Humming bird fish finders????

[Elkoholic]

A little while back some of you guys were talking about the new Humming bird model 565 and 535 finders. Who ever that was will you please get back with me and let me know what you think of them. I'm considering buying one.

Thanks.
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[Bigcat]

Elkohlic-
Fishin4fun was one of the guys that bought the hummingbird 565. Send him a PM and I'm sure he'll get you more info. He said he loves it. Heres one of his posts from last week on that very subject. Hope that helps!

"[size 1]I traded in my Fishin Buddy for a Humminbird 565 this year for $200. The thing is amazing from a techno-geek perspective and has all the features of an expensive unit plus some in my opinion.

The real time sonar, 640 vertical pixels, dual sonar beams are just a few of the features you will have a hard time matching or finding for that price. The real time sonar works like a vex and is stinking super sensitive and very, very quick to return the signal. It's practically instant and will track my swivel, my jig and anything I put down the hole. Has the vertical accuracy of a vex as well at 2".

Just my 2 cents. I researched units until my teeth fell out and for the money, I couldn't find a better unit."

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[bassrods]

I had 2 Humming birds an I will not have another. They did not read fish right they read everything as fish that was down there, I found out by useing a aqua-vu Humming birds are know good.
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[Fishrmn]

If you let the sonar draw the fish icons, instead of arches, EVERY brand of sonar will draw any echo that is not the bottom as a fish. Some have three or four sizes of icon, but they will still draw your jig, a stick, an air bubble, or anything else as a fish. Turn off the fish ID feature.

I watched a couple of guys down at Fish Lake with an old Hummingbird that wouldn't show a three inch chub minnow hooked on a 1/2 ounce jig at all. That was when I quit liking them. I think they have changed their operation frequency from 460 khz to the industry "standard" 200 khz. I think that would have solved the problem for those guys at Fish Lake.

Fishrmn

[hedgesd]

I bought a 565 last summer and haven't had a single complaint yet. I can pick up a 1" jig in 50ft of water. I've used it more for ice fishing but this summer it's going back in the tube for some more fun.
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[mateo]

I haven't bought one yet, but I plan to get either the 535 or 565. I have an old Humminbird Wide Eye that I bought new several years ago. It still works great, shows my jig down at least 40'. It's just outdated and I want something new.
I think everyone has their own favorite brand of fishfinder, and that's what they're comfortable with.
I wouldn't have a problem buying a different brand, but the 535/565 has the features I want at a price I can almost afford.
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[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I think since Humminbird started incorporating the Zercom technology into their finders, the quality has greatly improved. I've used a couple of the older Humminbirds and wouldn't give you the time of day for them.[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3][/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]You probably won't go wrong with the new Humminbird but this old boy will stick with the tried and true Lowrance. Proven and the unit all others are measured by.[/size][/black][/font]
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[fishin4fun]

As quoted above, I really do enjoy the 565. I did alot of research on a budget. The key to my purchase was the price range I was in. I tried to keep my unit around $200. With that in mind, I feel that for that budget I got one of the best units on the market. I researched most units near the 535/565 (i.e. Eagle FishMarks for one) and found them fairly similiar. I checked reviews, ran the demo mode on probably 10+ different units from Sportsmans to buddy's, etc.

I settled on the Humminbird for the new real time sonar window. I can't mumble enough how stinking "REAL" it really is. It's as lively as a Vex and works very, very similiar. Next, pixels, my research told me to get alot of Vertical pixels. The 565 has 640 vertical pixels and hands down is in a league of its own there. Next, dual beams, I did alot of research and math on cones, from 9 to 20 to 60. My fishin buddy had 9 and my new one has 20/60. I really like that since I fish alot of "shallow" water like strawberry, yet hit some deep water like the Gorge and Fontenelle, WY. It's nice being flexible there. One thing about both units is the vertical seperation is 2". That's right up there with a Vex and I've noticed that kind of detail using it so far this year.

I'm a techie, so I enjoy researching the techie stuff and breaking down the engineering, etc. When it was all said and done, for $200 the 565 was it for me. I was going to buy the 535, but decided the dual beam and pixels was worth the $50.

Good luck on your purchase. I don't think you can really go wrong these days, just as long as you determine exactly the use of your unit and what features you really want, etc.

F4F

P.S. I bought mine from Cabela's (ahh.. Cabela's bucks!), but I know Sportsmans will special order one in for $199 even though it's not on the shelf.
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[BearLakeFishGuy]

I have a old (12+ year) Hummin' Bird LCR and it works like a champ and that is what I'm still using on my boat. At the time it was purchased it was top of the line and had a "whopping" 128 vertical pixels. Even with this low resolution (compared to today's models), I can still watch a 1/2 ounce jig at 70 feet in Bear Lake and it does a great job of grey lining so I can tell what type of bottom I fish over. As I said many times before about sonars, the most important thing is knowning how to operate your unit.
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[bassrods]

Bearlakemack is right the Lowrance is the best I have had only trouble from all humming birds I have had, but not with the Lowrance.
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[fishin4fun]

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As I said many times before about sonars, the most important thing is knowning how to operate your unit. [/reply]

That's the most important thing right there IMO.

Kirt

P.S. Elkoholic - couple of PM's for ya.
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[SkinnyLynnie]

What I'm looking for is a finder that shows which fish are HUNGRY! I've got a Humminbird finder and a Garmin, and neither one does that. Sometimes they show lots of fish below, but I still can't get a bite. (And then there are the times when the finder shows no fish below, and I get a fish on. Go figure!)
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Thanks for your comments about your Humminbird 565. I've been looking at my Cabelas and Bass Pro catalogues lately and have also decided on the $200 price range, and have currently narrowed down my choice to two finders, the 565, or the Eagle Fishmark 480. It does seem like the 565 has a couple of advantages to it over the Eagle like the two different cones at 20 degrees and 60 degrees. however, I did see that if you want the temp and trolling speed sensor, you have to pay an additional $40 for it on the Humminbird, and on the Eagle fishmark 480, it comes with it for $200. So, I'm not sure yet which of the two I'll get, but if I get the Humminbird, I'll definitely pay the $40 extra to get the temp and trolling speed because those two things are very important in my book. I'm still a few months away from getting one anyway, so I guess I'll take my time and check them out a little more.
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[fishin4fun]

If your not in a big hurry eBay might work too. I've seen people throw in things like temp/speed sensors on other units and end up about the same cost with that thrown in, etc. I wanted mine for this ice season, so I was impatient! [crazy]

Here are some questions I was recently asked about the 565. Some of it is repetitive from above, but I'm in cut/paste mode! Figured I would share with everyone just in case:
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[size 1]When you did your reasearch, was there any other brands that compare for the price?
--Not when you compared feature for feature, no. The Eagle Fishmark 480 was close and around the same price. [/size]

[size 1]Have you used it ice fishing this year?
--Yes and side by side with my old Fishing Buddy (sold it to my bro-in-law). Almost felt guilty doing it after comparing both.

How do you like the flasher mode?
--Flasher mode, assuming that is the Real Time Sonar, is my favorite feature. The beauty is you can make it "wide", so it shows strength of signal too along with the typical LCD fish "history". It also shades the grey for strength of signal too. If you goto Humminbird's website and read the online manual you can see the cool perks of it. I personally love that feature the most. All year, I would see that light up and then get the bite, right after the history would show up on the screen. My old fishin buddy would have never shown the fish until after the bite.

Did you mount it on a boat as well?
--Haven't yet, but I have a little 12' aluminum I plan putting it on. [/size]

[size 1]On the cone angles, can you pick and choose what angle you are using?
--You can't toggle between them. With out FishID on, it only uses the 20 cone. With it on, it uses solid fish for the 20 cone and hollow fish for the 60 cone. It's awesome and works slick since you can instantly see what cone picked up the signal. Again, [/size][url "http://www.humminbird.com/"][#000000][size 1]www.humminbird.com[/size][/#000000][/url][size 1] and the online manuals really talks about this and alot of cool stuff. Plus it has the math formulas to really see how wide your cones really are going down there.

For example (off the top of my head), I think the 20 cone is like a 3 ft cone at the base at 10 ft and the 60 is 11 ft cone at the base at 10 ft. Just do the math, and you can quickly see how much they cover.

It's important to note that the unit does almost all of the dirty work using the 20 cone (i.e. Real Time (flasher) mode and bottom depth, bottom zoom, etc. [/size]

[size 1]Overall, I had a very hard time beating this unit for the $200 price range I was in. I really wish I could have afforded the 585c (color) since the strength of signal comes in with color like the Vex, but I'm not complaining too loud. My one complaint is LCD based and not really this units fault. In the cold, it would fog up like a typical LCD unit. I usually fish in an ice shelter, so this wasn't a big issue. In the sun, on warm days, no problem, etc. I would say the 535, 565, or Eagle 480 would all be good purchases.

Good luck and I hope this all helps. [/size]
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[size 1]F4F[/size]
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