Hope you guys can help me out. I'm going to by a new 797C Humminbird Sidefinder, but I'm not sure I really want the external antenna.

Is there any real reason why I should stay away from the internal antenna model - 797C2i?

Any other thoughts regarding the 797 would be appreciated.

I'd like to go with the larger units, but I'm pretty sure the smaller 797C will be just fine for me.

Thanks

Hi Gitzet,

Welcome to the site. I haven't heard much about the internal antennas, perhaps one of our Prostaff members (Don House) might have some info on them. As for the external ones, it gives you the option to place the puck (antenna) away from the unit itself. You might ask "why would I want to do this"? It really comes down to preference and only pertains to GPS and weighpoints. If you have the puck located right next to your unit, that's where your boat will be when you want to return to that same spot later. If your unit and puck are at your console, must remember that you will be sitting right on top of your weigh point and what ever structure you have marked. Some people like to put the puck up by the trolling motor, so when they mark a weigh point and return, they know that the structure will be directly under the trolling motor. Like I said before, more of a preference.

What size boat do you have? I have a Skeeter ZX225 that is a little over 20' in length. My puck is external and located at the console next to my Humminbird 997. I also have a Lowrance LMS 527c IGPS at the bow near the trolling motor. I mark different weigh point for the same area. One set of marks on the Humminbird is used to get me into position to "approach" the structure with my trolling motor, while the other marks on the lowrance are used for orientation while I am actually fishing the structure or object. Again this is my preference and it may not work well for you, but it at least gets you thinking about the way you fish and would like to approach the structure and objects you mark with your GPS.

I'll wait to hear back from you and we can discuss this some more.

Glad to have you on the site...
thanks for posting

Brendan

Gits, the 797 is a really nice unit for the buck, works well and has great screens pictures. As far as the Internal or external GPS puck it really does not matter, I have used both and they work well.. I like the external unit myself but I also really use my GPS alot, I even have two on my boat, one for the back and one for the front. The back I use for finding items and marking them. The front I use for staying on top of something, but I do a ton of deep water fishing and need to stay on top of trees, brush piles ect.. Another reason I liked the Internal use I did not have to drill holes in my boat to mount it and I also sell my boat every year and sometimes they do not want the electronics so I would have to take them off.

Anyway if you have any more questions just place a post on here and I will get you some answers. Ok gotta go have a trip out this morning..

Good Fishing Everyone

Capt. Don

Guys,

Thanks for the reply. I just bought the unit with the external antenna. I plan to mount it at the bow, and put the 797 on the small space I have next to my console on a 5" ram mount.

I have a Ranger 185 VX.

My next question is exactly where should I put the transducer? Thers's not much flat space on the stern that's square to rear of the boat, so I'm thinking the tranducer should be to the right-most lower corner of the stern. It seems like I should have good view to the left and right, even if i have to trim the motor a wee bit. Are there any pics of a Ranger tranducer mount that I can look at before I start drilling?

Thanks a bunch.

I found a pic with a sidefinder transducer on a Ranger similar to mine.

Does this look good? It's quite similar to the placement I was proposing in my previous post.

797 transducer pic

Wadaya think?

Thanks

Looks great, if you want you can go to http://www.groups.yahoo.com.. Look for the Sideimaging group, they have alot more pictures to look at as well. May give you some more ideals or other ways to do it..

Only thing if you fish a lake with alot of underwater trees that may not work. I have seen other guys mount them on a hanger off the of motor mount, lets it hang alittle higher but still down to see past the motor mount.. Take a look at that site you will see what I'm talking about..

Good Fishing

Capt. Don

Not sure if you have enough room below your jack plate, but that is where mine is mounted... I have a skeeter though. I think Don's suggestion of checking with the folks on that SI forum would be a good idea.

Thanks! I don't have a jack plate, so the motor won't be coming down at all. I was planning on getting one someday, so I'll keep in mind that it could be a problem.

I'll check out the forum.

Thanks again.

I hearing that some guys have had success installing external gps antennas (pucks) 'under cover' - under hatches, consoles, fiberglass, etc.

They say the only real issue might be the influence of metal-flake paint. Otherwise, a clean install under fiberglass/carpet should work fine. They also say you can test in advance by attaching with velcro and seeing how it goes.

Any thoughts regarding this approach?

Thanks

Sounds like it would work, just wondering why you would want to hide it?

That's a very fair question. Although my boat has ample fishing room, there is not that much room for electronics. Once I fill that small space next to my console with a sideimaging unit, there's only one spot left to place the new antenna (on the bow). If I could put it under the floor right behind the drivers seat 'under the fiberglass/carpet', I'd prefer to do that (if it works).

Make sense?

Guess I should have bought the internal antenna unit instead.

Sorry! I guess I have two topics working the same project. Installing my new 797C. Hope it's OK!

Thanks

Hey no problem... I just merged it with the other topic. I never used that feature before, it works pretty good.

I guess it really comes down to "if it works", right? I have seen some guys mount it right on the back deck behind the driver's seat, but never under the carpet. They actually have the puck sitting on top of the carpet. It really doesn't get in the way for the guy in the back if you tuck it over to one side and behind the seat. Just something else you might want to consider trying.

I don't know much about the Humminbird IGPS, but I can tell you that my Lowrance IGPS does NOT work as good as the one I had with the puck. At the very least, I would think that you’re safer with a puck versus without one.

Anyone else out there have some feedback or input for Gitzit?

I'll be doing my installtion in the coming days. I'll share my pics with you guys. Thanks for your insights.

Gitz, make sure you try the testing part first.. I loose my gps under bridges and even in some trees just about anything that blocks the sat view.. I would not recommend it myself.. Behind the seat is a great ideal, but try all of them.. But I would bet it will have to be out in the open.. Let us know how it works..

Don

I'd have to agree with Don... I just wouldn't want to take the chance that it happens more frequently in a situation that you were not able to test...

After much back and forth, I decided to go with the external antenna mounted on the bow. I now have 2 antennas, one for the Garmin console mounted GPS/Sounder and the 797. I thought this was going to be an issue, but it all seems to have worked out just fine.

As promised, here's some pics of my install.

http://www.crabtownebassmasters.com/797C_Install.html

I do occasionally lose bottom on my tranducer at higher speeds. I've recently dropped the tranducer to see if I get more stability. I hope that fixes that problem.

I have had a chance to use the 797 side imaging - WOW!

I have discovered several logs, laydowns, drops and structure. In one case, I found a huge laydown at creek entrance that I did not know existed. I did not see fish, but I fished it for a few minutes and caught two fish and lost one. Wow!

Now I'm hoping nobody else makes the investment.

Gitzit,

Nice clean install! Man, I'm going to have you come do mine next time!

Happy to hear everything worked out well. As for the bottom readings, crank up your ping speed and scroll rate under your sonar settings. That should help a little, but depending on how fast your boat goes, you still might lose the bottom... I do

Last comment: In the words of Don House "Welcome to the world of side imaging". There was a movie years ago with Robert Redford called "sneakers"... if you ever saw the movie, you might recall the line "no more secrets"... that's what SI brings to the table. If it is in the lake, you can find it and quickly!

Best of luck with the new unit...

Brendan

Nice installation, very professional looking.. Make sure you psot these pictures on the yahoo.sideimaging.com, add them to the installation folders..

Next on the loosing the bottom at high speeds, well these are not really made for high speed reading, they do make a better transducer just for that, but it cost $$$$... Really, to get a good look at everything slow speed is the best. If you are wanting to read bottom at high speeds, then buy a flasher and mount in place of the garmin unit..

Now we need to get rid of that unit on the front and get you a new Humminbird 787 on the front, then network them together for a really great electonics package!!

Great job enjoy and good fishing

Capt. Don

Brendon & Don,

Thanks.

One last question - that's what i always say -

If I did upgrade to the 787, I'm figuring I can network to the antenna, but I'm not sure if I'll network to the Navionics charts in my 797 or if I'll need to buy the charts for the new unit.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

That's one for Don... I know you can share weighpoints, but not sure about maps. I think you can with Humminbird units...

Don, Can you shed some light?

Ok, with the humminbirds you can share Antennas and way points but not mapping... I wish we could and it has been discussed, but not yet..

Good Fishing

Capt. Don

That's seems to be the case with Lowrance too... When you look at the coast of these "hot maps", it's difficult to fork over the money twice. Hopefully one of these companies (or better yet, both) make it possible.

Hey Don,

You know what would be really cool is if Humminbird made a monitor or display. What I am saying is that it would just be a screen mounted up front that displays what the unit at the consol is showing. I have found that every time I am using the Humminbird, before I go up to the front of the boat I need to spin the unit around so that I can see my weighpoints, SI reading and even sonar. Ever heard of something like this?

Brendan, well yes I understand what you are saying but, they are going to tell you to buy another unit... Network them together and share waypoints, but that all depends on how you fish. I used my SI unit to find places, then I GPS them and move to the front unit for my 2D display and GPS mapping to stay on the location.. It would be cool for a display, but I would think they will work on sharing displays and maps on both units first.

I still like the real time graph up front myself, if I'm watching a display which is showning information from the back of the boat well I have already went 20 feet past that information. Just my way to look at it..

Good Fishing Everyone

Capt. Don

Don,

I think I lost you... let me try again:

The purpose of the remote screen is so that I can watch both the front and back units at the same time... it really helps when you are chasing a moving target... that is all I'm goning to say.

BC

Got ya now!!! Have fun!!

Don

I am going to purchase the hummingbird bcbassinusa.iseeinyourlivewell model. Not only will it show me the side images, I will be able to set it on Brendan's livewell to see what fish he has so far. Only joking gentleman. Great topic and it is so amazing how far they have come with the electronics. I believe it was 1984. I had the first digital lcd flasher on the market. OMC made it, believe it or not.

I got it Brendon,

Get you one of them little spy camera's focus it on your Humminbird and hook it to a small monitor mounted up front and there ya go!
You can watch your live graph mounted at front and watch your rear graph on the other monitor wired to the camera!

They make live video cameras that are really small and all the different video monitors that the camera would hook into. The prices have come down so much that it would be cheaper than anyone would sell a "special monitor" for.
Heck you could even go wireless. Wireless camera to the monitor.
Dang It could make us a fortune!

Have fun with that one!

Conley

You know something Conley, that's great idea... and it should really work. Glare might be an issue, but I'm going to start looking around at some of these camera systems... maybe I'll just use my "aquaview" that has been sitting in my garage since the first season the battery died on me...