a bug for Humminbird's ear...

The new gps puck that's coming out this Fall - sure hope you guys
are planning some sort of a trade-in program for all of us who have
the older model. I've got two myself, 797 and 787.

Around 18 Benjamins worth of electronics that are less than a year old,
looks like the least you could do is give us some return credit for our old ones.

I've seen a lot of changes in the last few years. I was at a memorial tourney
several years back, and the organizers were throwing Humminbird ball caps
out to the crowd - and very few would even pick 'em up off the ground...

But now it seems like about everybody's jumped on the wagon since SI
and is singin' the praises of H'bird far and wide - you've come a long way
in a short time. Hope everyone realizes that this can be long-term -
or could go back the other way just as quickly.

I think doing folks well in this situation (and straightening out the
gps response time issues) would go a long way towards
preserving this newfound level of respect -
and influencing us as to whom we continue to spend our money with in the future ;)

May I second the above.......................

Amen to that......I am in the same boat as you. 797 and 777c less than a year old.

:confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jaxsprat

May I second the above.......................

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Put me down for 3rd.......Very well explained JW

I am fourth. Yes vote here.

Hey, put me down for one. I just bought mine the last of June. Don't look for it to be an exchange.

Chuck

I agree. I would at least like a trade in or discount offer so current owners don't have to pay retail.

Daytn

And what are they going to do with the old ducers you trade in? :confused: Do you really think they want to take one to put back in stock? USED at that.:eek:

I am very dissapointed with the gps on my 787 as well. It was the most money I've ever spent for electronics for the boat. I had very high hopes for it. Now i'm just sick everytime I try to find a waypoint, I have to get my 6 yr. old garmin out to find that i'm 50 feet away from where I need to be.
I sure hope Humminbird does the right thing and offers an even swap or download to correct what should have been right the first time. I just can't see spending more money with them to fix a problem that should have never been there in the first place. If they want to keep loyal and repeat customers, they need to address the issue at hand and take care of those that purchase their products!

Is it the equipment, or the programming? Hey HB, what are we looking at. Program updates, or equipment? Your input would be appreciated.

Chuck

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chaunc

And what are they going to do with the old ducers you trade in? :confused: Do you really think they want to take one to put back in stock? USED at that.:eek:

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Well, it will get deleted if I spell it out - but I'm sure you can imagine
EXACTLY what I'd like for 'em to do with 'em :mad:

This is not about the worth of the old unit, but about acting responsibly,
taking care of their customers - they sold us junk, and knew it.
And now we should pay full-pop to fix it???

Can most of ya'll have imagined back, oh say 5 years or so ago, that
average working Joes would be raiding the piggy bank to buy $1,000-
$2,000 or more fishfinders? I felt like I'd really been extravagant when
I shelled out $380 for an Eagle Optima. And you know what, that thing
never gave a minutes trouble, worked as advertised, and when I sold
the boat 8 years later, it was still working. Never had to update any
software, or worry about was it gonna lock up and have to be sent back
to the factory when I tried to update it. Imagine that.

Like I stated earlier, it's up to them - if they want to be a player,
the opportunity is here, or if they want to be considered junk again and
and shunned by serious boaters, that can happen pretty quick also.

Tell you a little story about how I ended up buying that Eagle Optima
in the first place... I had just bought a new boat, and was rigging it out.
All the advertising rage at the time was the new 3D model from H'bird.
Was front page news in all the catalogs, BPS, Cabelas, etc.
I started trying to order one, only to find nobody had any -
Ended up with one on backorder from BPS, Cabelas, AND Overtons.
See who could get one first. After several months, finally got tired of
being fishfinder-less, canceled them all out, and went with the little Eagle.
And after I ran it awhile, wondered what more could I have wanted.
Looked at Lowrance, but at that time, you could only buy them from a
dealer - no mail order Lowrances. Anybody else remember that time period?
Asked why, and basically was told I wasn't smart enough to operate one
without a dealer holding my hand. Like most of them really knew anything
about operating it.

what if the new antenna isn`t that much better,guess everyone will sone see

I'm gonna give 'em a little while to see - if not, I'll probably end up
with a Garmin like everybody else seems to be. And live with the small
screen on my 797 and quit jonesing for a 1197 ;):)

I, for one, have no intention of shelling out any more money to resolve an issue that should have never happened to begin with. We have a unit that isn't even a year old that is bona fide piece of junk because it doesn't work as it should. Over the years there have been a few times when we have made major purchases when the product wasn't up to par and guess what, the manufacturer made it right! Wow, what a concept! For me, this falls in the category of a major purchase. Humminbird must make so much money and sell so much equipment that they don't have to worry about putting out quality the FIRST TIME. I am darn sure not about to spend my money for some add on or replacement item just to put a band-aid on their screw up.

I can absolutely guarantee one thing to Humminbird and I hope you are listening -

I will NEVER recommend Humminbird to anybody and if I see someone looking at their products in the store I'll be eager to tell them how poorly their GPS units perform. Any fishing tournaments I enter in the future, I will seize every opportunity to share my Humminbird fiasco with anyone who will listen.

J. White, i learned my lesson from HB about 8 years ago, when i had a problem with their product. Sent it in and they sent me a newly refurbished unit.:eek: It lasted all of two WEEKS. Sent that back and they sent me the unit i sent them. Same serial number. Got 2 weeks from that unit. Went and got me an eagle and never looked back. I was interested in getting a SI unit, but after reading reviews from this board for the last year, decided i can live without it. Gonna get an eagle or a lowrance with a big screen. Maybe even color. But i'm staying away from the birds. Dont need the headache.

Chaunc, ok - I hear ya. I believe they've changed owership since yours,
and I was hoping things were all better - anyway, I'm gonna take a lot
more of a "wait n see" attitude with electronics for awhile.
Seems like Lowrance has had a lot of problems lately too, from circuit
boards to software glitches - it'll all settle out in awhile, lots of new
stuff has come out lately.

Y'all just made me feel alot better because I was ready to spend some serious money on one as soon as I got the funds right. Will wait for Lowrance's version probably. Might take a long time but I don't have to worry about them. My two units are getting old but are not junk. CF

I posted a thread about how much im struggling with my 997 GPS tonight. I should have read more here before posting because it appears that Im not the only one that think the GPS su#ks. For the life of me I cannot understand how they released these units for sale to the public for 2 or 3 grand with the GPS that they have in them. I swear I cannot get on a waypoint to save my life. Whats worse is when you see this big beautiful brush pile on the sideimage and you move the cursor to mark it...then go to it and its not there....then only to find it 25 feet away from the waypoint! Sideimaging demands a great GPS to accompany it or else it all falls apart. Right now, its definetly falling apart for me.

A guy over on Walleye Central asked for general opinions on these
units - I tried to give him a heads up on the gps, got flogged by
a bunch of yanks that say Humminbird gps works "awesome"

May have to go up and get some of them to show me how :D

Earlier this year I had my hand held GPS on a friends boat with a 997 to find and mark brush piles. We weren't having any problems at all after he moved the cursor over onto the brush and marked it. After which we would then goto the mark until it was found and showing up on his trolling motor graph at which time I would mark it with my hand held GPS.

It sure worked good for what I was wanting out of it. It sure was worth it to me for the money he put into it :D:cool:;) since I had several real good trips to that lake with my boat this year using those GPS points.

Mine has been pretty decent about returning to a marked spot. But, the response time is a bit slow. I might get past the brush pile while my cursor position is updating. So, I can find the spots, but I might have to make a pass or two.

I generally drop a marker bouy when I am close anyway. Then a second marker bouy right on top of the spot.

I don't troll, so the updating speed has not been a huge issue for me.

Dayton