Thread: Initial Setup for HB Dide Imaging Units

I have been using a HB 798 for 3 years now. Every now and then I actually look at the SI feature, but really haven't understood what I was looking at. I met a guy this weekend that sent me this info and he said he really made him a believer in SI once he got it set up correctly....Just thought I would share this.....I'm going to try it out the next time I am on the water and see how much more I understand or interpret what I am seeing..It looks like a lot of steps for setting it, but if it helps, it will definitely be worth the time....Tim

INITIAL SETUP FOR HUMMINGBIRD SIDE IMAGE UNITS
FOR FISHING USAGE

Power on the unit; allow it to start up in normal mode not in simulator mode.

Press menu 2 times, the screen should say ALARMS in upper left of the screen. Use the right arrow and highlight SET UP at top of page then down arrow and highlight USER MODE, set user mode to ADVANCED then exit once and return to ALARMS at the top of the page.

Use the down arrow to highlight ARRIVAL ALARM. Use the left arrow to turn off the alarm.

Highlight OFF COURSE alarm and turn it off.

Press exit 2 times. This should return you to the top of the screen. Press right arrow once to highlight SONAR. Press down arrow to the BEAM SELECT and use the left or right arrow to bring up 200/ 83KHZ.

Down arrow and switch the SIDE BEAM to 455KHZ. This setting is for shallow water usage.

Set surface clutter so that 1/16” – 1/8” band of color scrolls across the top.

Set the SWITCH FIRE to: CLEAR MODE

Down arrow and turn on the FISH ID and set the FISH SENSITIVITY to 7. (fishing application)

RTS Window: Off
Sonar Color: Palette 1
Bottom View: Structure ID
Depth Lines: On
SI Range Lines: Off
Noise Filter: Low
Max Depth: 0 – 25 (depends on depth, may need to adjust)
Transducer Select: Hi Def Side Scan
Color Bar: Off
Temperature Graph: On
Down Imaging Beam: Wide

Down arrow; it should return you to top of the page.

Right arrow to the NAV menu;
Chart Orientation: Course Up
North Reference: True
Waypoint Decluttering: On
Track Point Interval: 1 second
Track Minimum Distance: 16’
Course Projection: Visible
Map Datum: WGS 84
Continuous Navigation: On
SI Navigation: On

Push exit to return to the top of the page and right arrow to highlight CHART MENU, down arrow and set the SHADED DEPTH to 10’, down arrow and turn on SPOT SOUNDINGS, push exit to return to the top of the page.

Right arrow to the SETUP MENU, down arrow to SELECT READOUTS, right arrow set #1 to depth, set #2 to time & date, set #3 to position, set #4 to course, set #5 to speed, push exit 1 time.

Down arrow until you see LOCAL TIME ZONE and set it to the time zone that applies to your area, down arrow to set the DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME on or off as it would apply.

POSITION FORMAT: set to preference

Exit to return to the top of the page and right arrow to the VIEWS menu:
Bird’s Eye: Hidden Snapshot/Record: Visible
Chart/Bird’s Eye: Hidden DI/SI: Hidden
Chart/Chart: Hidden DI/Sonar: Hidden
Chart: Visible Three View: Visible
Chart/ Down: Hidden SI: Visible
Chart/Down Sonar: Visible Sonar: Visible
SI/Chart: Hidden Zoom: Hidden
Down Image: Hidden Split Position: Visible

All other views are factory hidden.
These settings will be a good start for most users.

Press menu 2 times and it should return you to normal screen. Press view until you see the side image view, press menu 1 time, an express menu should pop up, down arrow and highlight SI Range, left arrow to bring it down to 75’. As an option you might also want to down arrow and change the screen background color to BROWN as it offers excellent contrast between structure and fish in most situations.
Note: On the 997/998 models other good color choices are Amber 1 & 2 for soft mucky bottom lakes.
SI Enhance;
Sensitivity: adjust as needed ( light frosting on hard objects is correct )
Contrast: 13
Sharpness: Off
Contour Mode: Off

Exit the menu by pressing exit and now you can save your shortcuts. The SIDE IMAGE view is a high use screen so bring it up and then press and hold the top white button above the power button. After it says shortcut saved bring up the SONAR view and save it on the middle white button. After it says shortcut saved bring up the SONAR/CHART view and save it on the bottom white button.

NOTES:
· You must image a minimum of twice the depth of the water.
· Optimum speed for imaging: 1.2 – 3.5 mph

These settings are suggested to get you off to a good start to use your new Hummingbird unit the first time you get to your favorite fishing hole. As with anything new the more you use it the more effective and enjoyable your experience will be. You have invested in one of the most state of the art tools to enhance your time and success on the water.

Originally Posted by specktacklure

Holy crappie, that's why I don't use them things - too complicated.

I'd spend more time pressin buttons & watchin a screen than I would just catchin fish.

Hope it works out for ya, what the heck is SI anyway - I thought he was on Duck Dynasty

They are not that bad, pretty easy to work. If you can work a computer you can work a SI unit. My Lowrance worked awesome out of the box, no in depth setup needed. Im sure the Humminbird works well on the factory settings as well, the guys on the bass forums run factory settings and get great images. You can always tweak them to get a little more out of them. Here are some bream beds I found when I first bought my unit, this is factory settings.