Topic: settings retention

[BrianRHCT]

Just tried my 798ciHD SI.  I must say the display is a huge improvement over the 998 si that I sold with my boat.  That thing was unreadable in the bright sunlight.  This seems to have an improved (however smaller) than my other unit.
The problem I am having is that the settings in put in for setting some views hidden, fish ID, and just about everything else I set isn't retained.   Power the unit down and everything goes back to the original setting.   I have the latest firmware and the unit has only been turned on about 4 times.   Every time I take it out I have to spend the first 5 minutes going through and resetting all my preferences.  Seems crazy.  This can't be normal.  Any comments on this or am I just missing something on making my settings "hold"?

[LocDown]

Are you in simulator mode or normal?
The 798 has LED backlight vs CCFL on the 8 and 9 series.

[George]

BrianRHCT

I have to wonder if there was something wrong with the back lighting on your unit.  I have an 1197 and can see it easily in full sunlight and like and need the large screen.

George

[BrianRHCT]

I assume when I power up in the house with no transducer it stays in "simulator" mode unless I do something specifc to take it out of simulator mode.   When I power it up with the transducer it appears to go directly into normal mode.   According to the manual I can do my setups in simulator mode and they are retained when it starts up  in normal. 
I am playing with it now... Oh now THAT is interesting.  I had not bothered to hit menu on the splash screen before. I just let it go where even it wanted to go by default based on if the transducer was hooked up or not.  Going into the menu just once and it appears to be retaining the settings now.  Strange.  I'm going to take it back out on the water later on and see if the settings are held.   I swear I powed this thing on about 4 times and every time the settings cleared themselves.  One pass thru the menu and the problem appears to be solved.  Little "bug" maybe?  Anyway doesnt matter to me as long as it behaves from here.

[Humminbird_Greg]

No bug – intentional programming.

The default mode for the unit when it has only a power cable connected to it is to go into the point of sale Simulator mode.  This is so that when no buttons are pressed after two minutes or when the unit is powered down that the unit will rest the menus to certain predefined settings to show the product off to John Q. Public.

The ‘forced’ Simulator mode, that you found by pressing the MENU button during the splash screen, was so you could practice using your unit and make changes to the Nav Data, view mapping information and make menu settings changes and have all of this remembered or retained by the unit when you powered it off.

[BrianRHCT]

As far as the screen goes I was very disappointed with the 998si screen.  Didn't really notice it until we were out on the sound on a bright sunny day.  Really the 798 HD is exceptionally brighter.   Dunno if it is the LED backlighting or what but it is noticably better in my opinion.  Don't get me wrong I liked the bigger screen but this one is so much better in the bright sun that if I were ever to think about the 998 again I would hold off until the 998 HD with the LED lighting came out.  If that is what made the difference it is well worth it.

I still can't read the depth markers without getting right up on the thing but I didn't buy it for the GPS.  The depth numbers even with the Nav Gold were just a little to small for my old eyes.  I have SEEN some map (Lakeview?) with nice large number but the default maps and the nav-gold just didn't do it for me.

Only negative so far on the 798 is that there doesn't seem to be a way to turn on some of the digital stuff like battery voltage when in DI and SI display combined.  Pretty minor. Might be that I just havent' figured it out yet.
 The setting memory appears to be solved by going into the memory just once.  Odd but not a concern now that my settings seem to be holding just fine. 

[BrianRHCT]

"intentional programming"

Really?  Here's a little customer feedback for ya.
 I rarely read the manual but when I couldn't get the settings to "hold" I read this one.  I'm pretty sure there isn't the slightest suggestion of how this menu thing actualy works in those pages.  The manual states that the unit will automatically go into normal mode if there is a tranducer attached and automatically go into simulator mode if there isn't .  So the logical conclusion is, 'who cares about the menu?'. Nothing said about "you must use the menu to setup and save your settings".  Not a word.  It explains how to use the menu, and even says "it is important to select simulator mode manually, but it never says why and it never states that you "MUST" use it in order for your settings to be saved.  The reality is there are 2 simulator modes and they behave differently.  Never says that and I read every word related to "start-up options".
So,  I'll give ya the benefit of the doubt on this one and let you pass the customer "turn back" on to the documentation folks.  One way or the other in my company we would call this one a "bug".  I'm sure glad it is only a documentation bug and I'm looking forward to using this thing hunting stripers in a few weeks.  So far this one is a much better experience than the 998c SI. Maybe I'll even be able to use that PC interface cable I bought for my 998 that doesn't work connected to a PC.
Thanks for your help.  I really appreciate it.  So far this formum is the only place I have been able to get any answers on hummingbird products.  Again thank you very much for your help.