HUMMINBIRD 785C2I PLOTTER/Navionics Gold maps

[Hermit Scott]

HUMMINGBIRD 785C2I PLOTTER/Navionics Gold maps

I was looking up plotters and they seem to be giving these away, less than $250 with shipping.
The maps are navionics gold preloaded. Are these maps any good. It has something else about hot maps, I think that has to do with fishing. Does anyone else use the navionics gold maps in their plotter. Are these updated frequently, is that a major concern?
Are internal antena better/ worse at reception than external?

I bought a magellan crossover and use it in the car, hiking and in the boat on my one trip I took in it to haul it. The navionics gold maps for that are $179, but they don't adjust for tides in the magellan crossover. All in all it's a pretty crappy unit. I don't recommend it.
I tried looking up reviews on the hummingbird plotter and archives but only found one review online.
I guess my main concern is the charts that come with it.

 

[sailingdog]

The antenna doesn't really matter on a fiberglass boat, as most will work just fine through the cabin top. I wouldn't get the Hummingbird, but that is because I don't like the user interface. If you haven't tried using the user interface on the unit, you should probably do that before buying it. That can make a big difference in how easy the unit is to live with.

I've been using an older Garmin 192C for the past three years, and it's pretty bulletproof. The newer Garmin 44x and 54x series plotters come with all the US coastal charts pre-loaded, and are probably a better choice.

 

[Hermit Scott]

I went to Bass Pro shop and looked at some plotters today. The hummingbird displays the same as a Lowerance but Saildog, you were right about the interface.
What I didn't like about the humminbird models is they are set up with a windows type os but there is no 'enter' button. In a way it's easier, when you scroll through the menu and change anything, it's changed. You don't have to hit enter. I didn't stay long the guy at the counter was clueless and my wife waited in the car suffering from alergies.
I asked him if the charts adjusted for tide on a $2500 Lowerance, and he said "nope, they are set in stone"That's when I quit asking questions.
I bought the humminbird last night. I think I can live with the interface. The only thing I didn't like about it is the screen is plastic and it would be better as glass.
Thanks for throwing in your 2 cents.

 

[RECESS]

Scott,

Are you saying that you purchased the Humminbird 785c21 unit for $250? Not just the chart program. That would be a steal. If so could you post where?

 

[Hermit Scott]

Amazon- the store is gizmos for life. Just search for the product though, to get the best price. The price was $237. $13 shipping. The feedback was good for the seller if the products were in stock, which I believe these are since humminbird lists them as out of stock. Be sure to get the 785c2I, it has the navionics gold preloaded, the 785c just has their basic uni-map. Not real sure of the difference but the midrange plotters seem to use the navionics gold(Lowerance price from $600 to $1500)
I am not sure if the one I got came with a transducer, there is another store listing for $250 that definitely comes with a transducer. If I had to do it over I would go ahead and pay the $13 to be sure.

 

[RECESS]

I just ordered it from gizmos for life. They said they had 12 new in stock and I checked about the transducer.

Humminbird 785c2i chartplotter with GPS, transducer, 20-foot transducer cable, mounting hardware, user's manual and warranty information.

Looks like we both got one hell of a deal.

Many thanks!

 

[Hermit Scott]

So it comes with the ducer? Were you able to talk to a live person on Sunday night? Or did they update the listing?

 

[RECESS]

They must have updated the listing. I just ordered it using my Amazon account. Here is the page i purchased from that has the details about the product on the bottom inculding what comes in the package. It was a few more dollars than what you paid. My total came out to $267 which is still a steal!

http://www.amazon.com/Humminbird-Ch...e=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1234744744&sr=8-1

 

[Hermit Scott]

That is the package I should have got. Hopefully they haven't shipped my order by the time I call them monday morning. I checked the humminbird site though and the c2I is one plotter package with navionics gold maps and the c2 is another that only has unimap. I don't know what I'll get.

 

[rpwillia]

785C21 Internal or External GPS

In addition to the type of GPS antenna, it also has the sonar function built in? I have been considering these, and I had a cheapo 100SX Fish Finder on my old boat that was bullet proof. Humminbird even repaired the original unit when it was 3 months out of warranty for free.

 

[sailingdog]

Glad to help HS.

 

[RECESS]

In addition to the type of GPS antenna, it also has the sonar function built in?

The sonar function is built into the 785c2i from what I read on the humminbird site. Here is a screen shot of the various views that are available.

 

[Hermit Scott]

I cancelled the one with out the transducer and I was able to order the one with the transducer and gold maps just now.
I wonder if the transducer is through hull or transom mount. More than likely it's transom mount. I'd like to some how have a transducer in the through hull where my current depth meter is now.
I got the last one in stock from gizmos. Other stores have it in stock but for a few more bucks.

 

[RECESS]

It comes with a transom mount. I searched for through hull dual beam transducers for this model and they run about $60. The 785c2 is also capable of having a quad beam transducer and a wide shot transducer. I have been doing a little more reading. I found a PDF owners manual for the 700 series. It says it is a 787c2 manual but when you download it, it is a full color 700 series manual. You do not need to give a e-mail address, I just put in the number match and hit download and it downloaded in about a minute.

http://www.retrevo.com/d/ds/progress?doc=4ecf1b23baad60610ea219f202191c70

 

[Hermit Scott]

So do the transducers need to be mounted in front of the keel so you can look ahead?
What is the best type of transducer for observing the ocean floor? I am not real concerned with fishing, I bought this more for navigating. I didn't even know it had sonar, but it's nice that it does.

 

[RECESS]

in 20 feet of water the 60 degree beam is going to show a 20 foot area of the bottom. If your main item of interest is the low depth alarm, front mounting with a through hull transducer under the V berth would probably be best. I am really happy about all the high end features this unit has. The amount of alarms itself is very impressive. That drift alarm to let you know if your boat is moving while under anchor is nice too.

Alarms Menu Tab 87​

Depth Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Fish ID Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Low Battery Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Temp Alarm.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Off Course Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Arrival Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Drift Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Alarm Tone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91​

 

[Hermit Scott]

I do like the anchor alarm feature.
I was looking at humminbird.com and I searched transducers. There are many to choose from, some plastic and some bronze. They have 3 in 1, dual beam, ect.
I see their description of what each one does. Do you know what type the 785 has, side beam, quad beam, single or double?

 

[Hermit Scott]

Recess-I'm not sure exactly what the 785 does. The 787 definitely has sonar capability. I'm not sure if the 785 is a fishfinder or sonar or what. Were you able to confirm what each model does by the manual? From what I read, the manual said some model do this and some models do that, but it didn't say what models did what.

 

[RECESS]

I looked on their site also, you just have to make sure it is compatible with the unit model. The puck transducer I found that is compatible is the XP 9 20 T. You want to make sure it is a dual beam transucer that beam angles are 20 and 60 and is a 200/83 khz range. The other thing is if it has the temperature feature. The XP 9 20 T has all of those. On the Humminbird site it lists for $67 but I found it on the page I included for $45 before shipping.

http://www.antonline.com/p_XP-9-20-T-GP_288961.htm

 

[Hermit Scott]

I just got off the phone with customer support at humminbirb(it's nice to talk to americans when you are calling customer support) She said the 785 should not come with a transducer becasue it does not have sonar or fishfinding capabilities. On the site it is not listed under the 700 series, but it's listed under chartplotters. Under the specs it doesn't list anything to do with fishfinding, sonar, transducers, water temperature.
I don't know why it's listed on amazon as having 20' of cable and a transducer.

Sometimes when I am typing, the message just gets sent in the middle of my sentence. It happened twice while typing this sentence.