Fish Hawk X4D, no surface speed

[Patriot]

I'm a bit disappointed with the fact that the Fish Hawk X4D doesn't have surface speed. I went to test it before the install and only got surface temp. Then I called Fish Hawk Co. The X4 has surface speed

[bandrus1]

Don't have a GPS?

[rolmops]

GPS gives land speed, not water speed. Imagine you go upstream in a current. Water speed can be 5mph while land speed is 2 mph.

[bandrus1]

I guess I don't see what the point is of knowing water speed is on lake Ontario or finger lakes

[Sk8man]

The new Bluetooth Fishhawk X4D (the one with the RED screen on the display) reportedly has the surface speed as well.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Sk8man

[Missdemeanor]

It does

Sent from my VS980 4G using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Jakob5pennies]

yes it does, i just installed one tried it a couple weeks ago, worked fine nice unit so far

[Tim Bromund]

I agree with Ben, surface speed is of zero value to me 99% of the time.

 

Tim

[Patriot]

After spending good money... and the stupid thing about it is that the transducer has a paddle wheel. That alone lead me to believe it had surface speed.  I like having surface speed during spring fishing. And yes, I have GPS. None of my Lowrance fishfinders have a paddle wheel either. 

[Sk8man]

Depending on the Lowrance model you can usually purchase a separate paddle wheel for surface speed on the Lowrance website. Be aware there are different ones for different unit models and they aren't real cheap (e.g. about $100) for some. Also they don't automatically setup on the unit you have to go into the nested menu find a questionable label (can't remember exactly what it is called)and set it up to recognize the paddle wheel sensor) otherwise it doesn't do anything and the procedure isn't listed anywhere that I know of you have to explore. The Lowrance folks have never been great about documentation   

Edited April 21, 2015 by Sk8man

[vetting]

The blue screen x4d doesnt have surface speed.

The new red screen version x4d does.  

 

If you really want surface speed, buy just the new red display unit and sell your blue display.

[Tall Tails]

After spending good money... and the stupid thing about it is that the transducer has a paddle wheel. That alone lead me to believe it had surface speed.  I like having surface speed during spring fishing. And yes, I have GPS. None of my Lowrance fishfinders have a paddle wheel either. 

 

My personal preference is GPS.  Paddlewheel speed is extremely difficult to trust and not very accurate.  Sure it is a reference number but one little piece of any foreign matter will change the reading.  GPS is the way to be consistent.  Again it is my personal preference. 

[goingagain2]

GPS gives land speed, not water speed. Imagine you go upstream in a current. Water speed can be 5mph while land speed is 2 mph.

?????

[rolmops]

If you go upstream in a river and that river has a current that runs at three miles per hour, you can go forward at five miles per hour relative to let's say a log that comes down  the river at three miles per hour,but your speed relative to the shore of the river is only 2 miles per hour.

There is not much surface current in Lake Ontario,but the wind often pushes boats sideways thereby increasing  speed relative to the water.

[bandrus1]

If you go upstream in a river and that river has a current that runs at three miles per hour, you can go forward at five miles per hour relative to let's say a log that comes down the river at three miles per hour,but your speed relative to the shore of the river is only 2 miles per hour.

There is not much surface current in Lake Ontario,but the wind often pushes boats sideways thereby increasing speed relative to the water.

Paddle wheel isn't going to measures you getting pushed sideways

[Patriot]

Depending on the Lowrance model you can usually purchase a separate paddle wheel for surface speed on the Lowrance website. Be aware there are different ones for different unit models and they aren't real cheap (e.g. about $100) for some. Also they don't automatically setup on the unit you have to go into the nested menu find a questionable label (can't remember exactly what it is called)and set it up to recognize the paddle wheel sensor) otherwise it doesn't do anything and the procedure isn't listed anywhere that I know of you have to explore. The Lowrance folks have never been great about documentation   

Yea Sk8, I bought a speed sensor for my LCX 38C. I feel somewhat better but now I need to drill more holes

Edited April 24, 2015 by Patriot

[Little Crappie]

Man... I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger just yet. So I need to look for a red screen? Like on the box? Fish hawk needs to get their act together.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Patriot]

So the wife calls fish hawk and their solution was either exchange the brand new X4D for an X4 or pay them an extra $100 for an upgrade to blue tooth.

How the heel does that benefit me?

And who needs to show that crap on their telephone anyhow, when all you need to do is turn your head and look at the unit? What a skeim that is! My old Rayjeff 285 has just as good of information as this one.

What are they going to come out with next (that's missing vital information)

I surely hope FH is reading this.

I'm not done

[lakebound88]

Who needs to know their true ball depth... I mean I don't get that, it's a nice feature but this is my first hawk and I love it so far. The subtroll was nice but I like being able to take the probe off everytime...

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Tim Bromund]

Why couldn't you take the Subtroll probe off?

[vetting]

The one advantage of the new bluetooth unit is being able to take snapshots of your actual speed probe and surface speed as well as temperature when a fish hits.  Helps to add data to log books if you really want to dial in setups for certain times of the year.  

 

I am disappointed that fish hawk decided not to offer a trade in program for those who bought a blue X4D last year.  

 

I have my X4D blue display unit up for sale if anyone is interested.  Would be a great option if you already have an old Fish Hawk and want to upgrade to a newer unit.  All you would have to do is purchase a new depth probe and utilize you existing cabling.  Price is $140 shipped.

[Patriot]

There was an 800 on the boat I just bought and the power wire did fit, so I left it, I just traded out the transducer.

I believe FH didn't offer a trade in program because they're not in business to make friends

[Patriot]

I still don't understand why a company would take away valueable feature then add it back on with the next model. Any other speed n temp out there has speed n temp at the surface and at the ball. This is what they're intended to do. Soo glade I didn't pay full price for it. $500 at Marine General

[Sk8man]

I think what may have happened is that they wanted to get away with using the same display parts from the X4 for the X4D screen and transfer rather than redesign the whole display so they substituted the digital information on the screen in that 'placeholder" and then they took a lot of flack for not having the surface speed info so they then redesigned the display and added some features and changed the color of the screen. They really should have also changed the numerical designation of the new unit as well so that it would be clear that the new one was different in function from the "old" one.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Sk8man

[bigblue]

The surface speed issue stopped me from a purchase . Good product and nice people but they blew the intro on the X4D IMHO . I think it never pays to jump on a new product to soon .

Edited April 27, 2015 by bigblue