My first Humminbird Gripe!

Got my 797 back today from getting worked on at Humminbird customer service (they said it was something wrong with the "board"), put it in the cradle and it will not get past the loading screen. I tried both cradles that I have in the boat and same result. Cost me nearly $200 bucks and doesn't appear they even checked it before they left the service dept. Took the battery out thinking it might be something with the battery and replaced it with another. Same thing!!!!

Here is the real . Let me preface this by saying that both are my units have a 1 amp inline fuse between it and the battery, so this shouldn't be related to anything that I have done regarding wiring. Put the 777 on the cradle and it is doing the same thing as as the 797 was. "Blurred" screen, and everything is shadowed. Must be the board on this as well. I am going to send them both back. I ran both of these units exactly the same way the last 2 years and had no problems. I can't believe both these units decided to crap out at exactly the same time!

There goes another weekend without being able to fish!!!!!!!

I would contact Customer Service first thing Monday morning and see what they will do for you. The number is 800-633-1468.

have you added any electrical gear?... new/different TM, etc?...

Try a diff trancducer?....

Transducer now on TM?

Anything new?

same transducer, new trolling motor. Put a Terrova 24v and am running the units off of one battery in the series. Which should not create any kind of problem, especially since I'm running 1 amp inline fuses on both units. I'm really not happy about this at all! If they charge me another $180 to fix a $300 unit now I'm going to be disappointed. Especially since I have purchased a Terrova, 797, 777, interlink etc... from this company. At this point I wish I would have went the Lowrance route.

Also everything is out of warranty!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad I have ponied up the money for a 1000 series or a 900 series like I wanted to. If a new unit only lasts a few years, right now I'm thinking they ain't worth it!!!!!!!

Thinking out loud here, but a couple HDS units with Structure scan work pretty good in Missouri. Ask Beagleman about it if you have that kind of money to spend. 2 yr warranty.

Seems usual that you are getting the same symptoms with 2 different units. Before sending them back, I'd suggest trying to power the unit directly off a battery that has a minimum of twelve volts, with a fuse inline obviously. I know you said you switched batteries, but that doesn't eliminate faults in the wiring. I had problems with one of my units which I had wired off the fuse panel. Somewhere along the line there must have been a corroded connector or something, because when I wired it direct to the battery it was fine! If you can, try to go straight to the battery with a fuse right from the Humminbird powercord, eliminate any other connections or wiring. No need to connect a transducer, as the unit should power up in the simulator mode. Dampness in a boat plays havoc with wiring connections! If your units start working, I'd replace the wiring for each unit, solder the connections, and run them direct to the battery with a fuse. Let us know what happens.

I had a humminbird 777 and it would in no way work with the terrova trolling motor, called humminbird, no help, called back no help, ask on here got help, (good site) called humminbird, we can help they said, we will send you a packet that will fix your problem, they didn't, called them no help, sold the unit to a man told him my problems he said no problem I dont have a terrova, it works fine for him . had a 797 I liked it, then I didn't then I sold It and now I am happy. just saying some people have good luck with getting customer service and some dont, be sure you get a response you don't have to pay no matter what, it's pretty easy to say, we found a new problem not related to the first problem. so you have to pay, don't let that happen, I your going to spend your hard earned money on a product don't waste it on double repair cost, us the money to up grade to a better product.

I agree with Shellback, It's strange that they both quit at the same time with the same problem. I would look at what ever is common to both of those units before I sent them off. If it is something wrong with the boards on both of those units, probably something external to those units caused the problem. I would check the wiring very carefully because even when the units get repaired, if the source of the problem is not corrected, they will fail again. Do you by any chance have a power converter to plug those into AC power without being in the cradle at all?

Any by the way, just go on fishing. I fished for 49 years without a depth finder and still had fun:D

Good luck with the problem and let us know how it turns out.

I just sent my 737 in last week got it back today. Fixed I wasnt happy bout paying the 105.00 to get it fixed but it seems they did a good job and i got it back fast.