HUMMINBIRD VS LOWRANCE

[bassmaster_mercury]

hey bassin buddies.  i work here in ontario canada at a marina.  we have had tonnes of problems with humminbirds.  they are garbage, at least that is what we find. we just stopped selling them because of too many customer complaints.  The lowrance electronics that we sell are awesome though.  not one complaint this summer!  i have an eagle on my boat, which is a lowrance, and i love it.  i am just wondering if anyone else has any problems with humminbird and what it was that was the problem. 
bassmaster_mercury

[Mike Cork]

Lowrance and Eagle user here from day one, I have heard that hummingbirds screens have trouble after experiencing summer heat for a day or two

[bass1cpr]

     I think the Humminbird is like the Bottom line fish finders they just can't take the sun directly on their screens. Now that doesn't make sense to me because they are of no use in the garage out of the sun. 

     I have to lay a wet towel on my bottom line to cool it down. Makes it hard to read the screen.    But it makes an excellent foot rest. 

     My Lowrance is cool all the time. #1 in my book.

[BassBUFF]

Hummingbirds lose track of the bottom above idle speed. I chose an Eagle Cuda 168 and have loved it!

[Javelin 409]

i have a Lowrance X22a in the dash and a hummingbird platinum id on the deck.
The Lowrance must have gotten moisture in it, b/c it reads blurry and spaced out.  No probs with the hummingbird though.  I have a Bottomline off my old Ranger, just kinda big....
Any way to get that moisture out of the Lowrance??

[cmegee]

Now to Hummingbirds defense, they made the best flashers of all time, but when everyone went to LCD screens, it seems that Lowrance took the lead and hasn't looked back. However, if you are budget minded, then hummingbird is the way to go.

[bassmaster_mercury]

hey bassin buddies.  I disagree with budget minded people and buying a lowrance. i bought an Eagle Fish Id for about $120 (canadian dollars to).  it is now about 5 years old, and works like the day i got it.  and believe me, i abuse it. 
bassmaster_mercury

[cmegee]

Oh I agree about the Eagle, but I was just comparing Hummingbird and the Lowrance models, Eagle is a good way to go, I have two on my personal boat, as well as a Lowrance digital flasher, but on my catfishing barge, I have the old Hummingbird flasher, still works and wouldn't trade it for the world

[DAWG]

I have a Hummingbird Wide portrait on my boat and am not happy at all with it.It was on there when I bought it and am planning on swapping it for something else.

[BoilermakerFan]

I'm glad I came across this thread.  I was about to pick up a Humminbird PiranhaMAX 30 Portable with the SmartCast system.  It seemed like a great solution for me since it has the new 4-greyscale Smartcast for shore days and a portable suction-cup mount transducer for the canoe.  Now I'm having second thoughts.  I really like the Lowrance units, but no other manufactures have a system similar to the smartCast. 

I have no intention of usingthe SC with my lures, I would just use a dedicate Zebco 404 spincast outfit to cast the SC transmitter where I wanted it.  Check out where the fish are in general, then start casting the lures in the area.

Thinking about making my own portable case for a FF and use sub-C NiMH rechargeable cells from my R/C toys to run the unit on 12V. 

[Steve_W]

I have a humminbird and it's a joke,but I'm not laughing,It will shut down for no reason,I have used nothing but them so I have not tried anything eles but thus junk thing has got to go when I get my next boat,as for now I guess I 'll just have to keep turning it back on all the time.Until it becomes a rock on someone eles's fishfinder

[bassmaster_mercury]

Thanks bassin buddies for replying to this thread. it looks as though lowrance is the better brand.  My buddy and i always get into this argument, now i can show him what people have been saying!  My dad used to be a sales rep for Cajun Boats here in Canada until they got bought out by Ranger, and they all used to come with Humminbird.  What really sucks, is that all of the boats that had humminbird on them, had to be sent back to the dealer because of malfunctioning finders and transducers.  anyways, i hope that this thread helps anyone make a decision who is looking for a new finder. 
bassmaster_mercury

[Ouachita]

For what it's worth, I've interviewed probably a few thousand anglers at the launch ramps and at their campsites while on duty as a Park Ranger about their boat and accessory choices. Humminbird is way at the bottom of their list, mostly because of a long standing lack of high speed transducer compatibility. Once over 30 mph no matter how you position the T, the screen freezes. Lowrance came out way on top without question, and Eagle somewhere in between. The new Garmins are not doing well because of the one do-all plug that if moved much will begin to short or whatever, bringing the unit down. When that happens you have to replace everything back to the transducer and power supply.

I took the cue and went with a Lowrance 332C this time around, and love it. Color screen, high resolution, everything I see in the pros's $3,000 units with larger screens as their main advantage. $650, including GPS. There are 3 cables hooking to the back, so if the transducer cable gets damaged I'll only have to replace that one cable, and that is a strong possibility since the cable is usually exposed over the transom. When the screen goes bad, that's where I tell folks to start investigating.

As for the question above about getting moisture out of the unit, you're going to have to put it in sealed plastic bag with lots of desiccants in it (the little white thing in medicine bottles) or send it in for factory drying. It takes about a week for the desiccants to dry the unit out. They can be ordered through a local pharmacy supply. The factory would find where the leak is, something that probably needs fixing anyway or it'll happen again.

Jim

[J10B]

Thats not at all true.  I have an 320c by eagle on the front and a Humminbird matrix 12 on the console, and I NEVER have a problem.   THe matrix 12 is great.  The transducer is glued in the hull.  The freexing screen is going to be a transducer issue.  If you dont know how to mount your transducer theres gonna be problems.  Like my 320c is TERRIBLE at fish arches. I have never seen one, except in sim mode. This is mainely because I need to fix my transducer on the trolling motor.  Oh and it sits ALL DAY in Louisana Heat.

[Mike Cork]

Actually it is good to hear someone having good luck with Humming bird, just don't hear it very often. It's go to be a decent product, one they are still in business and two there are a bunch of folks that have them

[Ouachita]

Not picking up fish arches IS one of the major complaints at the ramp and in our club meetings. Arches are shown as whole arches when the transducer is pointed down correctly. If tilted a little back or forward, you get half arches, not often recognized as fish arches.  But even after adjusting the transducer, those brands still are not reliable for that, but do show nice bottom images.

Jim

[J10B]

I use it mainly for the bottom.  I did accidently set it to show fish symbols and it worked great for baitfish.  The trouble with arches on the 320C is that if I bounce the trolling motor off something the tranducer is set off a bit.  The bottom is still great.
The Matrix 12 is fine with arches, the manual says the arch will differ based on the position of the fish in the cone.  Thats great but like I said I dont use the console FF except for the bottom. 
My only complaint with the matrix 12 is that at HIGH speed the depth gets a bit wacky.  Then again the manual says that will happen with the stock transducer.

[Ouachita]

Yes, a high speed transducer is a must for high speed depth finding. Anything less can easily get a reading of 500 feet in 60 feet of water, or lock the depth reading up into a blinking display. Older models of sonars are often just not compatible with those transducers, though, so if that's bothering you, upgrade!

I have yet to find a Humminbird owner that can see fish arches at 40 mph or higher, and finding bottom is unlikely.  Might be someone out there that does see it all on a HB, but many more Lowrance owners will see it all. I've had 2 HBs and wouldn't mount another one if I got it free. I figure their main market is in getting boat dealers to install them with higher profit, so I've inherited those things twice and won't let them do it again.

Jim

[J10B]

I lose the bottom and arches at 50+  feel free to come ride if you dont belive :D

[BoilermakerFan]

I just wish Loweance would come out with a similar product to the HB Smartcast for those of us who primarily fish from shore...

[Ouachita]

There's a local guy who had his bassboat awarded to his wife in a divorce since it was the only thing close to a pay off, but not before he stripped it of the stuff he'd added. He says he's actually catching more fish than he did from the boat. He runs a power cable down from his truck to the Lowrance X52, and runs the transducer out on a pole-mounted styrofoam block. The pole is a light fiberglass expanding rod with the transducer cable taped to it. He plans to get a remote controlled toy boat and modify it to hold the transducer, though I figure he's going to be too busy playing with that to get much fishing in. I suggested he run the transducer cable through sections of swimmer's tube. The woman got so much income from him he might never afford another boat unless she marries her boyfriend. It just ain't right what the judge did to the guy, the boyfriend now using the boat he never paid a dime on. It was supposed to be paid off and sold for her to live on or pay off bills.

Jim

[Ouachita]

Failure to see bottom or fish below 50 feet can be caused by a number of problems. First I'd select a manual depth range rather than let the unit select it for you in automatic depth mode. If that doesn't help, then the problem is possibly low voltage to the sonar. It could be a dirty transducer or faulty cable. Just a sharp kink in it can reduce signals enough. Electrical noise from running the sonar wiring along any motor wiring or main fusebox wiring can cause the sonar to engage a noise reduction feature that eliminates weaker targets.

Jim

[bassindude]

I have a hummingbird wide 100 probably 8-9 years old wit dual transducers side view on the front bottom view in the back.  never had a problem out of it, but I wish I could find a good resource to learn about reading the screen better.

[Tubeflipper]

I'll be going with a Lowrance the next time I buy one.  My experience with Garmin products has been less than impressive.

[LoonyToon]

When Tom Mann first developed the Hummingbird Depth finder/sonar unit they were ahead of their time and revolutionalized the market, but in the last 5 years they have put NOTHING in their Research and Development. They are not the best on the market today, and haven't been for quite awhile. They were being peddled as the poor mans lowrance, but with the coming of Eagle at reasonable prices, and Lowrances modern technology in R&D there is no comparison.Eagle/Lowrance all thee way................................remember