Humminbird 998 Di/SI

Humminbird 998 DI. Iam having trouble seeing objects on the DI screen they don’t show up as bright as seen on commercials or advertisements.was wondering what settings other are useing for sensetivity,contrast,and such? Iwas on pool 4 yesterday and had it on split screen and sonar would show fish and other things but DI was hard too see.Do I need to adjust the transducer to get brighter pictures or is a matter of playing with settings? I have watched videos on utube about this but can’t get clear picture. After more thought SI isn’t any better.

I know these are stupid questions, please forgive.

Are you wearing sunglasses? The reason is that the non-hd units were really difficult to read, especially with sunglasses.

Are you comparing apples to apples? meaning hd units to non-hd units?

Guessing not the transducer, backlight is the first thing that comes to mind.

I hate to break it to you but there is a lot of movie magic that goes into making those screens look so great…. Also some conditions are going to be more conducive than others in terms of depth, etc…

I have the same exact impression on the 899. My buddy asked how I liked it yesterday… told him it may be just me not knowing how to adjust it (and I have tried), but if I had to do it all over again, I would get a unit with the best 2d sonar, and screw the rest of the SI stuff for sure. DI, almost as quick to have the same impression. Love the mapping and such on it, but the rest to me is just short of hype. Seeing fish 70 feet to the side on a 4″ wide view, I should have known better.

I’ve never had much luck seeing fish with DI.

But this time of year with emerging weed growth on bottom its fantastic for distinguishing weeds and bait balls, instead of blobs. Take that split screen with 2d to distinguish fish, money.

The Hbirds were never known to have great DI because they do not have a dedicated DI crystal.The new Onyx has great DI but it has the dedicated DI crystals. That being said I would never be without SI to me there is no reason to even use DI when SI and 2D are available. Learn to use SI and maybe DI will not be that important. My first SI was a Hbird 797 and I would still take that back versus not having SI.

“movie magic” in making the commercials is right on the money. I would search YouTube and find some videos, I am sure that will help you out alot. Learn how to adjust it, and know what you are seeing, and I think you will like it better.

Tom P. wrote:

The Hbirds were never known to have great DI because they do not have a dedicated DI crystal.

That is correct for the HB models that use the SI transducer to display a DI view. But, as I understand it, any unit that has DI in its name (example: 859ci HD DI Combo) has a transducer specifically for DI units.

I kinda thought camera magic could be a problem. I got lucky and found a humminbird pro staffer that lives 1 mile away that would look at the unit and said every was set up right.He was also kind enough to go on a local lake to check it out and help me understand better what I was seeing I just need to spend time playing with it to learn. Which is hard to do when a guy is out to fish.DI is still a little sad but as stated its not HD. SI is much better so onward and upward. Thanks for the replys to my question. DO you guys also run a high speed transducer with your units because I loose my bottom signal at approx, 20 MPH? Is it worth spending 100 dollars for transducer and Y cable?

I have an 858DI (not HD) and it came with a separate DI transducer. The HB is on the bow and the transducer is mounted to the trolling. It is awesome for working a weed edge or just viewing what is below the boat. You have to remember that DI is a very thin slice view of the bottom, but with a dedicated transducer you can actually tell the difference in types of weed etc. The 898 that is on the console does not have near the detail that the 858 does in DI mode.

As far as instructional videos go search for Doug Vahrenberg on YouTube. he is a bass pro who created a lot of very informative videos about the Hummingbird 800, 900 and 1000 series. Also Jason Halfen has a bunch of information at http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/

kfrj01 wrote:

DO you guys also run a high speed transducer with your units because I loose my bottom signal at approx, 20 MPH? Is it worth spending 100 dollars for transducer and Y cable?

NO!!!

You can..
Or, you can adjust your transducer slightly so it is not seeing cavitation above 20MPH. Assuming you used a mounting board, this is your best option.

More than likely once you hit that 20mph mark your boat planes out. Your transducer angle might be great for your boat at idle and up to 20mph, but it’s not in the right position while your boat is traveling at 20mph or higher. Can you adjust your trim slightly and get it to work. i.e. bow up or bow down.

Had a 999 SI Humminbird. Thought I didn’t like it so I sold it.

Got a Lowrance HDS 7 Gen 2 touch for the front of the boat.
And got a Lowrance HDS 7 Gen 3 Touch for the console.

I can honestly say I think I made a mistake selling my 999 Si Humminbird.

It had way more map detail showing he content of the bottom of lakes, ridges, Humps and all. And showed the depth details.
Showed the underwater bridges better also and the water depths around it.

And this is with a Navionics Platinum card in both units.

I have the 999HDSI KVD I have been to so many different lakes ,

River is so so imaging
Lake Sahkata/Tatonka not so go to many weeds
Bowsrtring Lake very sweet imaging , we actually could see a boat seat at the bottom and the rocks and structure where spot on

Milacs the best,, It was perfection all the way including the fish

learn the unit you will be impressed , there some great start points on youtube.com

water clarity
weeds
and setting for each lake for best visibily

Sure would be nice if they made touch screen units & they didn’t cost 2600.00
Look at all the smart phones today.
How many buttons are on them.