Fish Hawk X4

[ALLEN WOOD]

Well, I spent last weekend on lake O out of Oswego. Thursday thru Saturday. As you all know the weather did not cooperate very much and neither did the fish. One small king and one brown. Fished from 100 to 400 feet of water and didn't see much. I didn't know about Harbor Fest! That was another problem in itself. My fault for not knowing I guess. I don't understand why they would use up virtually all of the parking area with carnival rides which left no place to park, however they still wanted their $10.00 launch fee. Oh well, I feel better now! Saturday we fished out of Mexico. No parking problems there but a long run to get into deep water.

As far as the X4 goes, there were some problems. As some of you might recall from my previous posts, I decided on the Fish Hawk and installed it two weeks ago. Tried it out on my home waters and then headed to lake O. The first day we got out (Friday) the Fish Hawk worked fine until we got blown and rained off at 9 AM. Went back out in the late PM when things calmed down a bit. The down speed and temp did not work most of the time, no matter what depth it was at. When it did work the speed seemed fine, however the temp varied wildly. Reading 35 degrees one minute and then 80 the next when running at 80 - 100 ft. I spoke to another fisherman at the landing who had his for about a month and he was having the same problem. Fish Hawk was sending him a new triducer. I called Fish Hawk and they are sending me a new probe. Hopefully that will correct the problem for me. Has anyone had similar problems with their unit. If so I would be interested in hearing your story and did the problem get corrected?

On a final note. I will be back the third week of August. Should I stay with Oswego or maybe move down the lake to Rochester and some of the ports to the west?

Happy fishing to all!

[Broadhorizons]

I had the same problem on Saturday also. It did start working after about an hour and a half, just about as soon as I got the thumper rod all rigged up and in the water for some speed indication. I have never had a problem with the unit until that day and I did not have a problem at all on Sunday when I was on Oneida either.

I was wondering if I needed to increase the gain because of fleas and other stuff in the water. I didn't try it on Saturday because I didn't have the manual with me and didn't know how. When I got to that point, it started working anyway. I'll try it on this coming Saturday and see if anything changes.

[NJ Double J]

This might help you guys out . I have the old fish hawk head and the new probe I had to turn up my gain and I also had to tilt my transducer back alittle bit because of blow back. I get readings as far as 160 ft down . Hope this will help.

Jersey Jim

[KOPPERKLAD]

I had a similar problem with my X4 during the lsr. I didnt get a reading on my down speed or temp until 11 am. I plugged in my 800 and it work fine with the new probe and my old triducer so i would think that my x4 triducer is bad. My 800 is approx 25 yrs old and I never had a problem with it. I am glad I kept it on the boat.

[Tim Bromund]

That can't be possible, from what I hear, the X4 has supplanted sliced bread as the best thing ever.

[/sarcasm ]

Tim

[K Gonefishin]

@ Tim

[Shade]

Funny Tim...

I have an X4 and have had no problem with it and we have sent to 200' which I do not do often. My only bad experience is with the first Cannon SNT..that never worked. This boat came with an 800 and I both hooked up but I just use the X4.

Howie

[Missdemeanor]

Shade...I'm with you on this one. My x4 has been Awesome. I have Never had an issue with it.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Fishtails]

Honestly....we put an x-4 on this year and it's been nothing but a headace so far I put the sub troll back on and I will be leaving it on as a back up to the x-4. I may love the x-4 someday.....but not so far.

Our display took a crap last trip and won't give us any reading but surface temp. I know it's the display thanks to Pete Alex, who loaned us his for testing. Fish Hawk is sending a display out tomorrow though, and just asked that I return the old one once I recieve it....great customer service

[kingnuke32]

Put X-4 on last year no issues except the POS plastic mounting bracket that comes with it, spend the 15$ and get the Metal one. I give their customer service a big plus though as I busted mine off and they shipped me the metal bracket next day for just the cost of shipping(free bracket) of course shipping was more than bracket

[Shade]

I am not going to put down any other SNT unit. If it works for you great. The 800 that came with the boat works great but i like the X4 better. Knock on wood we have had no isssues with either one. I am having more issues with my Raymarine A60.

Howie

[ALLEN WOOD]

I did increase the gain. It didn't make any difference, so I returned it to the default setting of 15. I also shut off my fishing sonar to make sure I was not getting interference from that. That didn't help either. As far as blow back being the problem, it didn't matter what depth it was run at. I tried depths anywhere from the surface to 135 ft. and it still acted the same. There were short periods of time when it seemed to work ok, then the screen would go blank, then come back on with the wild temp readings.

[Broadhorizons]

We were probably all fishing out of Mexico Bay so that's why I thought it may be some interference from material in the water. I hope this past weekend was just a fluke, I'll see in a couple days.

[jekyll]

We were probably all fishing out of Mexico Bay so that's why I thought it may be some interference from material in the water. I hope this past weekend was just a fluke, I'll see in a couple days.

Hummm. Was it the water? Saturday and Sunday, my DR worked to 125-135 feet (as deep as I went). Come Monday, I only got 75 feet before my attempts were "dashed".

[spoonfed-1]

That can't be possible, from what I hear, the X4 has supplanted sliced bread as the best thing ever.

[/sarcasm ]

Tim

Perfect.

Glen

[ALLEN WOOD]

To update you all a little. Fish Hawk sent a new probe at no charge. I fished Saturday here at home and it worked perfectly at any depth!! They advised that they had a few probes that gave them some trouble. They have replaced them and all is well. Great customer service! Very friendly and helpful on the telephone. All they asked is that if the new probe solved the problem, to send the defective one back in the box they sent it in. Hopefully, there will be no more problems.

[Reel Addiction]

Ive had a x4 for over a year and the only problem ive had was on saturday jul 24. I was fishing out of the lsr

and i only took a few true readings, Then it seemed like false readings almost the rest of the day or none at all.

From waht i heard over the vhf other fellas were having problems that day. Fished fri and sat this past weekend and the x4 was flawless like usual. Very happy with the fish hawk x4.

P.S. From what i read there is never a need to adjust the gain no more than +/- 1 from 15