Hanr3 Sonar/Chartplotter Thread

[Hanr3]

Snow plowing was very good to me this year so I decided it was time to upgrade my electronics. I was using a Humminbird Piranaha Max 220 unit and Lowrance Etrac gps unit. It was a functional setup, but definitely had room for improvement.

About 3 weeks ago I bought the Huminbird 899ci HD SI unit. I was stoked and got the transducer and unit mounted in the boat just in time to take it to our first HOI Crappie Club tournament. I got to the lake on Friday to try out the new unit and hopefully find fish. Being eager to have the latest software on my new purchase, I had the software loaded onto a 16gb SDHC card. Fired up the unit, it asked me a couple of questions, like do you want to update software. Heck yea. Did something and I get a message, shutting down, shutting down, shutting down, 20 minutes later, shutting down. I called tech support from the boat in the middle of the lake. Bottom line, I had to send the unit to Humminbird to be fixed. Not happy at all. Brand new unit, doesn't work. Cost me $24 to ship it to Humminbird, with insurance.

Got the unit back a week later via Fed-Ex. Tech support said the mother board needed to be replaced.

[Hanr3]

Ran into Kenny after the tournament in Clinton. We chatted about this that and the other. He suggested playing around with the setting at the dining table. Took me a day to get a spare battery charged up for in the house. Last two weeks I read the owners manual and play with the unit to learn about it. I modified a few settings so far. Most recent was due to a thread on Crappie.com. Tonight I changed chart display from North-Up to Course-Up and turned on the North Indicator.

As time continues Ill be posting my questions, thoughts, settings, etc. Fell free to chime in.

Anyone know how to change the light setting permanently?
Every time I start it up it resets to full light power.

[vic n]

I sure hope the repairs work for you....I know how frustrating it can be when you get your hopes up and spend your hard-earned rubles on a new toy, only to be let down. Humminbird is known for very good customer service, but to me, the best customer service is never needing to call them.

[jigfisherx]

I have this on my want list. Looking foreword to future reports.

[Humminbird_Greg]

The backlight is programmed to turn on like that so that you can see the unit even in full sun. There is no way to permanently change it.

[BobB]

Snow plowing was very good to me this year so I decided it was time to upgrade my electronics. I was using a Humminbird Piranaha Max 220 unit and Lowrance Etrac gps unit. It was a functional setup, but definitely had room for improvement.

About 3 weeks ago I bought the Huminbird 899ci HD SI unit. I was stoked and got the transducer and unit mounted in the boat just in time to take it to our first HOI Crappie Club tournament. I got to the lake on Friday to try out the new unit and hopefully find fish. Being eager to have the latest software on my new purchase, I had the software loaded onto a 16gb SDHC card. Fired up the unit, it asked me a couple of questions, like do you want to update software. Heck yea. Did something and I get a message, shutting down, shutting down, shutting down, 20 minutes later, shutting down. I called tech support from the boat in the middle of the lake. Bottom line, I had to send the unit to Humminbird to be fixed. Not happy at all. Brand new unit, doesn't work. Cost me $24 to ship it to Humminbird, with insurance.

Got the unit back a week later via Fed-Ex. Tech support said the mother board needed to be replaced.

Just curious...When you did the update, did you have the unit fully started up and then insert the card, or did you insert the card and then power up the unit?

[Hanr3]

The backlight is programmed to turn on like that so that you can see the unit even in full sun. There is no way to permanently change it.

Bummer! Thanks for the information.

[Hanr3]

Just curious...When you did the update, did you have the unit fully started up and then insert the card, or did you insert the card and then power up the unit?

I did the later. Insert card and power up. Actually it was the first time I powered it up too. Not sure if that had an affect, I wouldn't think so, but don't know.

[Hanr3]

I sure hope the repairs work for you....I know how frustrating it can be when you get your hopes up and spend your hard-earned rubles on a new toy, only to be let down. Humminbird is known for very good customer service, but to me, the best customer service is never needing to call them.

Yes, tech support was excellent and prompt to answer the phone. I only waited a few minutes and it appeared tech support is located in the US. Based on the

questions and answers it appears to me that tech support has a script (which is good), and standard steps to follow depending on the problem (which is also good). Anybody know if Humminbird is ISO certified?

[Humminbird_Greg]

The Humminbird Customer Resource Center (CRC) folks are located in Eufaula, Alabama in the good ‘ole U.S.A.!

No, not ISO certified.