Internal or external GPS for Humminbird?

I currently have an internal GPS on my current unit but seems really slow. Are the external GPS “pucks” faster?

Way way way faster

faster? no. the internal receivers are actually faster.
because, science.

does it seem slow out on the lake, or is this while sitting in the garage? make sure to test it in the open without a roof, etc. (esp metal) between the unit and the sky/satellites. if it is still having difficulty acquiring location, take a look at the gps diagnostic view and see if that gives you any info.

assuming you have a newer unit, and if everything is working properly, the internal should be equal to or faster than an external puck. so getting an external puck won’t automatically solve the problem, though there are other valid reasons to consider an external puck.

the internal GPS receivers on newer units can be set to either 5Hz (5x/second) or 10Hz (10x/second). the best available external GPS receiver (AS GPS HS) is 5Hz (5x/second) only.

so, the internal version actually has a faster refresh rate, meaning more accurate data about position and movement. that said, while the difference between 5Hz and 10Hz is large in relative terms, it is small in real-world application terms since both are very fast. it’d probably make a bigger difference for a boat going 70mph than for one going 2mph, due to the greater amount of location change per second at high speed.

the question of gps receiver location on the boat is more relevant, imho, and the real advantage of the external puck is being able to install in the back of the boat so that it’s in close proximity to the sonar/SI transducer. with position error of less than 2.5m, they’re pretty accurate, but i’d rather not contribute an extra 3m due to the distance between my console unit and my transducer.

jtetzloff wrote:

I currently have an internal GPS on my current unit but seems really slow. Are the external GPS “pucks” faster?

Way faster and more accurate. Spend the cash. You won’t regret it. I put an external puck on all my HB units.

If the internal can’t acquire a signal or keeps dropping it I would argue the external acquiring and holding a signal makes it faster. Regardless of what speed they actually are.

Wade Boardman wrote:

If the internal can’t acquire a signal or keeps dropping it I would argue the external acquiring and holding a signal makes it faster. Regardless of what speed they actually are.

yes, objects blocking the signal is an issue; the same is true for an improperly placed external puck.

on 99.9% of open-cockpit freshwater fishing boats, this is not the case. that bit of glass or plastic around your console will not interfere. just don’t install your display or puck inside of a storage compartment.

10 years ago the external pucks were markedly better than the early internal ones; times of changed and i think our perceptions haven’t totally caught up.

On humminbirds. I can tell you i have an internal and external side by side. It’s laughably worse on the internal.

Like several minutes to lock on, versus less than 12 seconds.
Puck reads .2mph (Actual speed)
Internal reads .8-1.3mph. Not even close.

Last week i hooked my internal unit via ethernet to my external unit/puck. Bam. Now we’re accurate on both units.

My puck can be sitting on the floor of my truck with zero visibility to the sky. It finds GPS.
My internal can be sitting on my dash, exposed to the sky through the windshield… It struggles to stay locked on.

There’s simply no real world experience that i’ve had that suggests even remotely that the internal are as good or better than the pucks.

I’ve ran an 898cSI for ~6 years. 3 of which on a genz box in winter too.
I’ve had a 788cHD (Internal) since November. Both on a genz box ice fishing and now on the boat this spring too. Been on the water 1/2 doz times this spring to compare the two SIDE BY SIDE.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

On humminbirds. I can tell you i have an internal and external side by side. It’s laughably worse on the internal.

Like several minutes to lock on, versus less than 12 seconds.
Puck reads .2mph (Actual speed)
Internal reads .8-1.3mph. Not even close.

Last week i hooked my internal unit via ethernet to my external unit/puck. Bam. Now we’re accurate on both units.

My puck can be sitting on the floor of my truck with zero visibility to the sky. It finds GPS.
My internal can be sitting on my dash, exposed to the sky through the windshield… It struggles to stay locked on.

There’s simply no real world experience that i’ve had that suggests even remotely that the internal are as good or better than the pucks.

I’ve ran an 898cSI for ~6 years. 3 of which on a genz box in winter too.
I’ve had a 788cHD (Internal) since November. Both on a genz box ice fishing and now on the boat this spring too. Been on the water 1/2 doz times this spring to compare the two SIDE BY SIDE.

Exactly my experience. Don’t even bother trying to use the unit in the garage without an external puck.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

There’s simply no real world experience that i’ve had that suggests even remotely that the internal are as good or better than the pucks.

I’ve ran an 898cSI for ~6 years. 3 of which on a genz box in winter too.
I’ve had a 788cHD (Internal) since November. Both on a genz box ice fishing and now on the boat this spring too. Been on the water 1/2 doz times this spring to compare the two SIDE BY SIDE.

You’re absolutely right, for your units. And while those are nice units, they are two generations old at this point, and not a good apples-to-apples comparison to the newer models. I’ve done the side-by-side tests myself, and knew just like everyone else that the external puck was better. Way better.
So, frankly I was pleasantly surprised to see the internals catch up to the quality of the externals. Simply put, the technology has advanced and Humminbird managed to improve things while reducing cost. That is awesome.

Here are the diagnostics from my 999 and 1199 set on internal gps at 10Hz while sitting inside my garage tonight. Both were locked on within 25 seconds of start-up, and averaged 0.0 – 0.1mph, with a max of 0.3mph one time during ~10 minutes that I monitored them. HDOP is in the excellent to ideal range and that satellite geometry is being checked 10 times every second…it is what it is.

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