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.

HB recommends the Sandisk Extreme III SD (or SDHC high capacity) ...

These come in different "write speeds".....up to 30mbps

Higher "write speed" allows the unit to transfer snapshot and recording data to the card faster... And getting the unit back to "live view" without lag time waiting for the data to write to the card....

Rickie

I have heard that the SDHC cards have given some guys problems. I haven't used one but I'm going to the card you mentioned above with the fastest write speed I can.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrappieHound

I have heard that the SDHC cards have given some guys problems. I haven't used one but I'm going to the card you mentioned above with the fastest write speed I can.

---

I have not heard this...

I wonder if it's the Sandisk brand or just a SDHC card in general...??

Do you have a link to this discussion of problems with the SDHC card...??

Rickie

Try this

What size sd card

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrappieHound

Try this

What size sd card

---

I'll have to bookmark that discussion... It's very interesting..

I use the Sandisk Extreme III 20mbps... I see no difference in lag time (returning to live view) in comparison of normal waypoint saving time...(taking a snapshot also marks a waypoint at the same time)...

Rickie

I have a 798 si here are some notes that I picked up at a seminar from a HB rep....
set color on amber 2 and you can run on a lower sensitivity setting
set sens. and contrast about same
sharpness set to off. (or low to show suspended fish)
set scan range to 4 or 5 times the depth
run surface clutter low (2)
these are things that caught my intrest I wish that I took more notes

I went over brush on my new 798 and saw fish all over it ,they look like white leaves on the brush ,could have counted over 40 on DI and SI but went to brush on bluff rock wall and could not see fish or brush on it but could see the brush and some fish on 2d,on si most of the picture was white,how do you adjust it on hard terain? what am I doing wrong? And it was a little deeper.

I keep the "SI Enhance" window up on my screen anytime I am viewing SI...

This gives the abilitiy to change "SI Sensitivity" setting without (opaquing out) any other split view that I have up at the time...

I use the SI Sensitivity setting as a "brightness" control for my SI image (as different water conditions/bottom compositions will make the image brighter/darker..)

SI Sensitivity up will brighten the image...
SI Sensitivity down will darken the image...

I frequently change this SI Sensitivity setting as my SI image changes in brightness...

Here is a screenshot of the "SI Enhance" window overlayed onto the SI image... I had to adjust the sensitivity to 19 to get this mud bottom to reflect enough sonar echo to get an acceptable image...

http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...c/020c59aa.jpg

Rickie

New but i was told the 798 is the only hb si with hd is that true? The demo looks a lot better on the 798.

Thanks RNVINC, I will leave SI Enhance up and try that, You sure can make some great pictures

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keeferfish

New but i was told the 798 is the only hb si with hd is that true? The demo looks a lot better on the 798.

---

The "HD" designation is not an indication of anything changed in the HB units...the pixel counts did not change on any of the HB units from the older non-HD models....

HB decided to make the "HD" designation change to indicate that their units already had the highest pixel count possible in the industry...

As an added benefit to us customers...the "HD" designation gives customers the recognition capability to know that any unit that has the "HD" designation in the model name...is a "newer than 2010 model"...(even tho not all new HB products have the "HD" designation)...

It was just a HB marketing decision...not a product upgrade...

Rickie

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by genec

Thanks RNVINC, I will leave SI Enhance up and try that

---

One thing to remember when the "SI Enhance" window is showing...

If you need to mark a waypoint by pushing the "Mark" button... You have to push the "Exit" button 1 time to get rid of the "SI Enhance" before marking a waypoint...

Rickie

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rnvinc

It was just a HB marketing decision...not a product upgrade...

Rickie

---

Thanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rnvinc

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

---

Rickie, you mention taking your unit in the house and replaying the recording on the unit (and in Humviewer). What do you use to run your unit in the house. Is it series specific? I've got a 597ci hd di.

Thanks,
Kevin

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrappieWhisperer

Rickie, you mention taking your unit in the house and replaying the recording on the unit (and in Humviewer). What do you use to run your unit in the house. Is it series specific? I've got a 597ci hd di.

---

You can use any 12volt DC to 110volt AC power converter as long as it is a minimum 1amp output...

You will need to order an extra power cord for your unit from HB.. (I would give you that part number but the HB website is down right now)...

Don't forget to install a 3amp fuse in the positive wire

Rickie

Rickie, what did you use to plug into your power adapter? Just an old plug in off of something you didn't need anymore? I guess you just wired it to the extra power cord for the unit that you ordered from Humminbird. Would like to see a picture of how you did it, if its not too much trouble.

Thanks,
Kevin

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrappieWhisperer

Rickie, what did you use to plug into your power adapter? Just an old plug in off of something you didn't need anymore? I guess you just wired it to the extra power cord for the unit that you ordered from Humminbird. Would like to see a picture of how you did it, if its not too much trouble.

Thanks,
Kevin

---

When you buy an adapter..just cut off the end and wire in the HB power cord for your unit....

Don't forget to install a 3amp fuse....(I used a blade type...but in-line buss type would work also)...

Rickie

http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...MG_7297jpg.jpg

You're the bomb Rickie... thanks for all your help. Ive used DC to AC power converters before, but in this case it would be an AC to DC converter... right? Converting AC or 110v to DC, like a phone charger. I was thinking of it as a DC to AC power converter, but the unit would need just the opposite, an AC to DC power converter.

That is correct.
The power cable number is PC-10 for the smaller sized units like your 597ci HD DI unit (for an 800, 900 or 1100 series unit you should use the heavier wired PC-11 power cable).