Question on a 798 unit

I have a 798 ci-hd-si, have not seen good pictures on it yet except hard objects, was wondering if a 5 inch screen, set at 50 feet which would equal to 10 feet to the inch,and a 7 inch set at 70 feet which is still 10 feet to inch;would for the first 5 inches on screen show the same detail,same size or what ? The reason is I see great picture on here but as best I can tell they are not the 5 inch screen. I know some will say should have got a bigger unit but that is not the point now. Also ,if possible ,would like to see some pictures on 5 inch screen and how they set them. P.S.what I would like to see is brush and, or fish. Also DI on 5 inch 798 units, thanks, hope I didn't pay this much for nothing, but feel it is me and not the unit

sorry I put it on wrong site ,thought I was on elect,now don't know how to change it, if someone knows how ,please change it,thanks

Hi genec, seems like we have a lot in common. My name is also gene C and I was also born in 1944 and I just bought the 798 unit. I can't really answer your question but as time goes by I hope to be able to get nice screen shots of fish and structure. I've only been out twice with my unit and at first I was feeling a little let down by what I saw. Then by the end of the second day I started seeing things that were there that I hadn't noticed before. I was looking for some great shots like you see in the advertisements but like you said most of those are shot on the larger screens and are of easy to see structure. To help me identify what things looks like on screen, I rode through a marina where I could see above water pilings, docks, and boats and then looked at what they looked like on screen. I toyed with the settings a little to see how to get better views. Since I only fish shallow water, usually 7 to 8 foot deep, I tried using a 30 and 40 foot setting on the range and also used only viewed one side. That rally makes everything larger and easier to see. That was on my first trial run. My second trip was to go fishing and study the unit and pictures in a real fishing situation. Knowing where there were underwater stumps I headed in that direction. I was able to find them easily with the unit with all setting set set to default. I learned to distinguish shore line weeds from the open water along the banks. I even saw a few large fish which showed up real nice (it's easier to see their shadows first). Sorry to say I didn't find any concentration of fish on the finder or on my line but even after only the second trip my confidence with the unit is going up. I think it's a learning curve that we just have to go through. I'm sure a TV size unit would make everything nicer but for now I'm satisfied with what I could afford. I watch some video's on line that showed how to tweak the units so as to be able to make object stand out more but I don't know there exact location now. I'll have to look them up again because I'm sure I can get better views than I'm getting now. Like I said I guess we'll just have to go through the learning curve and I think I'll be happy.
"gene"

genec, here is a link to some instructional videos. Like pawpaw said, there is no substitute for on the water practice. I have a couple of 898's on my boat now but before these I had a couple of super cheap depthfinders...the kind that you turned on when you put the boat in the water and didn't touch again until you turned it off when you pulled the boat out of the lake.These new units aren't like those ..you gotta play with them. Don't get too frustrated. A couple guys posted in another thread a while back that the buttons and menus are on the unit for a reason...play with them, you'll find what works for you and what doesn't. You won't get magazine picture results immediately but you will get better each time. Relax and have fun with your unit...time and practice will be your best friend. Lots of folks have the 5 inch screen and enjoy them very much.


Doug Vahrenberg's Video Clips

One of the greatest learning tools in these units is the recording feature...

When I first started using my unit...
I would fish until 1 hour before dark...
Then I would motor to a spot down the bank from my launch site (about 1/4 mile)
Turn my unit to "Record" and troll at a constant speed all the way down the bank back to the launch site...
Stop the recording at my launch site...
Take the recording home...
Take my unit in the house...
Replay my recording on the unit (and in Humviewer)
Study the recording without fishing distractions...

I found it much easier to learn SI image interpretation from a recording than trying to learn and fish and control the boat at the same time...

Rickie

paw paw gene, we sure have seen a lot of things come along since 1944,tv-computers,auto trolling motors-mirco wave, cell phone which we would get comic strip of dick tracey and laugh at,men on moon ,and now pictures of bottom of lake. If I had known you would have to be a college professor to fish, would have studiedmore instead of guffing off,LOL Looks like I am going to have to do a lot of home work now to catch a fish. can't understand ,didn't have one of those units last year and caught over 5,000 crappie, but now told myself can't catch fish without one,boy what the mind can do to our common sense,LOL

Gene a lot of water has flowed under the bridge for sure and I hope a lot more will come to us. Fishing to me has always been a way of relaxing and enjoying myself. I don't consider myself a great fisherman but probably a little better than average. I only fish to catch fish to eat fresh and never freeze any, that way it gives me an reason to go back again soon. The waters I fish are mostly shallow canals around 7' deep and 40 to 60 feet wide. These are old oilfield canals many which were dug a half century ago. Most of the canal bottoms are fairly clean except for some fallen trees. As we know trees are magnets for crappie. That is why I bought the 798, to be able to find those that have sunk out of site and are missed by most fisherman. I find them occasionally by running into them accidentally but I was hoping the unit will help me find them on a more regular basis. Also I'm moving into fishing new waters and hope that the unit helps me find fish faster. I'm not as sharp as some of the younger whipper snappers around here and it takes me a while to operate something with many buttons and menus. It's a learning curve and I don't do curves well. I grew up with a TV with two knobs, one was the on/off and the other was the channel selector (12 choices). I now have a new TV with 400 channels and more buttons and menus than I can operate. I hope to be here a while and should be able by the end of this year be able to use my unit with some proficiency. Many call this units "fishfinders" when they are sonar units. I'm not saying you can't see fish on them but the real idea is to find where fish congregate. Good luck with yours as I'm having fun with mine. It helps fill in the time between catching fish.

"gene"

We installed our 798 yesterday and took it for a test drive today. After making a couple of adjustments we had really good images in both Si and Di. Check your chart speed. It should be close to the speed you are moving. I got some great images from the 5 inch screen. Didn't have a sd card in it so wasn't able to take any pics but I will get some and post as soon as I can. The more you tinker with it the better you will get at producing good images and understanding what you see.

CrappieHound,would like to see your pictures when you get SD card, what kind of SD card do I need to get?

From what I have read Sandisk is the most popular brand. Seems like a lot of guys are using Sandisk Ultra 3 cards.