Hummingbird 998c SI push button issue

Wondering if anyone can help me with my 998 unit. It is about 2 years old and out of warranty. I have had issues with some of the push buttons (the more frequently used ones) sticking or not working at all. It has mainly been the 3 quick link buttons that will stick most of the time. When I say stick I mean that I push and let go to jump the the preset screen and it will act like I am trying to hold down the button and set a new preset screen. It is extremely annoying, but I have just been dealing with it for the past year or so. I was out on Sunday though and the power button started doing it on me and I could barley even power down the unit because the button would either not read I was pushing it or it would hold when I took my finger off it. I called Hummingbird and the CS rep told me I would need to send it in for a $385 flat fee to get it fixed. Wondering if anyone knows of a place I could get it fixed locally in the twin cities? It seams to me that the contacts have worn out on the back of the push buttons and either need to be cleaned or replaced. I am tempted to take it apart, but don’t want to create another issue by tinkering with the insides of the unit. If anyone has a solution of suggestions please let me know.

Thanks,
David

My 898 has been doing this for a few years. I’ve done nothing to fix it except make it my secondary unit so I press those buttons almost never. Probably just fish slime.

I’ve got no solution for you.

You could try some penetrating cleaning solution but as you mentioned I’m not sure that is the root of the problem.

I have had wonderful results with Fish-Lectronics.

5003 University Ave N.E.
Columbia Heights, MN
Phone: 763-571-1277

I’m not affiliated with them, just a satisfied customer.

My 998C SI did the same thing for the power button (still under warranty) so I sent it in. I think they replaced the keypad and updated the SW. It worked ok for over a year and then the power button issue returned (out of warranty then). FYI – I played around with how I pushed on the power button i.e. slowly move your finger higher / lower / left / right and watch for the screen to change to shutting down in 2 sec. This spring mine seems to work the best at about 7 o’clock on the dial!

The presets sticking seems to come and go – they work good for months and then one will do a mystery save when I press it.

Hope the Helix has this issue all resolved when I make the move to current technology.
barc

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I did actually call fish-lectronics today and they told me that all hummingbird work has to be sent to the hummingbird factory. I have searched around on some other forums, but they all kind of say that the issue comes back or it is not totally resolved after sending it in. Still curious if anyone has every taken there unit apart and maybe the back of the keypad contacts can be cleaned. I guess for now I will just live with it since it still works just sticks randomly. I just hope it doesn’t get to the point that the power button totally wears out and I cant even turn the unit on.

I have the same problem with mine.

My power button does the same. Everything else has always worked right for me.

Just called Hummingbird again this morning to get a little more information. I was very polite to the lady I spoke with and asked how long my warranty was. She said 1 year, but if I had registered my unit on hummingbird.com it was actually 2 years. She put me on hold for about 5 min and came back and said they would warranty the unit even though I was a little past the 2 year mark. Going to send it in and hopefully what I get back works better. Will update once the warranty process is done.

-David

did you speak to Debra? if so, you got the right person to talk to….She’s awesome!

Not sure if her name was Debra or not. either way I am happy they are fixing it.

I was going to reply to this thread a few days ago telling you to keep calling Humminbird support line to hopefully get the right person who will allow the out-of-warranty fix, but I didn’t want to over-promise anything, so I didn’t reply, glad it worked out for you…