Topic: New Toy! 798ci si

[chuck41]

My new 798 ci comes with a really steep learning curve.  I am picking out some of the things about it one at a time.  The menus are confusing and obviously require hours of use to become familiar and the lack of a printed manual doesn't help a lot.  I printed out sections of the manual on CD to take with me today, but alas, I left them on the back seat of the truck. 

I mounted the transducer on the rear left pontoon, the only possible location without modification of the boat.  Directly to the right of its position is the lower unit of the motor so I did not expect to actually see anything to the right. 

Surprise, surprise!  It actually looks through that motor unit at normal slow si speeds.  I can't imagine how, but it does.  There is garbage showing at the surface of the water column on the display, but the right side returns do appear, although with a bit of distortion.  After installing the new pontoon I have ordered and moving the motor aft about 10 inches it should work much better. As the boat speeds above about 10 mph the right side returns disappear in clutter, but what the heck. The left side works up to at least 15mph and the di works at any speed the boat barge can muster.

Man I wish I could have gotten something like this 25 years ago! I found details on the lake I had never known were there and I have been fishing this lake for 30 years!  Also found a few brush piles that I had never guessed were there and picked great spots to plant some.

[Bob B]

Yep, everyone is amazed with what they didn't know about lakes they thought they knew pretty well.

Have you watched any of Doug Vahrenberg's video's......If not they will really help shorten the learning curve. 

Here's a link to his YouTube channel....he has a web page as well.  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFBA73CD339FC6B95

[ITGEEK]

Chuck41:
Anything new to someone is going to seem complicated at first.
After 5 or 6 times on the water, you'll have a good command of
that unit, and it won't seem so complicated.
After a few months, you'll be a pro.
It's also perfectly normal to have to move the tranducer for
better performance.  I'm sure some people have moved it 3 or
more times before they were satisfied.

[chuck41]

Had a look at Bob Vahrenbergs videos last night. I watched them a few days ago but they are not that helpful until you have had a bit of hands on experience with the unit. Put the manual in the boat too. Shouldn't be a problem next trip out.

[rnvinc]

Grab some snapshots for us...

We like pix...

Rickie

[Bob B]

Had a look at Bob Vahrenbergs videos last night. I watched them a few days ago but they are not that helpful until you have had a bit of hands on experience with the unit. Put the manual in the boat too. Shouldn't be a problem next trip out.

If you have any problems with interpretation....what the water column represents....watch the one where he folds a piece of paper with some images till it makes sense.

[chuck41]

Grab some snapshots for us...

We like pix...

Rickie

That will have to wait until I figure out how. I made sure the instructions are now in the boat! Figured out how to mark locations in Google maps and transfer them to Hummingird PC last night. Certainly not "self evident" but doable after a bit of practice.

[Rotus623]

Take plenty of snapshots and recordings, and fabricate a 12v plug for home use so you can mess with your unit at home. I learned my settings and menu very well on my couch!

[chuck41]

Take plenty of snapshots and recordings, and fabricate a 12v plug for home use so you can mess with your unit at home. I learned my settings and menu very well on my couch!

Than. Will do.

[FlyFisher SLC]

Yesterday took my 798si out for first time and spent more time experimenting than fishing, but that was the main purpose of the trip.  As other suggested, spent a lot of time in simulator mode experimenting with settings.  On the water I was regularly adjusting settings to get best images. 

Recorded my 4 hours of fishing around a mountain lake and then watched it on Humviewer.  Being able to stop, examine and enhance the image on Humviewer taught me a lot about how to interpret the images -- saw a lot of fish on Humviewer I had missed.  I'll hope to have better skills next time. 

[rnvinc]

The Recording feature is such a great tool...

In some of my 1st experiences....I would fish until about 45 minutes before dark...

Then I would put my fishing gear up and motor my boat to a spot at the bank about 1/2 mile from my launch ramp...

I would start a recording and record the entire bank from this point all the way to the launch ramp staying in an approximate 30-40 feet from the bank...

I would then study that recording in Humviewer and the HB unit running side by side at my PC...

I would put waypoints on everything that looked fishy...

Then I would get those waypoints into HBPC where I could get the waypoints back into my unit...

Then, the next time I was in that same area of the lake...I could go and verify those waypoints that I created during my "Study time"...sometimes the waypoints were nothing and I would delete them...sometimes the waypoints were cool new fishy structures...

This helped me learn HB unit settings, HB recording, Humviewer, lake environment effects on the unit images, and HBPC ...all at the same time...

Rickie