Humminbird problems

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Good morning,

I have a buddy that is having problems with both his humminbirds.



#1 is a Piranna 120. The temp gage has never worked and it locks up after a very short time. If you turn it on and off, works for very short time then locks back up. This one is mounted on the rear of the transom (factory installed).



#2 is a Tracker 160 and it shows 1 foot on the readout no matter the depth of the water. He has adjusted the sensivitity to no avail. This one is mounted on the TM. It does this no matter if the TM is on or not.



Any ideas???



Carlos

 

[Rob LaMoy]

It's a H'bird, that IS the problem. Never had a Humminbird that worked right and I've owned I think 5 of the top line models. Made the switch to Lowrance and never looked back. Don't know about the new Piranna, but the 160 is like the older models, nothing you do will make them read right. I would be in 4' of water and it would read 20+. There would be NO fish under my boat and it was graphing them like crazy.

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Thansk Rob,

I was hoping that I would have something better to tell him, other then to buy a Garmin...... Any other ideas???



I feel bad, as I sold him the 160..........



Carlos

 

[Brian Bell2]

Garmin 120 is a pretty good unit for 119.00. I have pretty happy with the on my bow. But the X47 that came with my NX750, I am going to replace its a POS.

 

[fatrap]

I hate to mirror Rob's response but my experience with Hummingbird has been the same. Also went to Lowrance, bottomline is topnotch in my opinion too. On a good note the service department for Humminbird was fast and really wanted to help. I got mine fixed in no time it worked good and then I sold it to a guy with a pond boat. It's been ten years since I've had a Bird.

fatrap

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Carlos, only thing I can recommend is try moving the ducer and playing with the gains/sensitivity settings. It will never read great, but he might get it a little better. Never sell a Humminbird to a good friend! Sell them on ebay! LOL

 

[Texas Transplant]

Greg Walters will probably chime in here. I've bashed Humminbird before (mercilessly), and now have a different view.



First, most of the Humminbird's that I've had in the past, were low powered entry level units. Should have gotten a better model. Secondly, there certainly was a period of time whereby their capability did not keep up with Garmin and Lowrance/Eagle.



I now have a Matrix 17 on the bow, and it's working very well. Having said that, I also like the Garmin units (have had both a 160 and 240 in the past.



Greg can probably help you with the specifics of the problems you are having. If you are going to get new one(s), then you should make sure you evalute several in the price/performance category that you want.



Tex

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Thanks guys for the input,

I will let him know and I am looking forward to Greg jumping in here.



Too funny Rob!!!



Carlos

 

[Bill Hamilton]

Carlos - I have two 160s on mine. Never a bit of trouble with either. Both factory installed. Have your buddy call Humminbird and ask if they will send him a new transducer and he will send the old one(s) back. I would imagine it is in the transducer and not in the unit.



While we have a bit of h-bashing I still like my H-Birds and just bought an (new) older 400TX with temp probe. Will install next weekend when I am down at the lake. Will advise how it works.



Bill

 

[Rich D]

Anyone who has had a past bad experience with Humminbird should try the matrix units. They are really top notch.



Rich D

 

[Michael Lyons]

If experience with H-bird has been bad why try the matrix versions??? Just asking, I'm having h-bird troubles too??



I respect what i have read and from whom!!!



Carlos,



Take the units out of the mounts and remove the cables, Check the voltage, should be 12V or higher (slightly), place the power cable back on the correct connector and You can check the voltage by slightly pulling back on the power cable and place the probes against the pins while the unit is operating. Place the ducer cables on and see what it does, If it doesn't work yet,Take the ducer cables off and then try it in simulator mode.



The unit won't work if the ducers are disconnected in normal mode, works ok in sim. This might isolate the trouble to a ducer. Just a thought. Troubleshooting mine last night (2) tried all of the above and singled out the defective unit.





Michael

 

[Rich D]

They are excellent units. I put a matrix 15 on the bow for all last season and got a matrix 17 to replace my console unit for this year. The 15 has 300 watts power, dual beam coverage, is gps upgradeable and marks fish great (confirmed many times with underwater camera). Plus they have what they call RTS, which is very similar to a flasher. Check out the humminbird site or check one out at a sporting good store.



Rich D



Note: I am not a pro, nor do I work for Humminbird. I just think the Matrix units are great.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

No bashing fellas. Just reporting experiences. When you go through units like I do, you get to try them all. The ones I had were all top shelf at the time, but still never worked right. The customer service was OK. Not great, but not horrible either. I have no idea how the new ones work, they could be awesome for all I know. Like I said, I went to Lowrance and never looked back. Love my Lowrance units. I will say, I REALLY liked the quick connection and removal mount on the 'birds. Very easy to remove each night.

And once again, NEVER use Windex to clean the screen of ANY graph. 'bird told me that, after I ruined one! LOL

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

This thread is amazing to me. I've never had a problem with a Humminbird and that's going back to the Super Sixty and Super Thirty units. I've always liked them because they will trade you transducers and that saves money.

This is a learning experience.



Bill

 

[Brian Ingersoll]

I currently have a Matrix 17 on my boat and have loved it so far. I was leery of Humminbird at first but have not had a problem with the Matrix. Cheaper than the rest, great definition, GPS ready, eveything I needed.

 

[fatrap]

My Dad had a super sixty on his Bass Tracker III(remember those) It was still working when he sold it a couple years ago.

But I've had nothing but trouble with the digital H-Birds. The first I took ice fishing, a huge mistake, the second had pixels that didn't work giving a partial picture. Then I couldn't get one to shoot through the hull. It worked fine just wouldn't shoot the glass. That's when I swithced over to Lowrance in about 1988.

I'm sure they work for someone or they wouldn't still be in business.

fatrap

 

[Julio Santana]

Almost all I've ever used are Humminbirds. My latest is the Matrix 37. I am extremely happy with this unit. It works very very well. It has a virtual myriad of options for display and GPS functions to boot. I've bought the GPS accessory and the weather sensor. All work fantastic.



My 400TX and 300TX models all work extremely well also. I had to really debate on replacing the 400TX and was skeptical on the Matrix units...but I'm glad I did. The 300Tx is now a spare and the 400TX is at the bow of my boat.



All of the units I've had, sans a cheap model that came with my boat, have worked beautifully and I've never had a problem with them. The only down side I ever experienced was with my 400TX and it's screen fading in heavier heat exposure. Sent it in to Humminbird and it was worked on and returned...no problem.

 

[Humminbird Greg]

Carlos,



Sorry for being away from the posting boards but have been real busy at work (I work for Humminbird), should be doing something else right now but felt that doing this was more important.



On your friends problems:

Piranha 120 - I don't think that we have not made a unit with this model number so I will assume (uh oh!) that it is a Piranha 20. The Piranha 20

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

greg,

Thanks for the info. I will be sure to pass this onto him.



Carlos