hummingbird 788ci

[dairyman]

any body have one-----likes or dislikes. Is it compatable for ice fishing

[reddog]

788 is a great piece, and yes, it excels at ice fishing.

Even though it has a flasher, put it on 2d sonar. lock the bottom and set the RTS window to wide.

Youll be amazed.

[ND4LIFE]

Just picked one up today at the outdoor show in Fargo. Reeds had them for $450. I already have an ICE-55 flasher so I won't probably bother using it for ice fishing. Now I'm getting pumped for open water season!

[reddog]

Thats a great price for a combo unit!

Take the 788 out and play around with it on the ice. I think youll be surprised, if you give it a chance.

Of course, if you want the gps capabilities youll have to tote the module with you.

[NTW]

Probably a stupid question...how is it used on the ice? Same transducer?

[reddog]

NTW, No, thats a good question. Actually, what I did was to take a 385 out of the Humminbird Ice box and mounted the 788 in its place to make it portable.

The only reason I did this, was because I was impressed with the 385s 2d sonar capabilitites , but it is only a 3 1/2" screen. I thought as long as I had the 788 , I would try it with its 5" screen.

I wish I had known how well the 788 worked on the ice before I bought the 385.

I shouldve just bought a portable ice kit for the 788 and a ice ducer.

Probably wouldnt have saved much money parting it out like that, though

[dairyman]

so how much the ice-ducer set up cost??

[reddog]

so how much the ice-ducer set up cost??

If you already have the unit.

The batttery and charger will cost you 39.95 (GCBK from the Humminbird site.

The carrying case cc ice is 39.99

And the Ice ducer 83/200 is $81.99

[NTW]

Thanks for the info Reddog!

[dairyman]

how does the screen hold up in cold weather????????

[reddog]

You wont have a problem with it.

[TooTallTom]

+1 for the 788CI on the ice. I run that and I love it.

You don't have any GPS puck with the internal GPS model, so I'd make sure that that's what you buy.

Also, I just bought the 8-amp battery and charger combo from Cabela's on sale for $20 earlier this winter and it runs the unit for at least 8-10 hours.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Thought I got a great deal at $500

[dairyman]

what does the screen look like in the ice fishing mode???

[kerryd15]

I tried my 798 this winter. It worked good fishing alone. You will get interference with other finders. it helped to switch to 83hz but that is not as sensitive as the 200. I really liked using the wider cone in shallow water. I turned the mounting bracket around and zip tied the cord to the bracket and the SI ducer hung straight under the ice. A friend of mine has a ice machine, biggest difference was his screen moved faster. his son understood his screen much faster than my vex. I do like my vex for outdoors fishing and the humminbird for in the portable.

i will say that I got the 798 this winter and has not been installed in boat yet. I just wanted to learn more about how to use it and had a hard time seeing it sit in the box in the basement.