# Hummingbird 858 First Week



## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

I switched to Hummingbird for the new boat. I have always run lowrance or Eagle for the last 20 years. In the last year I have seen many friends fishing blind in tournament situations because their new HDS units failed, sometimes as much as 4 times in one year.

The 858 took me about one day to get used to the controls. It is so much more user friendly I thought I must be doing something wrong. The GPS is VERY fast and when coupled with my hotmaps chip its awesome. I did have trouble with no depth numbers showing on the charts but Matt Davis, Pro Walleye fisherman who uses "Birds" , quickly explained that I had to turn on the random depth soundings feature, Thanks Matt.

The fishfinder is as good or better than my old units. I can mark fish as fast as 30-32 mph. The color is bright and crisp and viewing in sunlight is no problems at all. 

I was getting terrible interferance from my Terova trolling mother with the sonar. I could still read fish but had to read through the interferance. I called hummingbird this morning to see if they knew anything I could try. To my supprise, I was talking to a live Customer Service person with less than 10 seconds on hold! If you have ever called lowrance you will understand why that impressed me. They are sending me a differant power cord, with a shield or something added to it to fix the issue.

I have talked to several on here about going to hummingbird and told them I would let them know what I thought after I tried it. So far its not perfect but I am very pleased and impressed so far.


Scott


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## MAMA'S BUOY (May 18, 2009)

Thank you for the post Papa.... I was thinking about getting the 898c instead of the 858, but we'll see. I know side-scan is an awesome feature to have, but I guess its not really necessary on Lake Erie. Thanks for pointing out that the view is bright and crisp even in direct sunlight, I was thinking the HDSs would be the way to go as they are high-definition, but it sounds like the H-birds are right up there with them. Where did you purchase your unit, and was the external GPS puck included in the price? Was installation difficult? Thanks!


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## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

I got mine from vics sports center in kent. External antenna was included. Install was straight forward nothing difficult on my boat.


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## wallydog (Jun 10, 2005)

Don't know if you guy's seen the rebate for a Ram mount and weather sence module for the Birds.

http://store.humminbird.com/media/document/2010HB_RAMRedCoupon.pdf


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## Snackmans Dad (May 2, 2007)

Does anyone have experience with the units with internal antena? I know the external puck in good for hardtops but is it needed for an open cockpit with the occasional canopy top. My application would have the unit out from under the top but under the windsheild. and last does vic have these on display there?


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## MAMA'S BUOY (May 18, 2009)

wallydog said:


> Don't know if you guy's seen the rebate for a Ram mount and weather sence module for the Birds.
> 
> http://store.humminbird.com/media/document/2010HB_RAMRedCoupon.pdf


Thanks wallydog... I actually did see that rebate.


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## MAMA'S BUOY (May 18, 2009)

Hey Papascott, Do you have the basic Dual Beam or did you upgrade to the Quadrabeam Transducer on that unit? Looks like the quadrabeam is the way to go, it will pick up fish along the bottom at a distance of twice the depth you are fishing (i.e., 60 ft in depth = 120 ft wide of coverage along the bottom). I ordered mine the other day, can't wait!


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## DelawareAngler (Mar 19, 2009)

Glad to hear their higher end models are good cuz their lower end is garb lol especially the pirhanamax series.


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## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

DelawareAngler said:


> Glad to hear their higher end models are good cuz their lower end is garb lol especially the pirhanamax series.


What did you expect from a $89 fishfinder? lol


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## COmmodore 64 (Jun 24, 2006)

Papascott, I'm trying to tweak my 788CI. Do you use dual beam operation on Lake Erie or just set it to either 83 or 200Khz?

I've been playing with sensitivity and Chart Speed, but can't seem to mark much in the way of fish. Never seen an arch or hook yet.


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

COmmodore 64 said:


> Papascott, I'm trying to tweak my 788CI. Do you use dual beam operation on Lake Erie or just set it to either 83 or 200Khz?
> 
> I've been playing with sensitivity and Chart Speed, but can't seem to mark much in the way of fish. Never seen an arch or hook yet.


You need to get on fish to mark fish dude


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## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

Since I installed the shielded power cable I am running my unit sensitivity at 20 (highest) and at 200Khz usually sometimes I will put it on dual mode its cool but not really needed.

The chart plotter is AWESOME!! The fishfinder is IMHO not as good as the lowrance at showing arches BUT it always turns on and shows fish just fine, just not the same looking screen as a lowrance. I can tell you I am pretty sure I will be running another Bird next year, even if its only for the gps/chartplotter.


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