Fish Finder

[HallettB&T]

Looking for some opinions on different units. I am stuck between a humminbird 1199 ci hd si and a lowrance hds 9 touch. Any feedback would be helpful. Currently running a humminbird 597ci hd di and 859 ci hd di and not to impressed with either.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[mrwalleye]

I have never ran hummingbirds, but I have Lowrance HDS-7 Touch and a HDS-9 Touch and love them. I have had great customer service with Lowrance and there alway's great at answering any questions I have. 

[traveling man]

^{I have been looking for a couple of years. i have settled on a furuno fcv 587. i am sure the other 2 you mentioned are good but the furuno is a great unit for the fishing i do..}

[High Bidder]

I am wondering why you don't like the Humminbird 859 unit? I was considering one of those to replace my 778c sonar unit. For me to change to a different brand is difficult because my Airmar B60 has a  Humminbird connector on it and they don't make an adapter cable to connect to another brand.

[HallettB&T]

I find the humminbird in deep water does not pick up bait fish/game fish on the bottom. It does ok up to about 75 feet but I mainly fish in 120 to 500. Now mind you I only fish from 50-90 foot down in 500.It also does not pick up fish at high speed. On my friends boat he has a hds5 gen 1 and I think it out performed both of the humminbirds.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[High Bidder]

I did have a Lowrance 337c unit but changed to the Humminbird sonar because of all the bad customer service reports when I changed to separate units for GPS and sonar. The Lowrance unit really was better at picking up fish at moderate speeds.

[smallboat]

I also have the same 597 ci hd di and 859 ci hd di but I don't share the same results.  I like both units but especially the 859. I have no problem in deeper water picking up bait or fish although I have not tried to read them in depths greater than 300'.  They both read well at high speed. 

 

You might want to check your installation, especially the location and leveling of your transducer.  There is no question that using one of these units with an Airmar transducer will improve its performance over the stock Humminbird unit.  I took my 597 off of my old boat an added it to my new rig when I bought it last year.  The tech at the dealer installed both units and the performance of the 597 is much better than it was when installed on my last boat.

[zackblain]

Transducer setup is crucial

[Yankee Troller]

It has to be in your settings, or transducer placement. We mark fish deep all the time! Which transducer are you running?

[HallettB&T]

Never changed the transducer I am running the ones that came with the unit.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Last One]

I also am thinking of a new unit I have a Lowrance 113 , picks up bait and fish, but I am looking at the Hummingbird 1199 hd. I want the side scanning and may add the 360 as well. We are also looking for bait , so if you cover more water, should see more bait. We also fish in depth of 16' up to 800'. In 800 we are only rally fishing done no more then 130'. The lowrance works OK.

[TyeeTanic]

You should change your transducer every 5 years.

[Yankee Troller]

Never changed the transducer I am running the ones that came with the unit.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

 

Who installed it? Was it installed correctly?

 

We have marked Kings down 350-400' off Oswego, and regularly mark them down on the bottom in 250 in the West end of Lake Ontario. It could be settings related especially with the 'Bird ducer. There are multiple frequencies it can run on depending on what you want the unit to do (side image, down image, narrow and wide beam 2D).

[GAMBLER]

Who installed it? Was it installed correctly?

We have marked Kings down 350-400' off Oswego, and regularly mark them down on the bottom in 250 in the West end of Lake Ontario. It could be settings related especially with the 'Bird ducer. There are multiple frequencies it can run on depending on what you want the unit to do (side image, down image, narrow and wide beam 2D).

Could be a bad transducer too. It happens from time to time.

[Chas0218]

You should change your transducer every 5 years.

Really? I have a Humminbird 717 unit with dual beam transducer that is going on its 9th season. I regularly mark fish in over 100' of water.

Next year I will be upgrading to a newer Humminbird unit but for now this one hasn't steered me wrong.

Sent from my thinking chair...

[Adk1]

I am still looking into a new combo unit to replace my ol eagle unit

[TyeeTanic]

Chas, they obviously can last longer, but I have been told they can go after 5 years. Also they might mark, but not work as well as they used to.

Also my info is specifically for Lowrance units. Not sure how much it differs with other brands.  Finally I've also heard that it depends on whether you leave your boat in the water or haul in/haul out frequently (the later can lead to earlier probe failure).

 

For my situation, it is difficult (costly) to haul my boat out of the water, so I don't want to be caught finding out I have a problem mid season. I'd rather just change the probe every 5 years.  The haul alone would cost me more than several transducers.

 

If it's easy for a person to haul their boat out of the water, then I wouldn't be changing them out until I have sufficient evidence the transducer is failing.

Edited February 14, 2014 by markbellino