Thread: Project "HB Donut"

Originally Posted by rnvinc

OK guys....sadly I'm having to work 12 hours days this week and am not able to be here to try and keep the discussion on the topic and it's corresponding facts.....

Facts...that's such a small word with a very big meaning....

I think if everyone would step back for a second and take a breath...and lets take a look at(and fully understand) what my goal was when "Project HB Donut" was born...

There were 2 goals in mind when I started all this....

1. Identify the facts relating to the causes/effects of the HB "Donut"...
2. Open a venue of discussion for people that may be hindered by the "Donut" in their preferred tactics and techniques of using the HB chartplotter product....or how that "Donut" affected their decision in their purchase of a sonar/chartplotter product...

Number 1 was easy..and it materialized on it's own..no one can dispute the actual facts of what the "Donut" is....why the "Donut" is shown in the HB and not the competition....and how it could be remedied... (even though some still seem to be trying to argue against the facts)....

Number 2 has morphed itself into a monster...here and every where it's being discussed...

That's sad....

That just proves the inherant design of human nature to be ever defensive and cause constructive discussion to be lead into destructive argument....self preservation at it's finest...

While I was encouraging reluctant people to speak up with their concerns about how the "Donut" affects them...(to show that the "Donut" was not just a small thorn in a few)....

...The morphing monster of "discussion-into-argument" has turned this venue of discussion into a vengefull frightfull place....where there is no way that some one (with actual positive input to the issue at hand)...would now dare to tell their story of how the "Donut" affects their use of the HB product....or their decision to buy the competition...

I think if anyone would take the actual time and go thru every post I have ever made on this subject...here at CC...and the other forums....

Never...not even once.....have I ever recommended to any one buy Lowrance Or Garmin because of the "Donut"....

I simply spoke the facts of the causes and effects of the "Donut" (even though the facts are still trying to be disputed)..and people made their own decisions..

Whether this morphed monster can ever bring itself back around to the focus of actual discussion of the goal of "Project HB Donut"...that remains to be seen....

"Project HB Donut" will never go away...completely...there's too many HB owners that want their HB to be "as good as" or "better than" the competition....

I still love my 'Bird...and I would buy it again....

And it can become the perfect sonar/chartplotter for my style of fishing....

Now..let's see if we keep the discussion focused on positive input towards the goals listed in the beginning of this post....

1. Identify the facts relating to the causes/effects of the HB "Donut"...
2. Open a venue of discussion for people that may be hindered by the "Donut" in their preferred tactics and techniques of using the HB chartplotter product....or how that "Donut" affected their decision in their purchase of a sonar/chartplotter product...


It's easy to argue...that's a natural reflex...

It takes real contemplation of the meaning of one's words (before they are ever spoken)...to have positive discussion...

Rickie Culp (an almost satisfied HB owner)

This is what I support and I will post picture reminders.....The object is the donut....

here is my response I received from HB, also can cane pole or someone else that is GPS savvy join Walleye central, they are asking questions and I am not to technical on this, just here to support you guys and fix the donut


Dear Josh

Thank you for contacting Humminbird. We appreciate your interest in our products.

We are aware of this thing "donut" if you are moving very slow drifting the gps can not tell your direction of travel so it turns your boat to a red donut. It is something our Engineers are ware of
however i can promise when there will be software fix for this at this time.

this thread does seem to be getting back on trac now thanks "rnvinc" and good luck on this donut thing

This what I just received from HB.

Dear Justin,

"Thank you for contacting Humminbird. We appreciate your interest in our products. I have forwarded your email to our marketing and engineering departments
for review. Thank you for the feedback."

"If we can assist you further on this subject or any other Humminbird related questions please feel free email us again or contact our Customer Resource Center
at 1-800-633-1468 to speak with a Customer Service Representative. Our hours are Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Wednesday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30
p.m."

Good Boating and Fishing!

Matt - CRC

Originally Posted by Allan

Make that 26 here on c.com. Trying to steer the donut is like trying to push a rope. :p

Make that 27

To rnvinc and all other who are concerned about the donut, but excluding those who already abandoned Humminbird, HA! I wish you the best of luck getting your gripe addressed. My purpose commenting on this thread was to make some fishermen realize that although there is a small flaw in the GPS, by no means is H/B an inferior product. I have used many other brands, and they all have their issues. I think folks could possibly make a grave mistake, excluding H/B equipment from the their WTB list. I'll just continue to rely on CanePoles "yellow GPS" to be spot on. I wanna be looking at the water anyhow, rather than my GPS screen. Good Luck!

Interesting that several of us have gotten totally different responses from HB customer service. You would think it would have been a canned duplication of the party line that was approved by a committe to keep the message consistent. What I glean from this is that we have not made enough of an impact to at least warrant discussion of the issue in a customer service department meeting and who ever is in charge has not been made aware enough of it to address it to the front line people that are responding to us.

Anyway, that's my take on the responses that have been posted from Customer Service. So..guess we need to keep kicking the can down the road.

I've always been impressed with customer service out of HB and I especially appreciate the fact that they let guys like Greg post on forums to address questions directly in a public format. Just wonder, considering how open their customer service is, why the engineers don't put out a statement acknowledging our request, giving us a description of what it might take to address it and maybe a timeline for when it could be addressed or maybe that it just can't be done.

Wannabe...

Originally Posted by jsplinter

here is my response I received from HB, also can cane pole or someone else that is GPS savvy join Walleye central, they are asking questions and I am not to technical on this, just here to support you guys and fix the donut


Dear Josh

Thank you for contacting Humminbird. We appreciate your interest in our products.

We are aware of this thing "donut" if you are moving very slow drifting the gps can not tell your direction of travel so it turns your boat to a red donut. It is something our Engineers are ware of
however i can promise when there will be software fix for this at this time.

All anyone has to do is look at Chaunc post. It says it all.

I learned a long time ago not to go to someones else's camp and pee in their bean pot. Besides I get a little aggressive sometimes and wouldn't last long. I had a fine football coach and a fine drill instructor. They taught me well. ha

If someone is interested in my limited knowledge or have questions, they can contact me. I will give an honest opinion.

For the hobbyist, I have used the Parallax GPS receiver module and digital compass in some robots and it works reasonably well. I have a collection of Pic controllers. Some members here have probably seen Clyde. He worked kinda like the Ipilot. ha


Compass and GPS Sensors