Humminbird gps factory problem

If gps speeds of less than 1.0 are important to you i would not buy the newer humminbird units. My brand new 900 series has to go back to the factory for other reasons but i ask about the fact that the few hours i had the unit working it would not hold speed on screen. It jumps all over the place when reading in tenths. This is useless for tightliners. If i had known this i would have bought something else. It is a wide spread problem and humminbirds fix so far is to try a more exspensive puck and this may or may not work. Buy a good jap unit and save yourself some grief. Yeah i'm a little ticked off...........................

Relie more on my Terrova than my depth finder for speed readings for this exact reason.

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Originally Posted by Rees Guide

Relie more on my Terrova than my depth finder for speed readings for this exact reason.

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that's why I go by my ipilot remote :twocents

Interesting enough, Johnson Outdoors owns both products. I used to own an I-Pilot and found in windy conditions most of its features were useless for tightliners. I will have to say that the gps readout were in line with older unit I have on the boat. Maybe they could just send a I-Pilot unit with the finders because most tightliners use the v2/terrova series. I personally don't like having a handheld unit in my hand or around my neck while fishing. If my eyesight was great and could read a 1/8" tall readout I wouldn't be buying a 900 series finder anyway. If I remember correctly condensation made my little IP screen hard to read in cold weather. I guess I'm just a little ticked off that a company, that if bought today. I would have close to five thousand dollars worth of product in, tells me there is no solid fix for a unit that has been on the market for a year and still selling them. Thanks for letting me vent....For the first time in my life I will not be recommending humminbird or anthing put out by Johnson Outdoors.

My 798 has been back to humminbird two times in the last month, they say the internal antenna circuit board was bad both times, nothing to do with gps works, so I have it back for the second tome Ina month, I hope to get to the lake this weekend and try it out. But as Rees said I use the Ipilot more for my speed control and the cruise control on the unit works good on calm days.

my 7 and 8 hundred series are right on the money with my ipilot. Do you have the newest updates installed?

I think they humminbird makes fish magically appear to keep you wanting more. Like "let's mess with this sucker. Red fish, red fish, blue fish, blue fish Look at him adjust those rods." Haha. No fish on screen then you can catch them.

Same problem with the new garmin GPSS, At slow speed, 5 mph or less , they are off too. I bought me a new one here a while back, stayed on the phone for 3 or 4 days, done every update possible, ended up sending it back, got refund. Finally some one at garmin told me they new about the problem and had there guys working on it, but they had no fix at this time.The problem was , when I was easying up on a brush pile, I would go past it 20 to 30 feet before the GPSS said I was on it.

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From Alamancecreek.

I have a 597 and thought it was just mine that jumped around like that. I see people saying they were fishing at .5 or .8, etc. Mine might be .2 -1.4, or anywhere in between. If I'm tightlining I try to keep my lines hanging straight down or close to it. That is the only way I know to control it.

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Originally Posted by clfarms1

my 7 and 8 hundred series are right on the money with my ipilot. Do you have the newest updates installed?

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My older unit, a 998, is dead on. I won't upgrade it because I am happy with its operation. I'm scared of them upgrades anymore. I'm not aware of the older units having a gps problem like the new ones. I wish you continued good service from your units.

I've got the 597 no trouble so far its speed reads the same as the I pilot

my 898's perform wonderfully, gps signal is dependent on multiple factors, including wind and cloud cover, if you don't like your birds, get you a new generation lowrance and wait 5 minutes between updates on the gps screen, possible the slowest and most useless gps on the market.

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Originally Posted by gobbler

my 898's perform wonderfully, gps signal is dependent on multiple factors, including wind and cloud cover, if you don't like your birds, get you a new generation lowrance and wait 5 minutes between updates on the gps screen, possible the slowest and most useless gps on the market.

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Wind and cloud cover don't effect gps signals., if that was the case a airplane would never be able to fly using GPS and that is the way they all work. our missile that fly a thousand mph or more rely on GPS and the wind speed would be the same and we can fly them in a window. just my :twocents

Oh great. Another thread turned into who's better. Humminbird or Lowrance. I just wanted to inform folks that Humminbird is aware of the problem and is still selling them. I have a unit that is working great but its a 2010 model. I didn't make this crap up. If I thought Lowrance was better I would own one. Screw this and sorry for trying to help out.

Everybody knows Chevy is better than Ford. Geez.

Do what newly does, watch how fast the bank is moving. His .5 is actually 2.5 but the fish don't seem to mind. ;)

mine are the 6.180 version, like you i was scared to update and since everything was working fine i saw no reason, will humminbird not make it right for ya? is this the same 998 you were having trouble with earlier? have you tried going back to an older version update, if that is even possible.

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Originally Posted by clfarms1

Wind and cloud cover don't effect gps signals., if that was the case a airplane would never be able to fly using GPS and that is the way they all work. our missile that fly a thousand mph or more rely on GPS and the wind speed would be the same and we can fly them in a window. just my :twocents

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i doubt my humminbird has the same gps capabilities as a nuclear warhead. but thats just me.

Watch them new updates, I know your talking about depth finders, but thats the problem with the gps I was talking about ,the new updates is the problem with them, my older gps hadn't got the new updates and it still works right. I wanted a newer model, thats why I bought the new one, thought it might be better, but It wasn't.

My 798 worked good till I done a update, then my GPS went out, I found that the update must have turned mine off. After searching the web for answers I started to send mine back until I read somewhere to try turning the GPS off then reboot the unit and turn it back on. When I found the settings it was off in 2 areas I turned them on and it is working now. As far as speed mine says 0.5 setting still and has since it was new 4 years ago.

Alamance at least he moves with you when we fish together I think he turns it off.lol:-D

My 898 side scannng HD has always jumped around. Had about 3 years now. My old 500 series chartplotter worked 10 times better. Some model external antenna. I've tried different apps on my phone and none of them will do anything less than 1mph. I just go by the bend in the line most of the time and what notch I have it on my trolling motor. Like you said. It not worth anything below 1 mph. Even above 2 mph... it still jumps around. I just take the average speed and ignore the jumps.

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Originally Posted by sundance

My 898 side scannng HD has always jumped around. Had about 3 years now. My old 500 series chartplotter worked 10 times better. Some model external antenna. I've tried different apps on my phone and none of them will do anything less than 1mph. I just go by the bend in the line most of the time and what notch I have it on my trolling motor. Like you said. It not worth anything below 1 mph. Even above 2 mph... it still jumps around. I just take the average speed and ignore the jumps.

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Unless you are fishing on a perfectly calm day no wind what so ever and going in a perfectly straight line, your gps speed is going to vary. when you are talking tenths of a mph it dosent take much to make it change. Ive seen it go from 1 mph to 2 tenths of a mph on one wind guest. So no matter what you do you are going to have gps speed variances. just my :twocents

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Originally Posted by clfarms1

Unless you are fishing on a perfectly calm day no wind what so ever and going in a perfectly straight line, your gps speed is going to vary. when you are talking tenths of a mph it dosent take much to make it change. Ive seen it go from 1 mph to 2 tenths of a mph on one wind guest. So no matter what you do you are going to have gps speed variances. just my :twocents

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I agree. I was speaking of a calm day. Thanks for the info.

I have the 798 and can't use it on my trolling motor at all. I've tried everything I know or have been told to do. Motor not running it works okay start motor and it goes fuzzy. Hope this year to replace with a lowrance that I know is good proruct.
Just Saying.

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Originally Posted by billyniten

I have the 798 and can't use it on my trolling motor at all. I've tried everything I know or have been told to do. Motor not running it works okay start motor and it goes fuzzy. Hope this year to replace with a lowrance that I know is good proruct.
Just Saying.

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Are they both connected to the same battery . I have a little interference while running the trolling motor

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Originally Posted by Lynn Cook

My 798 worked good till I done a update, then my GPS went out, I found that the update must have turned mine off. After searching the web for answers I started to send mine back until I read somewhere to try turning the GPS off then reboot the unit and turn it back on. When I found the settings it was off in 2 areas I turned them on and it is working now. As far as speed mine says 0.5 setting still and has since it was new 4 years ago.

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My 768 has done almost the same since I turned it on the first time. Mine registers .3, just have to remember to subtract .3 and all is good.

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Originally Posted by billyniten

I have the 798 and can't use it on my trolling motor at all. I've tried everything I know or have been told to do. Motor not running it works okay start motor and it goes fuzzy. Hope this year to replace with a lowrance that I know is good proruct.
Just Saying.

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Have you used a separate battery for the 798? My 798 did the same thing; I connected it to a separate battery and it now works perfect. When I proved that the isolated battery solved the problem, I bought a small gel-cell battery from Batteries-Plus. I only have to recharge it once-in-awhile. For what it's worth, IMO, save your money, the 798 is as good, or better, than the Lowrance. B-

I have the cheaper 597, but it is dead on with my I pilot. sorry you're having trouble with it. Mine gets wacky at high speeds,but because it is on the back of a pontoon boat. The speed function is most critical at the slower speeds, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Crewmax42

I have the cheaper 597, but it is dead on with my I pilot. sorry you're having trouble with it. Mine gets wacky at high speeds,but because it is on the back of a pontoon boat. The speed function is most critical at the slower speeds, in my opinion.

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that's why I've got my 597 up front :twocents

You don't run at speed with your TM down, do you? I mean, on purpose. :biggrin

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Originally Posted by Crewmax42

I have the cheaper 597, but it is dead on with my I pilot. sorry you're having trouble with it. Mine gets wacky at high speeds,but because it is on the back of a pontoon boat. The speed function is most critical at the slower speeds, in my opinion.

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I paid more attention today on the lake and my 597 had a +/ - of . 4 mph or greater while my I pilot was very stable.. Kind of stinks .

I have the HB365 combo on the front of my boat. Bought it about 6 years ago. It is dead on with my I-Pilot. Guess I'm lucky, never had any problems with either one. Now the Elite 7 is a different story, but the GPS speed is dead on for the 7 as well on low speeds, just can't keep up when I am running the OB.