Thread: 997 bummer

have been talking with Humminbird since dec 07. about clouds or they call air bubbles in the lake I fish , which could be mistaken for school of fish. Finally got to talk to the right person Greg , but I am not liking what I hear so I am turning to you guys to see if you can help , I have a 17 ft bass trcker deep V aluminum boat and my transducer is mounted where the old one came off , to shorten the story Greg say in order to get a quality picture I will have to go back and buy a second transducer$ 223.00 because he doesn't see where I can mount this transducer on the boat to make it work correctly . also that the si is tough work on an aluminum boat , does anyone have a fix or offer any help ?

HB won't swap transducers with ya? They should take yours and atleast cut you a break on buying the other one. Call em' again.

The Hound

Howferg, am I right in assuming he's wanting you to buy another SI
transducer like the one you have, and run a splitter cable so one looks
right, the other left???

Are you having problems with the SI, or regular down view at speed? Or both?
I'm running a 797 on an aluminum deep V, and not having any problem with
the SI part, but then again I'm not trying to make it read depth when up
on plane... I've got another df still mounted that works good up to top
speed so I mounted the 797 ducer up high so as to not get knocked around
by hitting stuff. It loses bottom at about 10 mph, but that's ok the
way I'm using it.

Can you use the side imaging units to read depth when at full speed going from spot to the next? kinda stinks if you cant...

Originally Posted by lhumphre

Can you use the side imaging units to read depth when at full speed going from spot to the next? kinda stinks if you cant...

Some people can, some can't - it's a big ole honkin transducer, and I think
it's a little hard to get good water flow across the face of it at speed,
at least on some boats. I've got about a bazillion humongous rivet heads
on the bottom of mine, so I didn't even bother trying.

They've got a "fix" for this too, they have another cable that lets you split the SI
from the "down" and use a regular, smaller transducer or through-hull on some boats
to get a bottom reading at speed.

Canepole or 1 weezer can help ya.

That transducer is big, bulky, rectangular and not very hydro-dynamically friendly. It is going to take some testing on your part to find just the right spot and the right depth (protruding below the hull) to get it right. Rapprunner (VA board) has his working on a pontoon boat up to 25 mph. I went with a drill-thru-my-hull transducer on a stepped transom, so mine does not work at speed.

Good luck. Try a suction cup mount while you trial/error.

Dayton

I am not having a prroblem at high speed it will read the bottom fine ,and at speeds faster than 10 mph you can't get the picture fast enough to see the side image ,I can read the bottom up to 29 mph. My problem according to HB is on an aluminum boat your transducer doesn't work like it was deeigned to work because of rivets and they say air ature , I lowered the transducer on a 1x4 completely undehe boat in the back and still had a blockage acording to HB . And I ask them if they don't work on an aluminum boat and you need two depth finders ( which the instructions does n' tell you ) then woulkd they sell me the extra transducer and y cable at there cost , they refused saying that wouldn't be fair to the bp shops of the country . It is a 997., From my point of veiw they should Put on the box MAY NEED 2 TRANSDUCERS FOR ALUMINUM BOATS . after spending 2 grand on the depth finder .

The more i read, the more i'm glad i didn't give in to the temptation to get one. Man, all this stuff is really disturbing. Two grand for a SI and very few guys are satisfied with the product. Yet more guys are still buying them!

I've had HB, Lowrance, Eagle, and Garmin, and none of them read that well at WOT.