Help!

I have a question for you Humminbord guys. I recently bought a 597 ci HD DI combo unit. I bought it on 4-14 and due to work and the weather I never got a chance to use it until a couple of weeks ago. Now I am trying to make sure it works as good as it is capable of before returning it by the 14th of this month.

First problem I had was electrical interference. I talked to Humminbird and the eventually sent me another power cord with a filter in it. I tried it yesterday and finally my locator and trolling motor both work at the same time.

Another problem which is now one of my main ones it is seems the 597 can’t process the info off the map chip without continually “loading the charts” which caused a very frustrating 8-12 second lag time. The lake info disappears off the locator until it can process, then it reappears until you either zoom out or in again and then have to again sit through the lag time. I also notice when I am going across the lake that if I am zoomed into say 200 feet the locator can’t keep up and eventually all it will show is my position on an all white back ground. If I stop it will again reappear after the needed lag time to update the info.

I talked to Humminbird again yesterday and yes they are nice, but what they told me left me wondering about there reps.. The lady said that my latest $120, Lakemaster Humminbird version 2 is so full of information that the unit has a hard time keeping up with it all. I asked what I was supposed to do and she said there isn’t anything I can do. I asked if they would send me a chip that would work and she said there isn’t anything wrong with my current chip, it just has too much info on it. I said there is something either wrong with the chip or the unit if it’s microprocessor is to slow to keep up. She said “no, everything is working fine. ???????

This all left me two steps below upset. Also it seems the GPS part of the combo has a hard time staying locked on to my position. Trying to follow contour lines going course up is impossible. It always has me chasing to stay on the depth I am after. Basically until I fire up the big motor or put the trolling motor on high I can’t follow anything straight.

How do the bigger Humminbird unit treat everyone? I very much like the down imaging. At $650 this isn’t a cheap unit. Do you think I just have a bad one or should I try to spend a little more and get a better unit. I am just looking for some advice. After years of Lorance this isn’t what I expected.

Thanks for any replies!

WS

Welcome to Humminbird, customer service or lack of says that thats just the way it is. I have the 788 ci DI and it does the same thing. I bought this unit based on using a 788 ci and the gps kept track of me while walking on the ice with it. I personally believe the processor/ ram is not capable of keeping up with the DI software along with the base 788 unit.

Just my .02

From what I understand the new Lakemaster charts have so much information some of the locators have issues keeping up when zoomed in to much, The 997`s have the issue of keeping up. Keeping north up instead of course up helps at speed or keeping zoom out at more distance helps.

I run Navionics on my 797c2SI which has less information on it and I have no issues at speed or otherwise.

I have to zoom out to 200 ft when running in the 25-30 mph range.
This is particularly true if you are using more options enabled like I am.
E.G.
shallow water = red lines
target depth = green lines

Bambino I’m running the Lowrance HDS-8.

I have similar problems when I’m what they call “over zoomed” which is a fancy name for slow processing time.

I’ve heard the Lowrance units are faster at redrawing, but I’m still not happy with the re draw rate (for the cost of the units).

Besides zooming out more, here’s a another item that will help speed things up for you.

Turn off all the Lakemaster “extras” that you don’t need most days.

Roads
Citys
Parks
you get the idea. Just let the mapping chip draw the dept contours, marine aids ect that you need for fishing. This will speed up your redraw rate.

I wish I could take a poke at bird and say Lowrance has this licked, but unless I’m using the base map…they both have the same issue when “over zoomed”.

i’ve owned both the 997/1197 and 998/1198 units, here’s my experience on this issue.

the xxx7 series units were challenged by the amount of information on some of the mapchips, especially the Lakemaster.
the newer xxx8 series units have faster processors and handle even the Lakemaster chip smoothly.

on the xxx7 units when using a Lakemaster chip i found that turning off the contour lines was what helped the most. with them off it would scroll smoothly when running at speed. i’d set the depth color to 10′ or so to make sure i didn’t accidentally drive onto a rock pile. once i made it to where i was going, i would just turn the contour lines back on for added detail.