1197 humminbird depth jumps all over the place any answers on that

[Tony Shirley]

My new hummin bird jumps all over the place with depth readings and im wonderin why.

[BGunn]

What span of depths are you reading when you say "jumps all over the place" ?
The only time I've had that happen is when I hit something with the transducer (Floating piece of wood), and it popped out of the retainer (which it's suppose to do).
The readings would go from 30 feet to about 350 feet as soon as I started moving fast.
All I had to do was pop it back into the mounting clip.

[J.P. Kennedy]

My new hummin bird jumps all over the place with depth readings and im wonderin why.

Hey Tony,

How is it set up? Are you using the transducer that is epoxied into your hull?

My 1197c works really well. I have a "puck" transducer epoxied in the hull and the SI transducer mounted on the outside of the hull. I use the ASIDBY adapter cable to plug both ducers into the unit and it works great. I get the temp and SI from the outside ducer and the depth and 2D sonar from the inside ducer.

Now with your issue I would check the epoxied ducer to see if its holding tight. Another possible issue would be air bubbles in the epoxy between the ducer and the hull. If thats the case, you gotta re-glue it.

You could also be getting interference from another sonar from either your boat or one fishing close to you... that sometimes happens to mine.

You should be able to get rock solid performance from that unit. Mine will track bottom perfectly going 55 mph. Even in depths over 100 feet !!

My only gripe with Humminbirds is their 2D sonar performance is not as good as Lowrance. Lowrance absolutely has better performance in this area. Target separation and defining fish from structure is not as good on my Humminbird as it is on my LCX-27c. Don't get me wrong... it is a fantastic unit that performs great but I'm on the water chasing walleyes a lot and I stare at the finders all day and Lowrance is just better in this area. I was in Red Lake this weekend for 3 days and really had trouble getting the 1197c to show me fish. I know fish were their because I was catching... lots! Went through 8 dozen minnows in no time. The Side Imaging is neat... but I really don't use it a lot. GPS and mapping performance is really the same in both brands.

Just my two cents...

[Stripehunter]

How deep of water are you in when this happens?
Does this happen at any speed, only when stationary, or only on plane?
Can you describe your boat and transducer mounting/setup?

If you are in shallow water, if your surface clutter reductions are too high, that can cause depth readings to fluctuate wildly. If water is too shallow and clutter reduction too high, it actually treats the bottom as surface clutter, filters it, and bounces around all over the place sometimes looking at the second (or maybe even third) echos.

If only at speed, it's likely bubbles from your hull passing under the transducer. How to correct this depends on your particular setup.

[transducer]

You problably have a bad transducer. I've heard from some of the tech guys on the flw pwt that they are having problem with theirs. i know 4 guys that have had issues too.

[larrym]

It's what my Lowrance does when a transducer goes bad......and I've had three go bad!

[Xswab]

Earlier this year I had similar problems with my 797. I got with one of the techs (thru the "unofficial"side imaging forums) and he told me it could be the ducer or the control head and to send it in.
Long story short...I remembered I had done an update to the card over the Winter. So I reverted back to the previous update and all that erratic bouncing went away. Another update became available, needless to say I was not so quick to download it, but did tho after some time, and have not had a problem.
Kinda makes me wonder if something may get lost in translation between the origin and head unit. Just a thought.

[TomP.]

" Target separation and defining fish from structure is not as good on my Humminbird as it is on my LCX-27c. "

I ran Lowrance units forerever and ran my Humminbird unit like my Lowrance and was having the same issues with marking fish. For me turning my sensativitiy down made all the difference. Same with SI I would try and run close to max sensattivity like I did on my Lowrance units the Humminbirds don`t seem to need all that sensativity to get good readings.

Have you updated your unit the last update really helped clean up arches and seperation.

[J.P.]

" Target separation and defining fish from structure is not as good on my Humminbird as it is on my LCX-27c. "

I ran Lowrance units forerever and ran my Humminbird unit like my Lowrance and was having the same issues with marking fish. For me turning my sensativitiy down made all the difference. Same with SI I would try and run close to max sensattivity like I did on my Lowrance units the Humminbirds don`t seem to need all that sensativity to get good readings.

Have you updated your unit the last update really helped clean up arches and seperation.

Yes, I keep my sensitivity lower. I have played with all possible options including updating to the latest software. The unit is working how it should... but not quite as good as the Lowrance. In fact... Humminbird's sonar screen doesn't scroll/refresh as smooth or fast as the Lowrance. I am just really picky I guess.

I have bought the Lowrance broadband sounder to see how that works. I'll hook that up to the LCX-27c and write a little review of my thoughts and post it here.

I am a tech junkie and really like having the best stuff. I have used Lowrance for years with no issues. They are great finders.

The Humminbird is a great unit too... but they are new and if are given a little more refinement, they will probably be the best units on the market. As for now, Lowrance has better sonar. Again, just my opinion.

[Golden Eagle]

Hey LarryM,

I'm flying in next month for 14 days and will be taking 2 tranducers for my Lowrance X-15. I'll take two forever and suggest everyone do the same. Having a sonar playing tricks because of a faulty transducer can really mess with a fishing trip.