Humminbird Side Imaging Forums
Other Humminbird Products => Other Humminbird Fish Finders => Topic started by: ZamoraFishin on April 09, 2013, 11:33:35 AM
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Greetings all,
My name is Ernest and I live in the San Antonio, TX area, my fishing spots are mostly Calaveras Lake and Braunig Lake. Its great to see a forum just for Humminbird product users, I have been using a Humminbird 200DX for several years until recently it just gave out. So then I went an researched and bought a 581i DI as it was right around the budget I had set. It seems really new in the market since I can not seem to find many people with this product but it seems to be up to par with the 587ci DI as the only difference I saw was this unit was B&W and the 587ci was all color.
I have yet to take this unit out into the water but here are some issues I have been facing.
Humminbird PC is great but I wish it could be better. Unless someone has found a way to do this. Using Google Earth I pinned some points I would like to fish, but I have yet to find a reasonable way to import those saved pins into Humminbird PC.
Another thing is using the GPS, I am not too sure if I have to actually load a map of the lake or if it is already pre-loaded into the unit.
It's quite a big jump from a simple 200DX to a 581i DI that has much more features that I plan to use but I heard a lot of good reviews about this family of units.
Thank you in advance for any pointers and help.
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There is a process for getting Google Earth waypoints into your unit but it is not what some people call “reasonable”. The easiest way may be to manually enter the waypoint coordinates into the unit. Just make sure that you have matched the position format being used by the unit (or HumminbirdPC) and Google Earth when you do.
There may be a simple map (most likely an outline only) of Calaveras but I did not see Braunig Lake listed. So you may want to look at getting a mapping card for that. Just make sure that the mapping card has those lakes before you actually buy it.
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I have been slowly getting the hang of Humminbird PC. So far I just added some GPS waypoints manually from Texas Game and used Google Earth to see if it's in the right location. Also Braunig Lake is also known as Victor Braunig Lake so more than likely that is a reason why it could not be found. I do plan on hitting the water this weekend so hopefully I do not run into any snags.
Another quick question, I've heard from some places that this model can record and take snapshots and in other places (especially the manual) has no mention of it. Right now I only have a 128MB SD card and I plan on picking up a lager capacity (4GB or bigger) if its possible to record and take snapshots.
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No, I don’t think that the 581i DI has that capability.
I still did not see a Victor Braunig Lake listed.
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So this weekend I took the boat out and tried out the 581i and its so awesome. The pixels are much more detailed and far more accurate on both the Down Imaging and sonar. However, by the end of the day the sonar/down imaging seemed to have stopped working, we were at about 12-15ft of water and the sonar was showing it had less than 1ft of water. I did get up to 90-95 degrees out and the outside case was hot but no to the point that it was burn hot. I shut the unit off and on several times and still the sonar didn't work. I went to the self test diagnostic screen and everything had passed. After another 2 re-starts then the sonar/down imaging worked. Not sure if these units have something that protects the unit/sonar from overheating or if I may have a defective unit.
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You guys in Texas hitting 95 degrees already? We may all be in for one HOT summer!
Both the 2D sonar and DI sonar stopped working? Sounds more like a connection problem or a total transducer failure to me. It coming back on makes it sounds more like a transducer connection issue but would not rule out something in the unit either. Check the transducer connector in the unit mount. It should not move when you press on it or wiggle the cable. If it does you will have to take the connector collector apart and bend the “fingers” on the metal plate that hold the transducer connector in place so that it holds it more firm.
Other than that you will have to try and figure out what is triggering this. Make sure that it is not a low power issue by checking all electrical connections for any that are loose or corroded. Don’t forget to also check the fuse and fuse holder.