Over the years I have owned several Depth/Fishfinders/GPS units and all of them but 2 were HB's. All of them did just what they were supposed to do. The models have ranged from the $99 cheapos to the 798's to the 859. Happy with them all, but here is what keeps me staying with Humminbird...Customer Service is OUTSTANDING!!!
A few years back I had a 2 year old 717 that I started having problems with the screen fogging up so I called them. They gave me a reference number and told me to send it back. I shipped it on a Monday and on Friday it was back sitting on my front porch...Hard to beat that turnaround time!!
Once I had a week at Talquin and on the first day there my trolling motor hit a stump and tore the transducer off. I called Humminbird immediately and told them what had happened and that I would be there at the lake for the next week. They shipped a transducer there to the lake which wasn't a real big deal. What impressed me is that they Overnighted it to me at No Charge!!
Just recently, I ordered a unit from Amazon and when I mounted it on the boat, it didn't power up. Sent it back last week and it has already been returned and working fine.
I have called and actually talked with "Real People" about technical support questions and they have talked me thru the problem without wanting a credit card number...
Just wanted to throw out a Kudos to a company that still has humans you can talk to on the phone and gives Excellent Customer Service!!!!