HB 798 and ice fishing?

[gixxer01]

Anyone know why HB's 9/20 ice ducer doesn't list compatability with any of the 98 series sonars? Too much wattage? The 798 has an ice fishing mode. What's the worst that could happen, fry a transducer?

[MN Mike]

I've got one and it works fine, I just think they haven't updated the list for some reason. When I was looking for a iceducer for my 798, I emailed bird directly and they told me that's what will work.

Mike

[gixxer01]

HA HA! I have my Pre-ice project!

[gixxer01]

So I went and picked up the ice kit and 9/20 ice ducer at the ice show and got the 798 all rigged up. I noticed that I no longer have any zoom functions in any of the sonar views. The zoom still works in the chart view, so I know the buttons work. I have the universal sonar selected in the sonar menu. I have tried all transducer options, actually, and none of them allow me to zoom.

Anyone that uses this exact setup for ice fishing have this problem?

[2thepointsetters]

I have only 2x in flasher in flasher mode on mine. I figured that's all you get.

[gixxer01]

That's more than I get. Zoom buttons do nothing for me.

No 2x zoom in graph mode? I'm about to update the software, so we'll see if that does anything. To be clear, are you using the 9/20 ice ducer when it allows you to zoom?

[2thepointsetters]

Sorry just looked at mine and it is the 97 not the 98. But I am using the 9/20 transducer.

[gixxer01]

Figured it out! Restored factory defaults. Apparently "Bottom Lock" must be OFF in order to use zoom. Working great now!

[ammoman16]

I've got a couple of the 798's and have been thinking about doing this myself but would like to hear more reviews before i do it. What I'm most interested in is how these do outside the house when it's below 0.

[FZ]

Figured it out! Restored factory defaults. Apparently "Bottom Lock" must be OFF in order to use zoom. Working great now!

Which model is your 798, 798ci, 798ci DI, or 798ci with side image? Thanks

[2thepointsetters]

Figured it out! Restored factory defaults. Apparently "Bottom Lock" must be OFF in order to use zoom. Working great now!

Do you have more than 2x zoom now?

[EW6]

For those of you guys who have used the 798 on ice, does the unit have trouble with interference from other units? Can I successfully run my fl-8 next to it with no trouble?

[eagle_3464]

I run my 798 and fl-8 side by side in a two man flip-over without any problems. I did experience interference once along side a really old fl-8 before they had IR. The 798 makes an excellent ice machine with the gps and lake map capability.

[gixxer01]

I'm running the 798ci HD SI. I now have 2x zoom in flasher mode and up to 8x zoom in graph mode. Apparently, if you turn "Bottom Lock" on, the "Bottom Lock" option dissapears in the sonar menu and zoom functions do not work. Restoring defaults brought the option back into the menu.

[cichlid_baby]

I have a Humminbird 788ci sonar and have done the same conversion for ice fishing too..

One thing to keep in mind is that these units do not have a Narrow beam transducer and do not have any interference rejection built in like they would in the Humminbird ICE flasher units.

[gixxer01]

What is the Noise Rejection for then? Why is it called a 9/20 ice ducer then? The 9/19 ice ducer for the ICE products is a 9degree(narrow) and 19degree(wide). Why would it be any different? I understand the frequency diffences (83/200 vs. whatever the ICE series is). Are you saying that even with the 9/20 ducer it's still 20 and 60degree cones?

[cichlid_baby]

so far.. all my info says.. yes... that's what it is.

Specs:

The Humminbird Ice Transducer is engineered for extreme weather performance. The transducer includes an eight-foot cable. Also included is the ice fishing float.

Humminbird Ice Transducer Xi 9 20 710211-1:

Single/dual beam

20- and 60- degree angles

Operating at 200/83 kHz frequencies

Includes 8' cable and ice fishing float

[magicstix]

Keep us updated thru the season on how this works out. I've got a 798 also and I get interference from my my Vexilar. I also wonder about the screen freezing or slowing up.

I asked HB about leaving on the boat during the winter in cold storage and they said they wouldn't even though it has an icefishing mode. Not sure exactly why not.

[PFUNK]

The 9/20 ice transducer that Humminbird sells is a 20/60 degree cone angle transducer. However, I looked into this a lot before purchasing a Hbird 385ci and found out there is not an industry standard when measuring cone angle. If you look at a product that is supplied with the 9/20 ice transducer on HBird's HSOforum (ICE 385ci as an example), you will see that the specs show 200 kHz 20* cone angle @ -10db. Different companies measure the cone angle differently. I believe Vexilar for example measures at -3db (don't quote me). My point is that depending on which company you are dealing with, cone angle is not universal. -3db is also known as the "half power point" and is the measure of distance from the center of the transducer "beam" (aka axis) to the point where the power is diminished by 50%. In contrast, the -10db point is the point at which the power is only 1/10th of what it is at the center of the cone. This information is from Lowrance's HSOforum. Some interesting stuff. They state that a transducer with a cone angle of 8 degress measured at -3db would have a cone angle of 16 degrees if measured at -10db. What I took away from all of this is that a 20 degree cone angle measured at -10db by Humminbird would actually be measured as a much smaller cone angle if another company had measured it at -3db. I sketched up a drawing in paint that might help show it a little better.

As you can see, if you were to measure the angle formed between the two blue lines, it would be a smaller angle than if you had measured between the two green lines. Exact same transducer with the exact same performance, but a difference in how the "cone angle" is measured.

[TruthWalleyes]

I might try my quadra beam on ice this year with my 898. I usually just bring it for GPS and Waypoint purposes, but i bet the quadra would be nice when searching.

[BigGills]

For those of you guys who have used the 798 on ice, does the unit have trouble with interference from other units? Can I successfully run my fl-8 next to it with no trouble?

Zero interference issues. Last weekend I put a fl20 and a lx-3 down the same hole and no issues what so ever for the 898!

[MN Mike]

I've never had luck getting my 798 completely ' clean ' of interference when fishing next to a Vex or Marcum. I like my 798, it's just not my first choice when it comes to ice fishing even though I have the complete ice setup.

Mike

[BigGills]

Hmm, I don't know why that is. I had zero issues. Did u try a different beam selection? That can make a difference.

[FZ]

Anybody knows where can I get the bird's ice conversion kit for 798? Does the kit include a mount? I only has head unit home.

[gixxer01]

Used the 798 for the first time on the ice last night. Overall, really impressed. Lots of settings to dial in for different types of fishing. Battery life was good. Used 50% of a 9amp/hr battery in 12 hrs. Fishing outdoors requires more backlight, so I would imagine fishing outdoors would eat up the battery faster. Did a great job of showing bottom hugging fish. I spent a good amt. of time playing with SwitchFire Max and Clear modes. I really like being able to adjust the sensitivity of the cone angles individually. A few more tests are in order before I sell the Ice 45, though.