Topic: International CE Unit Questions

[seanc]

Hi,
I am from Queensland Australia and find this a bitter pill to swallow.  I was intending to buy a competitors product when I spotted the abilities of the SI of the Hummingbird products.  I purchased a 797c2 from the US as I could not justify paying over twice the cost here in Australia.  Whilst I hear what you are saying about extra costs associated with language conversion, menu changes, local laws governing emissions etc, I still have a problem with the time zone restriction.  Might I also add in Australia the cost of Ctick approval costs next to nothing and is paperwork more than anything, the manual looks the same and last time I checked we speak English.  I cannot see how this can double the cost, not to mention we to have a 12 month warranty in Australia.  This is simply done to protect the International markets and dealers in the respective countries.  OK so I made the decision to buy a US unit, got great service, product arrived in a matter of days and everything is good, I am happy to accept working in feet, inches, miles and Fahrenheit.  No big deal I can convert and since I have been diving for many years and used to working in feet not a problem, however my main gripe is with the local time zone restriction..  What if I was an avid sailor and bought a unit and installed it on my yacht and sailed the world, is Humminbird saying I cannot change my unit to the local time zones!!  This off course effects satellite tracking, tidal info etc.  I find this ridiculous and needs to be looked at by Hummingbird, other forums I have looked at have shown that I am not the only one asking this question.

I would appreciate any ones ideas/comments.

Regards,
Sean

[tmx]

What about the us-travelers, traveling around the world and using Humminbird products on their yacht as example? Must they really purchase the international version of Humminbird item if they want to use GPS outside the USA? I can't believe it..

[bigkahuna]

I don't have one of these units (yet) but as a work-around is it possible to set the time to GMT (Zulu)?

[Humminbird_Greg]

You can set the time zone but GMT (Zulu) is not one of the selections available in a Domestic (U.S.) version unit.

On a Domestic unit the GPS will work outside the U.S. but all you will have is a low-res world map.  Navionics mapping cards will still work of course but you won't have the correct time offset (as above) so any time based info will be off.  Comes with English language and feet/mph only.  Will not be c-Tick or CE certified, so you will have to deal with whatever repercussions that means for you.  You may also not get any help from International dealers as well.  We've heard many instances of this which they are well within their rights to refuse to do so.

[megabite]

While it is understandable the HB want to protect its local dealers, for this to be effective and to be fair to consumers who do seek to buy their equipment via US providers (such as West Marine who offer an international www purchase system), HB should make it very clear about the limitations of US sourced gear.  It was not at all clear from the HB www site that even the GPS unit would be restricted.  I have bought GPS gear while travelling several times and never encountered such an onerous and arbitrary restriction to use. 

[TeddyDiver]

Actually I'm sure such limitations are against European legislation. Don't be surpriced if you get fined someday by Bruxel bureacrates We have also law's that put the local importer under an obligation to service ALL unit's regardles where they are from. I personally boycot local HB dealer bcs their consumer support stinks. Meantime I'm happy with my "imperial" 798 unit and agree very much with seanc..

[Rodent]

Down Under there is a TWO year warranty on Humminbird sonar and GPS products, with 12 months on accessories. There is also a 72 hour turn around from the Humminbird Service Department on warranty and repair units from when they are receipted into the Service Department to when they are dispatched, (depending on availability). In many cases we also bend over backwards to assist people on holidays or at fishing competitions by working with our vast dealer network to get them back fishing ASAP. There is also a set maximum Service fee on out of warranty units, there is no minimum fee and minor repairs are charged accordingly, we are still carrying out repairs on the occasional NS10.

As with all people travelling the world that have a vast array of products on their boats that do not carry a world wide warranty and there are many, we go out of our way to assist them. We can have an answer from the HB staff overnight and can supply a unit (with out US mapping) that can get them back on the waves until they reach the US, if their claims are genuine.

There are many other sporting products produced in the US that can't be imported into Australia at all due to the tough laws imposed by the manufacturers on their US dealer networks.

Humminbird Aust actively support fish stocking, fishing competitions, boat shows and fishing education seminars.

Humminbird associated and proud of it.

[gb5978]

Hi,
I'm really surprised that a brand like humminbird is so little concern for its users. The constraints are the same, yet Garmin does not have as much problem with the languages ...
A friend bought a used boat and the gps humminbird was a U.S. version, he cannot  switch to metric ! The worst is the problem of time zone that can be set to GMT. Incredible! He is not ready to buy a Humminbird again ...
Shame ...

[Genis]

Situation is very simple. Humminbird company not interested to trade outside USA market. For example Russian and East Europeran market saturated with old models (Matrix 47 and etc). Dialers are not enough active to promote production to another markets. I could not to find official service center in Moscow. But some active companies in Russia trade modern models with strange prices (my 898c in Moscow retail shops costs 100.000 RUB = 3200$). Humminbird product managers think that people in Russia can buy goods from USA with mail forward from USA adress (accustome to feets is very simple)   

[gros21]

Is it possible for a US retailer to order in an internation version for us?

Is there any reason why there is so much price difference.

the 898c is approx $1300us or $1200au
but in australia its $2000us

Ive spoken to people about the standards and in australia its perfectly legal to have a non approved product for personal use. I had to go through this full procudure with work (i work in a calbration lab) when i had my orginal iphone 2G (which was never released here) and hence was not approved.

[sonar2000]

The answer to the question is NO...it cant be converted.
Chuck

[Del]

Prove it.

[leeloo]

 :o0ps

[xSilmarilSx]

Is it just me or the pictures don't prove anything???

[sonar2000]

I may be wrong but it is my understanding that the code written in the US and the international units are independant of each other.   I dont know of any code switch that will allow a switch between..
Chuck

[sonar2000]

Can you explain how to disassemble the program. Just how do we do this??
Chuck

[LGF]

It's 2016 mow, still the same issue, still the same generic response from hummnbird


While you may find that the pricing from US suppliers to be more attractive than your local dealer, there are several reasons for this:

US warranty is one year on most products (excludes some Smartcast products with six month warranty). Products purchased from your local dealer will carry a warranty required by your country or regions government. This additional warranty period adds cost to the product.

Products purchased from the US will only carry the warranty honored in the US and must be returned to the factory in the US for service. If you should require warranty or out of warranty service, you are responsible for freight charges to and from our factory in Eufaula, AL USA.
Products purchased from your local dealer should include an operations manual with your countries legal language which must be produced by the local authorized distributor. Products purchased in the US will only include a manual in English on a CD.   
Products purchased from your local dealer will contain menus with your local language and metric measurements. Our international/metric products currently support 26   languages so please contact your local dealer to see if your preferred language is supported. This also adds development costs to the products.
Products purchased from your local dealer adhere to local or regional certification requirements which are not needed in the US and add costs to the development of products. Examples would be CE in Europe and CTick in Australia.
Some products have frequency operating requirements which are specific to your country or region. These same frequencies are not legal in the US therefore not sold by US retailers or e-tailers. Using US approved products in your country or region may result in fines or legal action. Examples: VHF radios and all Smartcast products
Products with GPS functions do not allow for time zones to be reset outside of the US time zones. This will affect your ability to acquire satellites.
If you purchase a product in the US we do not convert this product for you in our factory or at a local distributor  In addition we do not send software to update the product.

One would have thought that Humminbird with their great products would have looked into this restrictive software loaded on their units.

Was seriously looking forward to getting myself a Helix 10 and 9 each with SI and GPS to be interlinked and at the end of the year to upgrade my trawl motor to a minnkota with iPilot link.

Cost is just not justified, cancelled my orders from a US supplier, cannot afford ridiculousness wrt to pricing we have to pay for what essentially is the same thing, with restrictive base software.

Thank you Humminbird for not caring about your international potential clients, I will not be buying a Humminbird and will advise my friends to follow suit!