Hummingbird Side Finders

[RANGER519]

thanks for the info looks like they will work on the trolling motor.now gotta find some money.

thanks ranger519

[Moose1am]

If you can get your trolling motor to stay in one exact position .. pointing straight forward that will help.

Remember that the New Humminbird Side Scanning sonar units work in 3 D side scanning mode or in 2D mode. 2D mode is like the conventional sonar units where the sound is directed straight down from the transducer toward the bottom. You may get a 20 deg cone angle in 2D mode.

But the 3D Side scanning mode requires that your boat be going slow and in a straight line with the transducer fixed into one position looking straight ahead. It won't work right in 3D side scanning mode if these conditions are not met.

The side scanning sonars transducer has multiple frequency sound waves it can use. High Frequency for long range mode out to both sides for a total view of 240 ft in all directions. You can see out to 120ft in each direction. Left or right of the transducer.

I would recommend that you visit the www.humminbird.com web site and do some study on these units to learn how they work.

The best feature of the side scanning units are the fact that you can see something on the screen and then stop the screen and use the cursor control stick to mark the object right on the screen. Since these units use gps it will mark the exact spot on the lake bottom of the object. It would be as if you were right over the object with a regular sonar unit and using a gps handheld unit to save that spot as a waypoint. But with the Humminbird Side Scanning 797 or 979 or 1197 units you can do this far a distance. It's like looking out though the water column 120ft to each side of the boat and marking a stump's waypoint GPS location that's 120 ft off to the right side of your boat after you have pasted this spot.

Using the Side scanning units to map the lake bottom. Marking stumps or rock piles or submerged boulders on the lake bottom with the gps waypoint thing. Then you can place the boat over that exact waypoint and zero in on the submerged stump using the unit in 2D mode.

The display unit can use split screen to show GPS and 3D side scanning screens at the same time or you can use GPS and 2D mode at the same time.

You can even use the map mode on one side of the screen. Your way points may even show up on the map. Using the map you can position your boat right over a stump or boulder that you marked using side scanning mode earlier.

The price is the only thing keeping me from owning one of these units. And I am tempted to just go out and charge one to the credit card right now. It's so tempting for me to buy one of these.

I know **** well that my fishing on any lake would improve 1000 %. And that's ONE THOUSAND percent.

You can't catch fish if you can't find them. These side scanning units will find the fish for you and it will definitely find the structure that the fish like to hang around.

thanks for the info looks like they will work on the trolling motor.now gotta find some money.

thanks ranger519

[BarkelyPup]

Hey Bud,
I have one of the Side finders and they WILL NOT WORK ON A TROLLING MOTOR. If you put it on the t/m it as it turns back and forth you will not get a true reading. I got the 797csi2 and LOVE it. You will be amazed at what is on the lake. But is has to be mounted in the back of the boat with nothing blocking the path to the bank or out to the middle of the lake.

Hope this helps,
bP

[stockcars6]

i am currently using a 997c and a 917c, both are great... definatley do not mount the side scan on the trolling motor... several problems arise here, when it turns, the picture becomes slurred, same problem when you turn the boat too fast, even with it mounted on the transom..... next problem, i don't know how fast you can troll but probably not fast enough to maximize the use of a side scan, it is designed to be used at idle speed, you can then mark way points while moving and go back to them later, it is NOT used while fishing, as a matter of fact, it makes a loud clicking noise that i have found does affect my fishing, no matter what humminbird says, it is best to turn of the side scan while fishing

if you do buy one, mount the transducer to the transom (be sure you motor does not block its field of view), and mount the unit on a gimble mount so you can turn it around and view it from the front of the boat, or buy another unit that it can communicate with to mount in the front... this is the way to do it but requires a lot more money... if i were going to buy only 1 unit, definatley mount it on a gimble and be able turn it around so you can troll to your waypoints

if you would like to give one a test run, i fish barkley on a regular basis and anyone is free to come fish with me a day to take a look at the unit... pm me for contact info if you are interested

[RANGER519]

thank-you all for all the info .i guess i'll hold off on buying one of these for a while.i read on the yahoo side imaging group that a lot of these guys are mounting the transducer on the trolling motor with good success.guess i'll study this some more.

thank-you ranger519

[Fishin_4_Fun]

I bought the smaller 797si unit and have played with it some.

The transducer is probably twice as large as most. It would be difficult to mount, plus be apt to be damaged if you hit something.

IMO, it would be a lot more beneficial mounted on the hull with the head unit on the console. You could scan and cover a lot more area while driving the boat, and the unit is right in front of you and easy to acess the buttons to mark waypoints on the imaging screen. Also the screen on the 797 unit is rather small and your eyes need to be close to the screen to see the detail of the side imaging. I couldn't imagine trying to do this with the unit mounted at your feet on the bow of the boat while running the tm.

Now if you're putting a 2nd side imaging unit at the bow with one already at the console, that may add some benefit, especially with the networking feature of sharing waypoints between units. But, if mounted on the trolling motor, the tm needs to traveling in a straight line to produce a readable image. If it's turning it will distort the image and render it useless.

IMO, if you only have one si unit, it would be tremendously more beneficial being at the console. The only way I would consider mouting one on the tm, with a bow unit, is if I already had one at the console. I don't know, but I would suspect those that have a bow unit, already has a console unit.

I'm no expert, and have only used my on the water ~6 times, but that's my opinion. As pointed out the yahoo groups is a good place to check out, as there are a lot of experienced, knowledgeable owners over there.