I need your help

Here’s the deal. I’m headed down to Cabelas tomorrow to purchase my new sonar/GPS for my new boat. I will be getting a new 2009 WX1880. I am leaning more than 50% towards a new Hummingbird 997SI. Going to take advantage of the closeouts on these units. Here are my concerns. First, I do fish some shallow water that will have stumps or old pilings that could potentially take out the SI transducer. I have broken off past transducers already. I try to be as carefull as I can, but you can’t see all the stuff that is under the water. I see the Lowrance SI transducer is more compact and less likely to have this issue. I have been a loyal Lowrance user for years and have never had issues with them. However, I am skeptical of the HDS units because of the issues I hear about. I don’t want to be out a GPS unit because it is getting fixed. Plus, an HDS8 with structure scan is more that I really want to spend right now. My second issue, is the second tranducer for higher speed depth reading. The boat already has a glassed in Lowrance transducer. I would need to get the transom mount transducer for the Hbird unit. I contacted Humminbird, and they said that the new transducers come with a part that helps fix the rooster tail you get from their transom mount transducers. Have any of you guys used any of the new ones yet? Those of you who have an 1880, know how hard it is to get access to the bottom of the boat in back. I would rather not do a shoot thru hull transducer because of this.

Like I said, I am leaning more towards Humminbird right now, but I do have a few concerns about making the change. The fact that I can use Lakemaster chips in them, was a big reason for me wanting to make the change. I would be lost without my Lakemaster chips. Any answers or advice that you guys can give, will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark O.

Its my understanding that you won’t be able to use your OLD Lakemaster chips in the HB units… You will need to buy the NEW HB-compatible Lakemaster chips for use in the HB units…

Is this correct, or am I mistaken?

Other than that, you can certainly mount the SI transducer higher and epoxy in a thru-hull high speed 2d transducer, but like you said it might be difficult to get at. Are you planning on keeping your old Lowrance? You could use that for high speed maybe???

Couple things to think about… I highly recommend the HB, though, I love mine.

I have thought about buying a HDS5 or LMS-520 to use for high speed readings. My question, is would the two transducers interfere with each other?

I do know that you will have to buy a new chip for the Humminbird units. Not that big of a deal to me. I was planning on at least having a Lowrance H2Oc, mainly for my icons that I have. When I had all my waypoints converted from Lowrance to Humminbird, the icons did not convert. I do like using the icons because they take up less memory. I use them to outline small humps. Makes it easier to pitch jigs to them with the bowmount. I also use them to mark weedline edges for trolling.

I’ll post a pic of the boat when I get it. I’m not planning to have it done for this season, so it might be a while yet.

Thanks,
Mark

The two in-hull ones (one HB and one Low) probably would interfere… Although, I don’t believe either would interfere with the SI transducer since it is totally different frequencies.

However, usually you can turn on/off the high speed transducers, so it should be an issue. How big of a deal is it putting in a new in-hull puck? If its do-able, probably would be a much better setup (and cheaper overall vs buying another sonar) to have it all on the one HB unit.

Although, even if you mounted the SI unit externally an inch or two higher than normal, (out of the way of obstructions), I would think that you might still get decent high speed readings.

Anyone have any experience with high speed readings from a SI transducer mounted slightly above the bottom of the keel?

I went with thye 1197, but thats besides the piont. I had a hard time moving away from Lowrance two years ago, when I finally made the dive into Hum/bird.
1. Without any doubt or hesitation, the H/Bird is the way to go.
2. Its a pain and a weekend job, but the Y cable and through hull puck is great for high speed.
3. I hit crap all the time with my external transducer. It gets knocked up in the swing away bracket and I just reach down in the water and push it back into place.

Good luck

I also have SI and a 1880. It is doable to put the 2d thru hull transducer in. I did the same thing with mine. It came with a lowrance in hull and had them put a h-bird in there. It is a tighter sqeeze but can easily be done. Once you do that you can mount your si higher on the tramsom and not have to worry about it being so close to obstructions.

Any farther questions just hollar

By the way, congrats on the new boat You will love it

Mark O.,

Given that you have the time and because the release of

Lowrance’s StructureScan is only days away, my advice would

be to wait and research what users have to say about

it and then make an informed decision.

Be sure to use google to read the reviews!!

Why not go with just another HB external tranducer instead of in hull?

It may be too late to have any bearing on your decision, but for what it’s worth I have been running a 997 since they came out and I think it’s a solid unit. I get to test lots of units and the SI feature is something I don’t want to have to do without anymore. It is one of those things that you worry about being a gimmick – until you see it work.

I am one of those guys who got used to the way things look on a down-looking sonar back during the paper chart recorder days and I was underwhelmed by the performance of all the early LCD units because I couldn’t help but compare them to the paper machines. I started being impressed with Humminbird LCD units about the time the Paramount models appeared, followed by the Matrix series where they started taking a systems approach, and on up to the present units. In my opinion, being acquired by Johnson Outdoors has turned out to be one of the best things to ever happen to Humminbird. I think the last software update before the current one which enabled you to turn TVG on and off was a huge step toward presenting things more like they looked on paper machines. I’m looking forward to the January release of the DownImaging feature. I don’t see Humminbird leaving 997 owners behind in the foreseeable future so if I were you I wouldn’t worry about buying one.