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While trying to do some research before buying a new sounder I struggled to find all that much and had to rely mainly on US websites. So I figured I'd post up what I've found and it might help a few others who are looking at new gear or just interested in the topic.
So this thread will be my experiences with my new GPS/Sounder set up which is a Humminbird 798cxi HD along with a Garmin 557xs with TM150M CHIRP transducer.
Firstly some background. I live on the Gold Coast and fish everywhere from the top of the Nerang River out to the 36's on a good day. Where I fish depends and what I target depends on the season and weather but it is pretty broad which is the reason I've decided to go with two separate units. My boat is a 2008 Makocraft Frenzy 500 with a 90HP E-Tec on the back and 80Lb Minn Kota on the front. I bought the boat second hand a few years ago and it came with a Humminbird 757cx which is what is being replaced.
Now getting this gear was a bit of an effort and so far I only have the Humminbird but I expect the Garmin unit and transducer to turn up this week. The Humminbird came from Whitworths here on the Gold Coast and was pretty good buying at $1,349. The Garmin 557xs is coming from CHSmith in Melbourne and cost me $921.00 with free shipping. The TM150M transducer is coming from BOE Marine in New Jersey which all up cost US$306 including freight. I would have sourced the transducer in Oz but it appears no one has one and won't have one for at least a month.
Hummingbird 798cxi Install
The install was pretty simple as everything on the 798Cxi uses the same brackets as the 757cx that I've replaced. All up it took about an hour to remove the 757cx and run the 798cxi cables. As this was just a test run I've mounted the transducer in the same spot as the previous one but when I install the TM150M I'm going to move it. Where I'm still deciding on but possible directly in front of the outboard but high enough so that it doesn't sit in the water when planing. My love for my 3 year old has now been confirmed as he is still with us even though he decided that the new black thing Dad had just installed on the back of the boat was obviously a step to be used to get into the boat. This is opposed of course to the perfectly good ladder hanging down from the transom step on the other side which his older brother had successfully used. Fortunately I hadn't fully tightened the bolt and he all he managed to do was adjust the angle rather than snapping the bracket clean off.
As the 757cx came with an external GPS I hooked this up to the 798cxi to compare performance. I haven't done a full test yet but based on the diagnostics screen with the boat parked in my driveway the external GPS seemed to provide a better reading than the internal one. I based this on the fact that the external showed the speed as 0.0kts and it had a error approximation of around 1.8m whereas the internal sometimes showed the boat as moving up to 0.3kts with an error around 2.8m. Before anyone talks about obstructions my boat is a side console and the bimini was off.
Once I've installed the Garmin unit and cleaned up all of the wiring etc I'll be sure to post some photos of the final install.
Humminbird - First Run
As I had my boys with me (3 and 5) I only took the boat into the Nerang River just to check that I wasn't having any problems with the transducer and also to check out the features. My first tip - make sure you update the software on these things before you use them. I didn't and only updated it today when I was having problems with the recording. I went from 5.XXX to 6.640 and as well as fixing the issue I was having it also showed that the presentation of the actual scan data (both down and side imaging) has definitely improved.
My second tip - make sure you put an SD card in this thing and record your first trip. It's a bit hard to read the sonar, steer the boat and make sure the 3 year old doesn't go overboard all while working out what works and what doesn't. Once I got home I was able to run the playback and check everything out. This is really handy when you're trying to work out the best settings for the situation. I was able to keep replaying the sonar scan across a few different structures with different settings to see what makes the most sense. Because the recording is just the raw sonar return you're able to do this and it is much more useful than the simulator because you have a fair idea of what you're looking at.
So all up the first run went well. The side scan seemed to work pretty well and I didn't get any interference on the port side scan from the outboard, even with it tilted completely down. I did have an issue with a big rooster tail coming off the transducer but I'll worry about this once I've located it properly. You definitely need to plug the gap in the bracket as this is where all the water is coming from.
What I liked:
The 640x640 screen is so much better than the 320x240 screen on the 757. Easier to see in direct sunlight and shows up so much more detail in the scans.
The side scan - makes scouting water so much easier. It also helps interpreting the standard sonar image as you get some perspective on what you're looking at.
Held the bottom really well on the plane. This isn't a big deal for me as I'm planning to lift the transducer up and use the TM150M for sounding at speed but for anyone else that plans to use this unit I had no issue. I only took the boat to 26kts and I was only in about 6-8m of water but never even looked like losing the bottom. Even when I raised it right up to stop the spray it still kept enough of a lock that you could get the depth.
What I didn't like:
The base map - a combo unit at this price should come with a better map rather than making you pay another 300 odd dollars.
Down Imaging - thought this would be cool but didn't like it compared to the standard sonar image. The standard sonar image gives so much more detail and signal strength is something you lose on the down image.
The fact that the sonar screens aren't available when the sonar is turned off. This is fine when it is operating but they also aren't available in playback mode. So while I'm watching the playback with the boat on the trailer the sonar is going.
The recording doesn't record temperature. This would be handy for my fishing log as I'm planning to record every session and keep the recording with a log of what was caught when. Surface temperature would be a nice addition rather than having to note it while on the water. Hopefully the Garmin does this as it will also have a card in it.
I've included a few screen grabs from the trip. The first is a sidescan as I'm going under a bridge. I've highlighted some bait fish holding on the up current side of the bridge along with what I suspect was a bream I saw feeding on the oysters as we approached.
The next three images are from a rocky outcrop under the water. You can see the 200Hz scan showing some bait holding on the down current side as I go over into the current. The down imaging view of the same point shows the same bait but less detail in terms of signal strength. The side imaging is probably the most interesting. As well as showing the exact direction the outcrop goes in respect to the boat it also shows that all of the bait is actually holding just to the right. More importantly it is showing that there is a small amount of structure in front of the main outcrop and it is at the end of this that most of the fish seem to be. Rocks200.jpgRocksDI.jpgRocksSI.jpg
Before I would have dropped a line for the kids on the bridge but as I didn't see anything on the side scan we tried the rocks instead. Caught half a dozen bream and lost a stack of bait to pickers which kept the kids happy for about half an hour. BTW, ignore the temperature reading as that is what the transducer is reading with the boat on the trailer when I took the snapshot. The Nerang River is definitely not 24c at the moment.
So that's it for the first installment. All in all I'm happy with the 798 and it's doing what I wanted it to do. If you're looking to get one of these and it will be your only sounder then I would definitely go for the bigger screen so that you can run the side scan with the bottom sonar at the same time. On the 5" you need the whole screen for the side scan to be easy to view. I didn't get the 898 or 998 because I'm getting two sounders plus with the way my 798 is mounted I can swivel it around and view it from my front casting deck while using the electric as well as seated at the side console.
I'm off to Darwin for a week on Wednesday with a couple of quick fishing trips thrown in for good measure. Hopefully when I get back the 557xs and transducer will be waiting for me to fit and then a trip out to the 24's or 36's will be in order to really test this gear out.
Mate, I love the sidescan for the creeks and bridges,wharfs etc. couldn't find much bait the other day on the banks only to find some down deep around a pylon with the side image. After a while you can even tell what bait you are looking at. I will have to put a SD card in mine as I have bad some good shots of barra and even a king salmon. Had a good view yesterday of tarpon rounding up bait. Don't know what it would be like to not have a S/S anymore!
Well after a successful trip up to Darwin last weekend I had time today to install the Garmin GPSMAP 557xs and also clean up the install of the 798cxi transducer. The trip to Darwin was successful in that North Burleigh SLSC won the IRB Aussie Titles for the 11th time and I managed to get in a few fishing trips while I was there. Buffalo Creek produced a nice 75cm Barra from right next to the boat ramp with live mullet doing the trick.
Anyway, I've now installed both of the units so I figured I'd put up a few photos.
First photo is off the transducer placement. As I haven't water tested it yet so I haven't fixed the cables in place but I figure this is a good starting point. Transducer1.jpg
The transducer on the left is for the Humminbird (the white tape is to stop the rooster tail coming through the gap in the bracket). At this stage I've mounted it down in the water to see how it performs at speed but I may raise it up a bit. I put some HDPE chopping board on the hull so that I can move it around if need be. The board is wider than necessary so that I can work out which side of the hull rake I want it on. At this stage I've put it on the right hand side so that I can run it a speed. If that doesn't seem to work I may move it over to the left and up so that it is not in the water at speed but still lower than the Airmar transducer so that I don't get any interference on the side scan.
The second photo just gives a bit more of an idea of the height different between the two units. Transducer2.jpg
The Garmin is under the screen on the console and I've mounted the 798cxi in the same spot at the old 757c that I had. The good thing with spot for the 798cxi is that I can swivel it around and see the screen when I'm up the front with the electric.
Great post and good info there. I will be interested to hear your feedback with the Garmin regards the sounder function of it. Like you I opted to get the GPS sounder combo so as to have a backup sounder available should the Furuno quit. Was disappointed with it to be honest and only use it in the river for shallow stuff sometimes when it's really too shallow for the Furuno. Hope you fare better. Both my transducers needed spray hoods to stop spray being directed at the engine cowling.
So I took the boat out for a bit of test today. First thing, the Humminbird sounder doesn't work too badly down in the water but it makes a fairly big rooster tail even with the gap in the bracket taped up. I've now moved it up so that it is out of the water and will see how it goes next run. The TM150M transducer didn't cause any mess though I've moved it down a bit to try to clean up the high speed sounding. I think the Humminbird was actually causing enough turbulence to upset the sounding on the TM150M so hopefully that will be sorted for the next run.
Now for the performance. Due to the strong easterlies on the Gold Coast today I didn't get out of the seaway and thus couldn't find any water deeper than about 9m to test in but even so it appears the Chirp transducer significantly out-performs the Humminbird in terms of normal 2D sounding.
Unfortunately I had some issues with my recording so the screenshots are using the Garmin Homeport app and the HumViewr app rather than directly from the units. The HumViewer display is raw and thus has more noise than you would see on the screen but it gives an idea of the detail difference.
The first two images are for a small hole at about 5m depth from the 798cxi. HB_01.JPGHB_02.JPG
As you can see there no filtering in the image. On the normal 200hz sound it is hard to make out whether there is some bait or weed in the hole but it shows something. The side imaging appears to show a school of bait holding in the hole.
Now for the Garmin. GM_01.JPG
Similar result although it appears that the recording has the same filtering as on the unit as this pretty much is exactly how it appeared on the 557xs.
Went over another little rise and here's how it appeared. GM_02.JPGHB_03.JPG.
Garmin is first and then the Humminbird. I remember looking at the Humminbird when I went over this and it didn't show much of anything on the screen.
All in all I'm pretty happy with the Garmin. The sounding seems to be very good with the shallow water testing that I've done and the chart plotter is more than what I need. Probably the only thing I noticed is that the screen brightness could probably be better. At 100% on both units the Humminbird was brighter and also less reflective which made it a lot easier to read. With the Garmin I had to take my polarised sunglasses off if I wanted to read any of the detail on the map.
the garmin chirp is showing some great images there I think this going to be a great little sounder ,
just one note for you : on the gps make sure you go into the chart menu and turn the chart appearance up to most this will bring out the most amount of detail on the charts .
Humminbird 798CXI HD and Garmin 557xs TM150M
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