Your opinion on meters please... - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Kailolo · 10-03-2011, 07:20 PM

RK--thanks for the advice not to disconnect the head unit. I've got an HB 597ci DI combo with GPS. nice unit. I now only disconnect the head on land after fishing--still a pain (very tight) to remove. I connect the battery on land before I fish, and disconnect afterwords. Pretty straightforward.

If "hardwired", then won't an in-line "off-switch" solve your problem?

The DI (down imaging) is a bit of an overkill, but I like the fine resolution it provides. Helps you learn what the sonar is telling you. Grass and ropes and trees and bushes look like themselves, not blobs.

But I son't appreciate the color yet. Perhaps I should try turning fish ID off, since the fish logos obscure the actual colored arc. But again, other than bait balls, versus kelp versus "a fish", which I could already see with grayscale, I don't really know what the color adds. Maybe someone can post a tutorial (or point to a link) on what color tells you with our local ocean and bay fishery. I also like its very high resolution.

FYI. I recently installed and tested a grease mount. It performed very well. It showed stuff in 120 feet of saltwater that I've never seen before. Used SuperLube, which some one else had suggested. It appears to be about the consistency of the lube provided by Humminbird in their in-hull mounting kits. I tried eco-friendly lithium grease from West Marine, but it was very thick and tended to get chunky.

I simply used foam to create a tight-fitting well for the transducer. Gooped it down. Coated the well bottom and transducer bottom and sides of transducer with thin layer of Superlube. Inserted transducer into the well, push down, jiggle. Press down with a plug of foam. I might glue velcro to the sides of the foam well to allow me to run a velcro strap over the foam plug to hold it in place. Signal is as good as when I hang the transducer over the side of the yak!!

RK · 10-03-2011, 07:58 PM

Not to thread jack....

Kailolo- turn off your fish ID and just become familiar with what the unit is showing you. The more you use the meter the more familiar you will become.... But what the hell do I know, I just use the rainbow power bait and a night crawler.

GregAndrew · 10-04-2011, 02:41 AM

Unless you are looking for features that a handheld GPS will provide, I would go with the integrated type. Much more convenient and probably cheaper too. I really like the HDS hardware if they can get a fully functioning software update. I have not had any problems with the connections on mine yet, and I connect and disconnect on each outing.

Mark Wisch (author of In The Grey) puts on a very good seminar on using your FF from his tackle shop (Pacific Edge Tackle) for 10 or 20 dollars. It is well worth it.

jorluivil · 10-04-2011, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RK

Not to thread jack....

Kailolo- turn off your fish ID and just become familiar with what the unit is showing you. The more you use the meter the more familiar you will become....

Definately something that I need to do, I tried it once and got fed up

with it so I switched it back

kobra · 10-04-2011, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jorluivil

Definately something that I need to do, I tried it once and got fed up

with it so I switched it back

Yeah, it's a lot cooler seeing all those little fishies swimming under you any ways.

Handymansd · 10-04-2011, 05:08 PM

I love my HDS. I got pretty fed up with Lowrance getting around to a fix for their missing maps, but they pulled thru, going above and beyond customer service by providing a fish-n-chip replacement map; I have it on pretty good authority that they should have a fix/ patch around the first of the year. Until then their parent company Navionics has provided me with a fish-n-chip which is very nice and has detailed mapping including bathemetry. If you are a true gadget guy or want a remarkable view of what is beneath you, they have the Structure Scan Imaging which combines the down scan technology, and the side scan technology, and it can overlay both to create remarkable imaging... combined with the color pallette of the HDS it blows away anything the competition has! kind of like looking at circa 1800 photos of the ocean bottom and structures. Even without the structure scan add on the HDS is the best bang for the buck on the market today. It is a little bit over $500 but well worth saving up a bit longer in my opinion.

10-04-2011, 05:08 PM	#6
Handymansd Ancient Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: On The Water Posts: 935	I love my HDS. I got pretty fed up with Lowrance getting around to a fix for their missing maps, but they pulled thru, going above and beyond customer service by providing a fish-n-chip replacement map; I have it on pretty good authority that they should have a fix/ patch around the first of the year. Until then their parent company Navionics has provided me with a fish-n-chip which is very nice and has detailed mapping including bathemetry. If you are a true gadget guy or want a remarkable view of what is beneath you, they have the Structure Scan Imaging which combines the down scan technology, and the side scan technology, and it can overlay both to create remarkable imaging... combined with the color pallette of the HDS it blows away anything the competition has! kind of like looking at circa 1800 photos of the ocean bottom and structures. Even without the structure scan add on the HDS is the best bang for the buck on the market today. It is a little bit over $500 but well worth saving up a bit longer in my opinion. __________________ All men are equal before fish. -Herbert Hoover

10-03-2011, 07:20 PM	#1
Kailolo Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 64	RK--thanks for the advice not to disconnect the head unit. I've got an HB 597ci DI combo with GPS. nice unit. I now only disconnect the head on land after fishing--still a pain (very tight) to remove. I connect the battery on land before I fish, and disconnect afterwords. Pretty straightforward. If "hardwired", then won't an in-line "off-switch" solve your problem? The DI (down imaging) is a bit of an overkill, but I like the fine resolution it provides. Helps you learn what the sonar is telling you. Grass and ropes and trees and bushes look like themselves, not blobs. But I son't appreciate the color yet. Perhaps I should try turning fish ID off, since the fish logos obscure the actual colored arc. But again, other than bait balls, versus kelp versus "a fish", which I could already see with grayscale, I don't really know what the color adds. Maybe someone can post a tutorial (or point to a link) on what color tells you with our local ocean and bay fishery. I also like its very high resolution. FYI. I recently installed and tested a grease mount. It performed very well. It showed stuff in 120 feet of saltwater that I've never seen before. Used SuperLube, which some one else had suggested. It appears to be about the consistency of the lube provided by Humminbird in their in-hull mounting kits. I tried eco-friendly lithium grease from West Marine, but it was very thick and tended to get chunky. I simply used foam to create a tight-fitting well for the transducer. Gooped it down. Coated the well bottom and transducer bottom and sides of transducer with thin layer of Superlube. Inserted transducer into the well, push down, jiggle. Press down with a plug of foam. I might glue velcro to the sides of the foam well to allow me to run a velcro strap over the foam plug to hold it in place. Signal is as good as when I hang the transducer over the side of the yak!!

10-03-2011, 07:58 PM	#2
RK Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 736	Not to thread jack.... Kailolo- turn off your fish ID and just become familiar with what the unit is showing you. The more you use the meter the more familiar you will become.... But what the hell do I know, I just use the rainbow power bait and a night crawler.

10-04-2011, 02:41 AM	#3
GregAndrew Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 2,384	Unless you are looking for features that a handheld GPS will provide, I would go with the integrated type. Much more convenient and probably cheaper too. I really like the HDS hardware if they can get a fully functioning software update. I have not had any problems with the connections on mine yet, and I connect and disconnect on each outing. Mark Wisch (author of In The Grey) puts on a very good seminar on using your FF from his tackle shop (Pacific Edge Tackle) for 10 or 20 dollars. It is well worth it.