Hi All,
I am looking at buying a Humminbird 798cxi HD SI Combo. Do any of you guys own one? Would you, or would you not recommend this unit? I will mostly use this up the rivers and estuaries here in Mackay. Any help would be great as I don't know a huge amount about sounders and GPS!!
Cheers
Fisho
I have a 798 and love it. My brother has a Lowrance hds5 and i hate it. i find the bird much easer to use
92 MU, 91 MU ute, 90 MU,96 MU Wizard, 2014 MUX, 2019 DMAX
Australia's loudest MU
MY SITE MY YouTube SPL 152.3dB
If beef is in beef mince, What is in pet mince?
Hey Fisho,
I've had my 798cxi HD SI for about a year now and it's great. Lots of features (some I've not even tried to use to their maximum potential). Love the side imaging particularly for river/creek work, seeing structure to the sides is awesome. Works fine out in open water too. No hassles, easy to use. Put a Navionics Gold card in it and hasn't missed a beat. Was a good choice for me for a combo GPS/sounder, exactly what I wanted.
Only thing I'd say is that if ur boat size and budget allow, I'd SERIOUSLY consider getting the 898 / 998 if u are going to use it as combo GPS screen plus split with side imaging for both L and R sides +/- down imaging.
Once you split your screen and want to look L and R with side imaging in new territory (esp trolling) then that 798 screen gets very small indeed. I have both a 798 and 898 planned for a 5m open CC boat. The 798 will be the dedicated GPS screen, and the 898 will be the sounder, but both will function as combo units for situations where one plays up on trips away from repair centres and also for safety back-up purposes. Obviously if all electrics fail then other safety methods need to be in place such as compass etc.
On my 4m open dinghy I use the 898 alone as a combo unit for simplicity sake, and bought another transducer so I can use both units in either boat depending on which I am using.
Nothing more frustrating than a clapped out combo unit as the only unit when you're on a trip away - been there learnt my lesson.
Obviously budget has to be ok etc, but if you have to go for one single unit save up for the larger screen.
I have one in my tinny and love it. Haven't even put the navionics card in it yet. Don't really need it as locally I know where I'm going and remember the spots. I use it sometimes for crab pots. I mark some deeper snags/rocks on the standard humminbird setup and its ok. I may buy the card when I take a trip away though. I love the sounder/side image setup and believe I have caught more fish since I've had it. It is a lot easier to use than the lowrance. A bigger sized one (998) would be good though.
what he said x2.
i'd try and get an 800 unit for bigger screen if you can afford it but love my 798.
next upgrade for me will be a much cheaper unit to use only as a chartplotter so the 798 can be on split screen between si and normal sounder view.
youtube is your friend, there's some great vids uploaded by humminbird.
cheers.
Originally Posted by Fillet`n`Release
Re: Advice- Humminbird 798cxi HD SI Combo
Have had the older 798ci si for about 3 years and do alot less fishing now due to work. Pull it out every 3 to 6 months and it fires up. A mistake I made was not going bigger but you already know that. And with the HD models you will be able to upgrade to the 360 transducer. Great unit highly recommend it, you tube Doug Vahrenburg for clips
Dom
I have the 798. I love it. My advice is to keep up with the software updates which is easy via the Humminbird web site. Also consider running at least a basic hand held GPS with such as a Garmin 72. I run a Garmin 451. The reason is that I can run split screen down image / sonar and side imaging and I still have a plotter. I thought about the larger units but went this way so all my eggs aren't in one basket.
I have used mine in 35 metres of water offshore to find reef and baitfish. I've spotted and caught fish in estuaries. The latest software is much better.
Not a Lowrance fan, I've had too many problems and poor service backup.
I have two 700 series side by side
my only issue with mine is the RF noise generated by the screens that wipes out my VHF radio and every one else's VHF radio in a 10meter radius around my boat, been trying to get it fixed for over 12 months now.
On the bright side Humminbird/BLA have had no problems replacing units at their cost (both ways), replacing units with later model units when software upgrades wouldn't let my two Birds talk to each other on the old interlink system (now on ethernet cables thanks BLA) I am just waiting now for the internal Ferrite mods to come in from USA to fix the noise issues
I put a shoot through hull transducer that is a QuadraBeam but haven't a clue how to use it yet haha
one downfall is the easy ability to put aftermarket bigger transducers on them, I am told a HDS5 lowrance you can put a through hull 1000Watt transducer on for the deeper stuff
I am led to believe that the Birds are made for the USA lake market targeting Bass etc so would be great in creeks
have fun
cheers Murf
Forgot to add that I have had to run the sounder on a seperate battery to my I-pilot as the interference was messing with my picture quality. I think Murf is onto that with the ferrite rods etc.
do you run a VHF radio by any chance? and does it upset your screen when transmitting?
I wish separating batteries would fix my problem but I get the problem when on a separate battery 5 meters away out of the boat
cheers Murf
I am running the lights and the sounder on one battery. No VHF.
We are also very happy 798cxi HD SI combo owners and users. It is a great unit.
Tim and Trace
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
