Humminbird BS

Just had my first and what will more than likey be last experance with humminbird. They say the helix has NMEA2000 but it needs a gateway ( $200 ) and then connects to thier ethernet. I’m an indutrail PLC guy so this kinda mickey mouse marketing S$%# really strikes a nerve with me.

If the product requires a “gateway” it doesn’t support the given protocall. It’s like me telling people I speak french becuase I hired a translator.

Saying the helix supports NM2k is a marketing half truth at best. If they thought it was ok to get away with it on one feature what would stop them to BS another?

The garmin Echomap does support NM2k and I will be returning my helix 9 ASAP and going with garmin

PS sorry for being such a troll as this is my first post but it’s so hard to compare products and impossible when manufactures put infomation out there that would be perjury in court ( the truth , THE WHOLE THURTH and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH ) some how humminbird seems to think its ok play hot and lose with the last two.

I believe that the onyx units are the only units that will connect directly to a nmea 2000 network. I ran into the same problem with an 1199 and a 1159. I don’t know what you were planning on using the network for. I hooked mine up to monitor my motor functions and it was a total waste of money. Even though the humminbird said it could monitor everything I needed it to, the etec information couldn’t be read except for engine temp and rpm’s. None of the other 20+ things worked. I just switched to garmin and like you said it is nmea 2000 compliant out of the box and it does read everything motor wise I had hoped the humminbird would.

NMEA is nice if you want to control downriggers, radar, satellite radio, etc too.
Humminbird isn’t alone in that their more budget friendly units don’t “support” NMEA, but the other brands are more forthcoming with the truth.

Lots of supported extras require extra hardware for all the companies. Simple research would have saved you the headache. Let us know how you like the garmin.

I prefer the “a’la cart” of the humminbird myself. Since my motor doesn’t have NMEA, Why would I want to pay for something I can’t use? And if I eventually do get a motor that supports it then I can add it if I want.

Like what was said, research is the key.

I went through the same thing and ended up buying a separate NMEA gauge. It was frustrating to say the least. I agree that Humminbird’s setup is misleading. I think HB treats the NMEA the way it does to force people to buy their components — all the lowrance and garmin and most other brand’s stuff is NMEA compliant. This means you can use a garmin GPS antenna with a Lowrance head unit. HB is exclusive to itself.