Humminbird 596c HD DI???

Hey guys I need some advice. I have a '01 Bass Tracker Crappie 175 boat and a ancient HB Wide 100 on it. All I have been able to do with that is stay off the rocks and sandbars with a general idea of depth. I was at Basspro and looked at the Humminbird 596c HD DI with the wife on Sunday. It looks great to me but I know nothing about fishfinders. I am tech savvy in general and I have a Garmin ETREX so I don't need GPS on the unit per se. What I want to do is see structure and any fish reasonably. I know many on here have SI and DI and all that but bearing in mind I haven't spent the last 20 years looking at Finder screens Is this a good novice finder with enough usable features to manage without blowing the top off my head? Budget is 300-400 bucks and I am ok paying less!rotflI noticed they have a greyscale version at $249 but knowing screens and resolution I am a bit shy of going with that. Old man eyes...

I could sure use a little feedback before sinking 4 benjamins on this and ending up with a paperweight.


Thanks in advance!

Terry

I like the DI. I have a 7 something combo. You can actually see the fish and they actually look like fish. Trees look like trees and stumps look like stumps. Not grey or colored blobs.

It is pretty easy to use. There is a bar that pops up at the top and you use the arrow buttons to either go across the menu headings or the down arrows to get into the sub menus.

You have three buttons that you can program to be short cuts to your favorite screens. Otherwise you can hit a button that scrolls through the different screens one by one.


In my mind a fish finder needs to tell me the temp, depth, it needs to be able to differntiate whether the bottom is mud or rock or gravel, and differntiate between things that are part of the bottom and things that are sticking up off the bottom (ie. the difference between a hump or boulder and a tree stump). I know you said you have a handheld gps but having it on the unit and showing speed is so handy. Plus it is very easy to mark stuff on the screen. Mine you can pause the scroll and move the cursor to whatever you want to mark and mark it even if you have drifted 50 feet past what it is you want to mark, it will mark that spot way over there without being right over it.

Thanks for the feedback smashdn! I think I may pull the trigger on this unit. Sounds like anyone can set it up and tell what is going on. It is a far cry from looking at little boomarangs on a tiny bw screen! Much abliged for the help...

Terry

all I can say is when I got my first color unit IT BLEW MY SOCKS OFF!!

Here is good reading on the 597c HD DI Combo...(which is the same as the 596c HD DI except the 596 doesn't have GPS or card slots)....

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/fishi...7ci-hd-di.html

Rickie

I got the 597 last spring and love it.

I got the 597ci HD DI ... after a few trips i think this will work just fine

I'm partial to Lowrance. The new HDI 7 is tip top and is about 750 bucks....you can't take it with you!!!

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Originally Posted by BIGBADDAD

I'm partial to Lowrance. The new HDI 7 is tip top and is about 750 bucks....you can't take it with you!!!

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I guess that's true but while I am fishing I would like to have my head attached! Mama would skin me if I doubled my budget:deadhorse. I heard about you guys on the "Dark Side" in another thread. :Rofl

But seriously I looked at the Lowrance too. Right now I don't want to go too hitech. Still got my learners permit with finders! Just trying to get usuable sonar. I still have to get my moneys worth outa my Garmin ETREX too...

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Originally Posted by killum

Right now I don't want to go too hitech. Still got my learners permit with finders! Just trying to get usuable sonar. I still have to get my moneys worth outa my Garmin ETREX too...

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Have you considered coming to our "sit down-knock heads-sonar session..??

You are showing you are in KY...

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/kentu...r-session.html

Rickie