i have the hummingbird 597ci hd di. i took it out and it seems to be giving me some bad readings. stinkymatt has the hb 595c hd i think and we were comparing the readings. we were off by 13 ft.
he recently went out and said that the temp reading was 89*
he isn't so happy with his so i am told that he will be returning it shortly and possibly looking at the lowrance hds 5 elite.
i am not so hot on this unit either but willing to stick it out based on two reasons: 1) when mounting the unit i had to epoxy the transducer to the wire management. so if i were to return it, i would need to purchase a new wire management and possibly a new transducer, cost for both $100
2) to purchase a lowrance hds 5 combo unit, i am looking at $700; the unit that i have now only cost me $600, so to change it out would cost me additional $200 that i am not willing to do.
if i were to do it again, i would buy the lowrance. i originally went with the hb b/c of the 4000 watts and 500 peak to peak and the higher resolution 640/640 rather than 480/480 from lowrance. i also like that the lowrance dismounts cleanly with the single cable unlike the hb.
hope that this helps. anyone else out there with a hb similar to mine i would love to hear what you guys have to say -thanks