Everyone..(HB owners, Lowrance owners, and potential SI owners) need to continually understand the focus of "Project HB Donut"....

"Project HB Donut" is a "movement" aimed at HB and their lack of keeping their promise that HB will offer the most technically advanced Sonar/chartplotters in the industry...when we know for a fact that Lowrance and Garmin have "outdone" HB on this issue...

Go here to see my post in bbc...BBC Boards: "Project HB Donut"

or just read my post from bbc below....


First and foremost...let me state, in fact....

I am not here at bbc to start any arguments whatsoever...nor will I argue HB vs Lowrance, nor bass fishermen vs crappie fishermen, nor sponsored pro vs regular fisherman...
I am simply a HB owner that has a gripe about how my $3000 HB unit will not perform up to industry standards in the preferred fishing tactics that I ( as a crappie fisherman) desire to employ in the search of my target species....
One thing we all have to acknowledge and agree upon...is that different fishing tactics and techniques are employed by fishermen that target their preferred species of fish...
It is fact that tactics and techniques that you (the bass fishermen) use ...are completely different than the tactics we (the crappie fisherman) use to target each of our preferred species...
Therefore, it is also fact that features of the present day HB units will also be different for each of us...features that you ( the bass fisherman ) find useful...are not so useful to us (the crappie fisherman) and vice versa.....
And, in that same thought process, LIMITATIONS of the HB units will affect each of us differently...
What lacking HB feature that doesn't bother us (the crappie fisherman) might bother you (the bass fisherman)...
And.. what lacking HB feature that doesn't bother you (the bass fisherman) might bother us (the crappie fisherman)...
Once we all realize that those few differences/comparisons between "bass fishing HB owners" and "crappie fishing HB owners" ...we should be able to deduce and fully understand that this argument about the "Donut" between the bass guy and crappie guy should never even be taking place....
Now, for a brief discription about what this "Donut" is ..and why it affects the crappie fisherman so much...
Paraphasing Greg_Humminbird's explaination (I apologize Greg).... "The powers that be at HB decided it was unneccessary to show and plot the 'boat directional tracking icon' at speeds of less than 0.5mph..."
Now, we know for a fact that the Lowrance and the Garmin units will, indeed, show this "boat directional tracking icon" at speeds down to 0.1mph...we have recorded fact of this and will soon have a side by side comparison video of the HB, Lowrance, and the Garmin proving this very soon...
So, why does this "Donut" anger crappie fishermen and not bass fishermen...??
This is where the difference (bass & crappie) in our fishing tactics and techniques come into play...
The bass fisherman will rarely even see the "Donut" on his HB unit, nor will the "Donut" affect the tactics used by the same....because....the bass fisherman uses his HB unit to locate structure used by his target species (bass)(generally by trolling around with the big motor at 1.0mph to 6.0mph), then stop, and fish that structure until it's decided to move on to the next promising structure....whereupon the bass fisherman will (generally) put down his rods, motor to the next spot (using his big motor and the HB unit at 1.0mph to 6.0mph), and then stop, pick his rod back up and start casting once again....
Now, in contrast, the crappie fisherman will slow troll (at 0.1mph to 0.6mph) with his rods ( from 1 to 20 rods) deployed into the water the ENTIRE time he is slowly moving around searching for structure and fish using the same HB unit bass fishermen use...
This tactic (and similar tactics) employed by the crappie fisherman using a HB unit that shows a round circular donut shaped "boat directional tracking icon" is very difficult, if not impossible, to do with the current HB GPS algorithm calculation software..
We (as crappie fishermen) do not expect the bass fishing community (that do not experience the "Donut") to step up and help us (the crappie fisherman)in our quest to get HB to address this unsatisfactory HB issue...(although a select few have generously done so)...
We do hope that the bass fishing community can understand and realize that the "HB Donut" is, in fact, an unsatisfactory HB issue that not only affects a certain group of fishermen ( the crappie fisherman)..but ALSO is affecting the decisions of potential customers that are trying to decide whether the "Donut" will affect their style of fishing tactics and techniques...
In short..we are proving beyond a shodow of a doubt that potential new SI customers are choosing to buy Lowrance simply because of the "Donut" (an easy HB algorithm calculation software fix)...
If that very statement is OK with "The powers that be at HB"....then, I truely wonder about the statement that "HB is a customer oriented company"... Rickie Culp (an almost satisfied HB owner)....