Hummingbird 597ci....

[mnfathead]

Anyone have this unit? if so likes/dislikes? is it worth upgrading to the hd unit? Thanks

[Jarrod32]

I just got this unit today; I get my new boat tomorrow. I hope to be able to give you a review by this weekend...

[Dusty]

I have a 597 and used it all last year. I find it easy to use and reliable. The small screen is the biggest draw back otherwise it does everything I need, I have a navionics card in mine. I use a HB 565 on the bow and they use the same mount system and transducer so I can interchange them if I want. I don't know anything about the newer version in hd.

[Brad B]

I have the 597ci HD DI on my boat and so far I really like it(only was out with it once so far). the down imaging part of the unit is a nice feature. I should of went with the side imaging( the 798 ci HD SI) since it gives you everything in one unit but I didn't want to spend the extra money at the time. I may upgrade to a 798ci HD SI next season and move the 597 to the bow and add a DI transducer to the trolling motor. if that doesn't work out I my just get the a 597 with out the down imaging for the bow.

[Jarrod32]

Been out and used this a couple times. Still getting familiar with the menus and features, but this is a good unit. I have the 597 ci di combo, along with the Lakemaster map chip. To get the most from a combo unit like this you really need one of the map chips; either the Lakemaster or the Navionics. I compared the speed (GPS) showing on the 597 with that showing on my I-Pilot controller, and they matched almost perfectly. You have several options for display, splitting the screen between GPS and depthfinder. You can select a standard depthfinder display or the down-imaging display. You can also select a screen split that shows a standard depthfinder display on the top half of your screen and the down-imaging display on the bottom half to get an idea how they compare. I prefer showing my GPS lake map view on 2/3 of the screen, with the depthfinder view on the remaining 1/3.

Your position is shown as a boat-shaped icon, pointed in the direction you are moving. You get a row of info on the bottom of the screen, showing water temp, speed (GPS based), GPS bearing/direction, and your GPS coordinates. The depth is shown digitally in the upper left hand corner. It is my understanding that this can all be adjusted, but I haven't done that yet so I am not sure just what I can come up with there, but I would like to replace the GPS coordinates in the lower right with the depth reading, and then eliminate the depth reading in the upper left corner.

My unit was having some trouble reading my bearing today. It would show my bearing (and the ‘boat’ icon would be pointed in the right direction), but then it would stop reading my bearing and show the ‘boat’ icon pointing north with my bearing reading 000. It would jump between the correct bearing and the “due north” setting. This problem was worse at low speed, but was better at higher speeds. I don’t think it ever lost the GPS lock, because it continued to plot my track in the right direction even though my bearing was reading due north, and continued to give me an accurate (I believe) speed reading.

Otherwise, this is a good mid-level unit providing down imaging and top-of-the-line GPS and map capabilities.

[bigstick56]

I have had this same issue with with my new 788ci HD, is this just because of the low speed and its haveing troubles figureing out what direction im going or is it something else? All in all a great unit but would like to see it work in all conditions and speeds. Any thoughts anyone?

[Nick Kuhn]

My 798 does a great job showing direction unless you are just taking off. I have my puck mounted high on the console, and I can usually get direction to within 15 degrees of the correct heading even going 0.5mph with the trolling motor.

And Jarrod is correct, you can change all the display boxes on a given view. I haven't taken the time to do so yet. I've heard some people say the maps update slow, but they all seem to be using Lakemaster. My Navionics map updates very quickly.

[Jarrod32]

I got the carrying case (PTC-U) and ice transducer (XI-9-20) for my 597 for ice fishing use. I wanted to be able to use my GPS/Lakemaster chip for ice fishing. The flasher view for ice fishing works very well; when in ice fishing mode the first page of the menu is well set up and easy to use. The ice fishing mode flasher view provides good info on your settings, and I like the multiple color selections you can choose from (both in the color pallets and in background color). The zoom feature is a bit tricky to use, and is set up so that it is not always as effective as you might like, but is another feature that puts this unit on par with any of the top flashers on the market when set up for ice fishing.

[amateurfishing]

luv my 597 ci hd...but i also upgraded from an 84 hb 4 x 6 lcr so this is night and day a major upgrade for me, have had for 5 months and love using for on ice and open water, love the gps feature with navionics chip, hoping i learn more each time out this year and change some of my fishing luck at same time

[Huey]

Is the speed reading on your units jumpy?

I fished with a buddy yesterday on Mille Lacs. He has a new 587. We were trolling at about 3 mph. The speed displayed on the screen would change constantly and read any where from 1.0 - 4.2 mph. It was hard to even tell what speed we were going. We used his old hand held gps as a speedometer.

[RRiesberg]

I know this thread is a couple of years old, but it pertains to my situation. I just purchased the 597 ci hd and a xi 9 20 ice transducer. I updated the software, turned on digital depth to 2d, and turned off the simulation mode. The flasher shows the proper depth, but there are tons of flashes on the screen, none of which move when I move my jig. Same thing for the open water graph mode. I played witht the sensitivity setting, which helped a little, but it was still unreadable. I turned off the other units in the fish house as well to eliminate interference. No luck. Can anyone tell me what I should have for settings to make this work?

[00Buckshot]

Riesberg,

I have the 688ci with the iceducer and have the same problem in flasher mode. IF I turn down the sensitivity, I can't see my jig. Can't figure it out. I quit using the flasher mode and use the graph instead.