I just bought a new humminbird 899 and took it out yesterday. I am currently using the compact si transducer that came with my helix 5. I had a terrible time trying to get it dialed in. At first the screen was completely washed out. I have never seen anything like it. As the day progressed the images started slowly improving. I'm not sure if there is something wrong with my unit or if there was something in the lake. I have had several locals tell me they had the same problem in the lake recently. Anyways I had great pics before I left the lake but I had to turn the contrast up to 15 which is odd to me.
I am sending the transducer that came with the unit in to humminbird and swapping for the hdsi transducer. I have read that the 800 khz does not work on 899's and that I will probably have to send the unit in to Humminbird. Is this true or is it possible that my unit is not affected? I heard that it was 2014 models. My units serial number starts with a 14 so I am pretty sure it is a 2014 model. How do you tell the model year? Any help is appreciated.