time, I've been involved in selecting different software and hardware products for use within industry. That coupled with my evaluations of where I believed Humminbird to be, led to an offer to be on their field test staff (no, this is not a paid position). Those items that I'm using/testing, that come under the umbrella of released products, that the public can use, I will report on here. If in the future, I happen to be able to test or evaluate something that is new and un-released, then that will be kept private. Having said all that, here goes.
I received and installed the Matrix 17 unit recently. After unboxing it, and reading all the instructions, I proceeded to do the insall on Saturday. Installation of the main unit was straightforward, and it powered up fine. I also installed the antenna for the remote sensor (smartcast), but more on that later.
I was on the water for about 8 hours yesterday, and my initial reports are that the unit was working very well. Good interface, easy to read/use (bow mounted, trolling motor transducer w/temp). I decided to use the unit all day, with the standard factory settings. I'll test and use some of the custom settings next time out.
Factory settings brought up the screen with fish ID off (my preference if it's working correctly), no zoom, depth and temp readings shown in larger format.
I believe that the unit preformed well, in it's first test. Gave good detail, and I believed what I was getting back on the screen. This unit has enough power to be able to give good results. It was easy to identify balls of shad, suspended in the water. Also did a pretty good job of identifying and separating fish near or on the bottom. Good signal separation on other suspended fish.
It has an interesting display. On the far right of the screen, in a narrow vertical window, it has somewhat of an 'activity screen' that bubbles when it is about to display fish/structure etc. It's somewhat of an early indicator window, that let's you know it has 'found' something. Unit changed scales well, when changing depth.
I'll post a second report on the smartcast unit itself.
My first report/evaluation is that this is NOT the same old Humminbird unit that I have used in the past (and cussed in the past). Will it do all the things advertised - not sure yet. I'll do some additional checking in the future.
I've included the link to the matrix 17 info page.
Tex
http://www.humminbird.com/matrixpublic.asp?ID=335
