Topic: New guy/owner.......

[nibble]

56 year old male, bought a Sea Chaser 2400 Offshore Series last fall.
Came with a Humminbird 997si.
Last month I bought a 1199si HD on sale for $1,200.00 from Cabela's. Not sure I want to keep it. I'm not big into fishing, I just play around. I really wanted a nice GPS and figured since I could get this $2,200.00 Combo for about half price I should just buy it. My 997 doesn't have GPS. Also, not really sure I want to try running the wires and all to get it up and running. Advice welcome, pro and con.
Thanks

[sfw1960]

The 1199 is a great unit, internal GPS.
The 997 does have GPS capability, however the external GPS puck must have been removed or went bad?

http://www.humminbird.com/Products/997c-SI-Combo/

http://www.humminbird.com/Products/AS-GR16/
The AS GR16 is discontinued, and only the AS GRP is the only newer puck that is compatible with the latest firmware update (at least v6.300).

http://www.humminbird.com/Products/AS-GRP/
The 997 is an End Of Life product, so not worth much - or worth spending a lot on since the flat rate repair bill is around $500 if I recall...
Guys trying to re-sell  their 1199's are taking a beating due to the new Helix MSRP dropping overall for same or better features.
I saw one for $975 the other day, and it was still for sale last I knew.
Either unit can have the Sonar shut off and become a GPS  Chartplotter by pushing the power button once and selecting Sonar OFF in the pop up menu.
HTH~
Robert

[nibble]

SFW
Thanks for the reply. The 997 had a puck attached but it doesn't recognize it for some reason.
What is the going rate to have the 1199 rigged to my boat? I may do it myself but prefer to have a pro install it.

[sfw1960]

It's better if you use #14 or #12 WIRE DIRECT TO THE BATTERY &  DO IT YOURSELF!
Any dealerships usually take as many short cuts as they can to maximize their bottom line.
The bbc (bass boat central) forums has a lot of installation images and people that can help .

[nibble]

SFW
Would you recoomend I keep the 1199 or take it back and get newer technology for the same $1,200.00 I paid for this unit?

[sfw1960]

Keep the 1199, I plan on keeping mine!

[fishreed]

Unless the boat dealer is your brother-in-law, you will be on a waiting list since this is the busiest season of the year for a boat dealer and you will get nothing fixed or installed for 2-3 weeks.  Why don't you just hook up the 997's power cord to your new 1199Si and use the same transducer?  It will work until you get a boat dealer to do what you want to do....right now your GPS to the 997 isn't working. At least the 1199si would give you both sonar and GPS capability unlike your 997 is now.