Any Bird 997 Owners out there?

[fishbones]

Just upgraded my 798 to a 997 and wanted to get some feedback / discussion from other 997 owners.

How did your trandsucer mounting work out? I have trouble tracking bottom. i have moded it lower, tilted down and from 15" right of center to 5" right of center. Much better side imaging now but still loose bottom.
How does yours function with the 83/200 blended sonar? Mine seams to show a ton of red verticals on the screen when in this sonar mode. Almost unusable at any speed.
What is your display like on the split screen zoom, my zoom screen is really pixilated. Seams like for this much money you could be a lot more vetical pixels than just 480?
What other issues or concerns have you found?

Many thanks and good fishing.

Fishbones

:happy:

[Brookieslayer]

Mine hold bottom really well, up to 45 mph, no problem. Mounted on the port side of the boat. Had to play with the mounting height a bit to make sure the tranducer was in the flow. and the tilt back seemed to be important to keep in connected at speed. Make sure the waves don't knock the breakaway feature into use and have the transducer pointed in hte wrong direction. 200/83 blended works great, does add some clutter to the screen in some water conditions but most are clear. is your power cable close to your transducer cable?

[fishbones]

Mine hold bottom really well, up to 45 mph, no problem. Mounted on the port side of the boat. Had to play with the mounting height a bit to make sure the tranducer was in the flow. and the tilt back seemed to be important to keep in connected at speed. Make sure the waves don't knock the breakaway feature into use and have the transducer pointed in hte wrong direction. 200/83 blended works great, does add some clutter to the screen in some water conditions but most are clear. is your power cable close to your transducer cable?

I might have it tied to some power cables under the dash, probably not a good idea.
also, I am sure it runs up to the dash with the rest of the power cables. All other transducers work well, I think, my 200 on high sensitivity does not get cluttered and you would think it would? By tilt back do you mean angled downward (scanning more towards the bow), this is what I did on the second move and it helped. Not sure I want to tilt it too much as I am concerned it will mess with the readings when the boat is at troll speeds or level.

[Tim Ellis]

Fishbones, what make/model of boat is the transducer installed?

[fishbones]

Fishbones, what make/model of boat is the transducer installed?

Hi, it is on a Crestliner 2050 sportfish welded hull. I have an 18" nylon transducer board on the back bottom (horizontal model).

I was thinking of going the dual transducer route running a second 83/200 but not if I can help it $$ Another person I spoke with said that the smaller profile of the regular transducer works much better at high speeds. I have found out that with the Y cable and 2 tranducers the 997 will automatically use the smaller unit for the regular sonar 83/200 and the Hi Definition side imaging transducer for side imaging only which I thought was kind of cool.
I just want to be able to mark fish at high speeds (search and destroy method :grin:)

[Brookieslayer]

Tilt back means what you say. I have never tried the other transducer thing, but it sounds cool. It should work really well on the welded hull at speed vs a riveted hull like mine. What is the height of the front of the transducer? how far back from the main hull and is your mounting board level with the bottom of the boat?

[fishbones]

Tilt back means what you say. I have never tried the other transducer thing, but it sounds cool. It should work really well on the welded hull at speed vs a riveted hull like mine. What is the height of the front of the transducer? how far back from the main hull and is your mounting board level with the bottom of the boat?

Front of the transducer is about 1/4 inch below bottom of the hull.
I have the transducer boar mounted roughly 1/4" above the bottom of the hull per the installation instructions.


Here are a couple of pictures.

http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv38/jfishbones/100_1683.jpg

http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv38/jfishbones/100_1683.jpg

[blueicecpa]

If the transducer is deep enough in the water to avoid the turbulence coming from the boat the SI will actual work 40-50 MPH;

however, I realize that most fishermen aren’t going to install these units on the bottom of a 20 foot boat so in reality their transducers are going to be mounted close to the top of the water and the speed they can obtain good readings is going to be limited by the turbulence generated from the transducer being close to the top of the water.


It is a balance of :frypan: saving the Transducer from damage from obsticals and getting out of the turbulence.


Yes and make sure the wiring is not the problem....easy check just keep the wire 1st not hid yet but out in the open. If that's OK and the image is still bad , then you have turbulence issues or obstructions on the Transom.

[Brookieslayer]

I have my transducer mounted on the other side of the boat. My mounting plate is level with the bottom of the boat and my transducer is about 3/8 below the bottom of the boat with about or a little more tilt back then yours. My tranducer cable is separated from the power cable to help reduce noise from that possibility. I have mine mounted at about the same location as yours from the centre of the boat.

Hope this helps. perhaps I can take some photos if you require.
My friend is a Hummer sponsored pro with a ton of experience mounting this stuff and I followed his direction.

Tight lines.

[fishbones]

I have my transducer mounted on the other side of the boat. My mounting plate is level with the bottom of the boat and my transducer is about 3/8 below the bottom of the boat with about or a little more tilt back then yours. My tranducer cable is separated from the power cable to help reduce noise from that possibility. I have mine mounted at about the same location as yours from the centre of the boat.

Hope this helps. perhaps I can take some photos if you require.
My friend is a Hummer sponsored pro with a ton of experience mounting this stuff and I followed his direction.

Tight lines.

I appreciate the help. Here is the side shot I thought I put in the previous message.

http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv38/jfishbones/100_1680.jpg

[Brookieslayer]

I would say the board is giving you some grief as the step infront of the transducer is probably causing the water to rise up after it exits the hull. I think trying to get the transducer a little lower might help the issue. However I like the board lower and the transducer tilted back a little more at the rear. Instead of moving the board though lets try lowering the transducer and tilting it back, remember as you tilt back the front gets higher, so you need to compensate with lowering the transducer.

Hope this makes sense and helps out.

[fishbones]

I would say the board is giving you some grief as the step infront of the transducer is probably causing the water to rise up after it exits the hull. I think trying to get the transducer a little lower might help the issue. However I like the board lower and the transducer tilted back a little more at the rear. Instead of moving the board though lets try lowering the transducer and tilting it back, remember as you tilt back the front gets higher, so you need to compensate with lowering the transducer.

Hope this makes sense and helps out.

Thanks, it makes sense and I will give it a shot this week and try it out on Saturday.

[boulder]

I just purchased a 997 and had questions about the location. I switched from Lowrance and was shocked at how quickly the Humminbird customer service people answered the phone and my email (with photos). I think it took a day ...start to finish with 4 emails. That said, there is also a good site for these types of quesitons http://www.xumba.scholleco.com/index.php

Boulder

[fishbones]

I just purchased a 997 and had questions about the location. I switched from Lowrance and was shocked at how quickly the Humminbird customer service people answered the phone and my email (with photos). I think it took a day ...start to finish with 4 emails. That said, there is also a good site for these types of quesitons http://www.xumba.scholleco.com/index.php

Boulder

Hey, thanks boulder. I could not agree with you more about Humminbirds customer service, they have been great. Do you have picture quality issues with your split zoom screen? Mine seems really pixelated ??spelling??

[blueicecpa]

Fishbones.

#1 Your Mounting Board may be too low and causing drag and turbulence. I had to shave mine too a few years ago. it should be above the Transom lip. I see you have silicone around it that's ok.


#2 the really best way is not to permanently mount it first. But use a temporary brace to actually see how " Your Boats Hull " actually causes turbulence and where the best picture at a nice range of speed so you want to find the Bes clearer picture. Then mark that position to mount it.

There is really no correct 1 place to mount it. They have many pictures for many boats though, if you are lucky and they have your Boat and Year , but you might have a Different weight and that could change the final mount for your Transducer on your boat.


Check the Yahoo Side Imaging Group for those installation.

[boulder80504]

I took it out a few weeks ago and it worked great. To be honest...I have never fished like that before and it will add a lot of fish to my boat- and then back in the water.

Boulder

[fishbones]

Well, thanks for all the tips, I ended up taking Humminbirds advice and running 2 transducer units, one for Side Imaging only and a smaller 83/200 for high speed sonar readings. I will let everyone know how it works after this weekend weather permitting :)