Humminbird Products

[Ben Robinson]

Yo guys! Can someone explain to me why hummers have such a bad rap? I've got a 300TX that was given to me as a present back in 99' that I've hardly used. I mounted it on my old runabout and then removed it when I sold it 2 months later. Gonna mount it now on the 1800FS. It seemed great for the brief time I used it, even though I still have alot to learn about using a fishfinder! So... why don't folks seem to like them? I remember them being top of the line fishfinders back in the LCR days when I was a kid.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Ben, the problem I had was the units, (I had 3 different top of the line units) would all lose the signal while on plane. Didn't matter where you put the ducer. Other times, they would just shut themselves off completely and power button wouldn't work until you took the unit off the mount and then put it back on! The last unit I had didn't do these things, but it would read off, all the time. I would be in 12 feet of water. I knew this from sight and memory! You could see it was 12 feet, the unit would read 6 feet or 24 feet, it was doubling or cuting in half the actual readings. It didn't matter if I adjusted the sensitivity or not. Just not reliable in a tourney situation. Fine for recreational anglers that aren't as demanding, but when money is on the line, you need your equipment to work as designed, every time, all day long. Also, when I tried to contact their tech support, I couldn't get anyone, and nobody returned my e-mails or voicemails. Just my experience. I know others love 'Birds, and perhaps their new units have the bugs worked out. I wish you the best with yours. But I will stay with either Lowrance or Garmin from now on. Lowrance is starting down the same road though. I've replaced 3 Eagles in 1 season, and Buzz's X-15 died too. We'll see if the other lasts. His LMS 160 is tough as nails though!

 

[Jim B]

I had problems with my bird's too but unlike Rob it wasnt the units themselves but the performance. I had a wide 3d model and a 300tx on my old boat and I thought both were junk after one season with them. They would never mark the correct depth ever, I could be in 10 feet and it would read 500 then bounce back to 10. Keep in mind both of my units did that and were on seperate transducers. The other problem is fish marking. Humminbirds are the only finders ive seen that will mark fish while the boat is in the driveway. I have seen the ones i owned marking fish everywhere in ultra. I never haq any problems with the hardware itself, but I did send them back twice to get them checked out because they never worked right. I also didnt like the screens on the birds all of the higher resolution models seem to have very fuzzy screen that are hard to read. I replaced both of mine with garmin 240's and i couldnt be more pleased, its a night and day difference in performance. I have had the garmins for three years now and on two different boats the only issue ive had is that i killed a transducer by bouncing it off too many rocks. The garmins also have a superior screen, lots more power and the level of detail I get back from them just blows away anything i ever got on my humminbirds. The only humminbird ive ever used ( mine or others) that worked well is my wide eye portable that i use on my rowboat.

 

[Ben Robinson]

Thanks Rob & Jim. Guess that pretty much sums it up! I will certainly buy a Garmin when I get my next one. Saw fish in the driveway huh Jim??? That's funny. I'll have to try that with mine! If it does it I'm rippin' it off the boat and chunkin' it. What are these things, Toys? Kinda like the kiddie toy cell phone imitations.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

That's a problem with peak to peak wattage. A lot of the lower end units don't have enough power.....My bird works good for what I want...I can't read the bottom that fast anyhow....when I'm lookin'...I'm just cruisin'...

TEE

 

[Andrew Zuber]

I still have the Humminbird that came on my console (I think its a 128)...The only thing I trust it to do is tell me the depth. Like Jim said, it marks fish constantly! I have a Garmin 160 in the front and love it. The level of detail between the two is night and day. I'm not rushing out to replace the 'bird, because I don't use the console sounder for anything but depth. Other than at speeds over 30mph, it does a great job at mapping a hard bottom.



az

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Yeah, I had forgotten all about that too. I used to be in 8 feet of water and could see bottom. Nothing there, but that finder was going bazerk marking fish all over. I used to call it "the liar". Ooops forgot the liar in the truck again. Oh well!

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Rob-

Hahaha...that funny...

Me and my 11-year old call our 'bird a "liar" too!!!

Same thing...we can see a bare bottom on the lake...not even any weeds...and the "liar" would be marking fish...

Would this be called "Fishful thinking"?

hahaha



az

 

[TrepMan]

I'll put my dog in on this one...



I've got the 200dx at my console and an Eagle Strata 128 at the bow. I've never had "problems" with either unit, but having had both working in the same water the 'bird does show a lot more FISH then the Eagle. Fortunetly i've not had any problems keeping depth/bottom when running. Though with a top speed just over 30 mph it's not like you guys runing 50-60+.



I use the 'bird to spot depth, structure and HUGE schools of Stripers, then but the trolling motor down to fine tune it. Granted i've YET to bring a striper to the boat (my boat that is) but i'm determined this fall.

 

[Ben Robinson]

I wonder if Humminbird has taken notice of all this bad rap? Heck, do you guys think I should even bother mounting this thing on my boat?? May just sell it to some poor unsuspecting victim and go buy a Garmin. I can only afford 1!

 

[Roy Cody]

I had Hummers on my last boat. My last was a TX400. It was probably the best of all the other units I've had over the years. When I bought my 901, I outfitted it with Lowrance units and I've been very happy with them, especially the 15MT I mounted at the console.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Ben, what goes around comes around. I sold mine, but told the guys exactly what it did. Again, they're fine for recreational worm drowners like Trep! LOL But in my opinion are NOT high end units. That's why I sold a $275 unit for $50. I couldn't bring myself to charge anyone any higher. The one thing I do like about 'birds is their quick detach mount. Very convenient.

 

[Ben Robinson]

That's OK Trep- I'm just a wormdrowner too! Ha Ha. Seriously though, I think I will go ahead and just mount it on the bow and buy the Garmin or lowrance for the helm. Seems good enough for me! Besides, the bird was a gift.

 

[TrepMan]

Rob - My wife and kids RESEMBLE that remark!!!



And i'll have you know my Zoom Super Flukes LIKE to be drowned!!! LOL



Ben - I had two 100 'birds on my john boat, ran fine for 6 years. As others have said, I think that they are the lower end of the technical capabilities spectrum. Free, can't pass that up!! Install it!

 

[Jim B]

Yep Ben mine marked fish in ther driveway, seriously im not kidding. I also like the bird's quick release mount but the others are easy enough to get off. My garmins have a single twist lock connector for the wires and on the bow i just loosen the two gimbal nuts and off it comes, it takes like 10 seconds. At the console i mounted it on a jonny ray swivel and that has a quick release button. Garmin even includes covers for the screen. Lowrance's come off every bit as easy as the garmins do, if someone is too lazy to remove them then shame on them for getting them stolen.



MOFish I looked at those humminbird legend ones and they look just like the old zircom lpg units. i think humminbird bought out zircom a couple of years ago and those might be the same units. If they are they might be pretty good I heard the zircomm's were pretty good units. If you really want a sure thing go with the garmin 240. Its really a fantastic unit and for the price (~$300) its a bargin. The detail is excellent and they are as easy to use as the humminbirds. When I installed mine I was able to understand the controls and menus instantly without picking up the manual. The jump from humminbird to garmin was painless for me.

 

[James D.]

have run 3 different birds and have been fairly happy with them at slow speeds. the lower end units don't seem to be able to track the bottom well at higher speeds and tend to lock up on you. i've replaced mine with a HB 1000 legend and am extremely happy with this unit. it tracks the bottom at high speed (52mph) has a flasher mode on screen similer to the mt-15, and i'm able to zoom in to any depth range and the thing is so easy to adjust and operate. mounted on a ram mount which i'm also happy with. i've found that ducer location is very important. i don't think comparing the tx or dx series to the lowrance or garmin is an apples to apples comparison as these are the lower end hb's. for a hundred and twenty bucks, the 200 dx aint a bad unit, but it won't perform like a lowrance or a garmin. sometimes ya get what you pay for. i found on my boat that the ducer was installed way to far forward.

 

[David Jordan]

Here's how I corrected my hummingbird problems.

I unscrewed the unit from it's mount

Grabbed the cable and tossed it over the side, When it hits bottom, note the depth and to check bottom composition, lift the unit back out of the water and inspect.

It worked a whole lot better in this mode.



buy a lowrance or Garman unit with at least 160 V pixels but 240 is the way to go.

 

[Ben Robinson]

Well, I think I'm sold on the Garmin 240. I found it on their home page and really liked it, even before you guys started mentioning it! Now I just need the cash! That settles it. Bird on the bow, Garmin on the helm.

 

[Larry Harp]

True all that. One time on Lake Keystone we trolled over a school of gar busting the surface for shad I guess. These were all good size fish practaly banging their heads on the transducer and not one peep from the bird. At other times the thing sounds like a bowling alley penball and I can't find a fish with dynomite. Also all lakes are 335' deep when I'm on plane. That's good until I look down and see tree tops. I can't wait to get a Lowrence for the bow.

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Hey it all depends on what ya need. the 400tx on my little boat works great upto 42mph (after some tweeking) and some good advice from Techtronics (Hummingbird) We have it on the console because it does give surface temp,mph and depth in both graph form and numbers. But thats just my opinion.

BF

 

[James D.]

i think a lot of the bad HB experiences are due to the transducer locations. i think there would be a lot of so called problems with any brand if the ducers are put in the wrong place. maybe some of the blame should go to the installer and not the manufacturer of the finder.

 

[Texas Transplant]

Just replaced my dual-beam Bird on the bow with a Garmin 160. I had just the opposite problem, I could just barely get either of my Birds to mark fish or strucutre properly.



Yes, love those quick connect mounts, but I can do with the others. I really like the screen cover on the Garmin. Nice. My first trip out with it will be tomorrow in my local club monthly tourney. Can't wait to see the difference between the Garmin 160 on the front, and the Tracker Bird on the back. Should be interesting.



For me, bottom line is that I won't have another Bird. If I buy a new boat down the road, they will either have to put a Garmin on it, or not sell it.



Tex