Humminbird’s Interlink is networking, made easy!

Many anglers run more than one GPS/sonar combo unit in their boat. The presence of two combos, one at the console (or tiller) and one at the bow is a relatively common configuration. Larger wheel boats may even have three combos, adding the third at the transom for trollers who enjoy controlling the boat with a tiller kicker.

Getting the various pieces of electronics to communicate with each other is important, particularly when it comes to sharing waypoint and navigation information. Let’s imagine you’re slowly motoring along and graph a large concentration of fish sitting off a particular piece of structure. If you plan to target those fish, you are likely to drop a waypoint on them. Don’t you want that waypoint to appear on all of your graphs, so that you can see your boat’s position relative to the fish from any fishing position in the boat? Or, imagine that you are using your bowmount to sneak through a boulder-infested shallow riffle, knowing that walleye or smallmouth Nirvana is on the other side. Don’t you want the safe route through the boulders to appear on all of your graphs, so that next time, you can motor through the boulders, using your main motor, with confidence?

Those are just a couple of reasons that networking multiple pieces of electronics should be of interest to you. Different electronics companies have adopted divergent strategies for building networks. One strategy employs backbone cables, short cables, terminators of various resistance, T’s, etc etc etc. Another strategy is much simpler: a plug-and-play module that serves to connect two head units and a GPS receiver. This is the Humminbird strategy, and it is based on the Humminbird Interlink.

Building your Humminbird network is easy. The Interlink module has three input ports: one for each head unit, and one for the GPS antenna. The Interlink comes complete with two cables, one to connect the Interlink to each head unit. Install the cables running to the head units and the antenna, and your network is ready to use.

Unlike some of the other networking systems available from other vendors, the Humminbird network requires no power to operate. It is true plug-and-play networking!

The Interlink system will share (and store…more on that later) up to 3,000 shared waypoints, 50 shared routes of 50 saved waypoints each, the current route, the current route’s waypoints, and the current track. It will share position information from a single GPS antenna, and it will share some information from Humminbird accessories, like the WeatherSense unit.

When waypoints and routes are shared between head units, that information is also saved into an internal memory unit within the Interlink itself. What that means is that the Interlink is a repository of all your saved, shared navigation and waypoint information. Moving into a new boat with new Humminbird electronics? Bring your current Interlink along with you, install it as part of a new Humminbird network, and all of your navigation and waypoint information moves along with you.

I would also highly recomend the Interlink system, I installed it my boat and it is great addition

Why am I sharing this information with you now? Well, I just completed a conversion to all-Humminbird electronics in my boat, including the addition of an Interlink system.

Dan and Sean at Skeeter Boat Center just completed some installation work for me last week. This included a new unit for the bow of my boat (Humminbird 788c) and an Interlink, networked to the pre-existing head unit at the console (a Humminbird 997c Side Imaging combo).

A quick shot of the bow installation is included below. Beautiful work Sean! All of the wires are hidden or covered, the bolts are cut to length and capped perfectly to prevent them from nicking fishing line, the RAM mount is in just the right spot for optimum visibility….a perfect installation.

You don’t have to be a Skeeter Boat Center pro-staff member to enjoy the results of such a high quality rigging job. Contact Dan at (715) 833-2662 to have your electronics rigged in just the same way, with workmanship and value that is guaranteed to satisfy even the most cost-conscious angler. Skeeter Boat Center also carries a full line of Humminbird electronics at very competitive prices….a perfect reason to make Skeeter Boat Center your one stop electronics purchase and rigging destination.

Let me tell you about one of the benefits of the Interlink system that I have enjoyed, even in just the first few guide trips since it was installed.

Because the Interlink serves as a waypoint storage AND sharing device, I don’t need to have all the head units in my boat powered on and running in order for them to receive shared waypoint information. For example, if I identify fish or promising structure with my Humminbird 997c at the console and drop a waypoint, that waypoint is saved on the Interlink. Now, when I move to the bow (to start presenting jigs to that waypoint) and power the 788c “on”, the 788c will talk to the Interlink and receive all the waypoint and navigation information that the 997c provided to the Interlink while the 788c was powered “off”. Now, I can easily patrol the perimeter of the waypoint from the bow, even though that bow locator wasn’t awake when I first marked the waypoint. That’s a feature made possible by the storage capabilities of the Interlink system, and a feature that you won’t find in other networking systems currently on the market.

The Humminbird Interlink system is one of the great benefits of running Humminbird electronics. At ~ $129.99 retail (or less), this simply plug-and-play network won’t break the bank either. Be sure to add an Interlink to your Humminbird fishing system; you won’t regret that you did.

Jason,

Are there plans in the works for the HB’s to share sonar between units?
I assume it will eventually happen.

Halfen are you copying my set-up? Now you are set-up exactly as I am, same set-up as Dan’s demo, think he copied me as well.

The interlink is the real deal and you will enjoy the 788. It has awesome resolution for a small screen (compared to the 1197 that is).

This past Monday I did some clean-up on my interlink and offloaded all of my navigation data (waypoints, routes) to a SD Card and dropped them into Humminbird PC. I was able easily name them and change icons, as well as see them on Google Earth after a quick application download. After finishing naming and playing around zooming in on satellite pictures of my hot spots, I saved to the SD card. I put the SD card back in my 997 and uploaded back to the network. There I had it everything renamed back on the interlink. Like I said the real deal. Loving this HB stuff.

Is there any way to share map chip data between units? Someday I’d like to see an “interlink” type unit that will carry a map chip (or chips) that you can see on every display in your boat.

That’s my $1 million idea. I’m guessing Navionics and Lakemaster don’t think it’s a good idea just yet…

Map chip data cannot be shared using the Interlink system. Each head unit in this network (or others) needs its own map chip.

I suspect that we are unlikely to see a network system that allows for map chip data to be shared among units on the network. The map chip companies work closely with the manufacturers to ensure that units can read chips, and I doubt that the manufacturers would cut into the map chip companies’ bottom lines by allowing one chip to service the entire network.