Depth sounder screen freeze

[princesslouisa]

We have a '96 Campion that we bought used a few months ago. First noticed that we could not turn off the depth sounder without turning off the battery or pulling the screen off of the mount --thus disconnecting it. The depth sounder is a wide-eye Humminbird, probably 2-3 yrs old. Sometimes the sounder will work ok but then the screen will freeze up. We have not been able to program it at all, just doesn't respond. Wiring was checked by an elect. and is ok, volt is constant and connections were ok. It is not a thru hull, and the transducer seems to be ok as well. Humminbird says to send it back (for $80 bucks!). We take our boat in salt and are usually in kind of deep water, over 200 feet, would like to know exact depth for anchoring, rocks, etc. not necessarily for fish finding. Any recommendations? Should we get a new sounder? Thanks for any help!

 

[amirm]

Re: Depth sounder screen freeze

Seems like a broken unit to me. If you like the unit otherwise, then $80 is much cheaper than buying something new. Otherwise yes, you would want to get a new unit. When the device does not respond to input, it either has a buggy firmware (check to see if you can upgrade it somehow) or something causing its CPU to hang. The latter is definitely a hardware problem.<br /><br />Amir

 

[princesslouisa]

Re: Depth sounder screen freeze

Seems broken to us too. When buying a new depth sounder, we've been hearing a lot about Lowrance or Garmin. Humminbird doesn't get such good reviews. We just want something simple to use; (we're not techno freaks) and something that is dependable. What do y'all recommend? Is thru hull better? Thanks.

 

[amirm]

Re: Depth sounder screen freeze

I am sorry but I don't have any experience with lower-end units. I have an integrated Raymarine system with Radar, digital sounder, and GPS which works great but it is quite expensive. Hopefully others can make recommendation closer to what you are looking for.<br /><br />BTW, if all you are going to use it for is for depth, then they are all pretty easy to use.<br /><br />Amir

 

[islandboat]

Re: Depth sounder screen freeze

You may have a bad fishfinder, but I used my Dad's small boat this weekend and to turn off his Hummingbird fishfinder I had to get used to holding the off button down for 4 seconds. You may have already tried that but just making sure. Also, Do you have an hour meter built into this fishfinder? I have a fishfinder from a different manufacturer and it will not shut off if the engine is running. <br />Both of my fishfinders, Si-tex and Navman, "freeze up" if air gets under the transducer (backing down) or if I "launch" over a wave in rough water.

 

[FishyFun]

Re: Depth sounder screen freeze

Go to Eagle.com they have a get selectionand price range. The color ones are great and the upper end ones have GPS with tons of mapping included.<br /><br />lee

 

[north40]

Re: Depth sounder screen freeze

Eagles are very nice. Lowrance has more power but more expensive.

 

[ufm82]

Re: Depth sounder screen freeze

Humminbird is junk. I don't know about the newest models but 'birds have been in the basement for years. They just didn't stack up against any other current brands. Low pixel counts, poor transducer designs and poor performance made them the Yugo of finders. <br /><br /> Ditch it and buy a new one. $200 will get you as good a finder as most casual boaters/fisherman will ever need. Or, simply buy an in dash finder and use that since you don't fish. Faria, Hawkeye and Garmin all make in-dash models that cost less than $150 and will read to 200 feet. If you need more, go with a Lowrance/Eagle/Garmin unit for $199 or so. They'll read to 800' minimum. <br /><br /> I wouldn't have a Humminbird in my boat. <br /><br />UFM82

 

[Black69]

Re: Depth sounder screen freeze

I bought an Eagle Cuda 168 EX and love it. I just wanted something that was easy for my kids to use and not something really expensive.