Humminbird 997c si

[adrianevo]

Hi anyone got a humminbird side imaging sonar?
Do they work?I'm buying one from the U.S.do the gold charts work?
Please let me know as i think it could be a great aid to findiing wrecks
and surrounding debris in poor vis!
Cheers Adrian

[jyasaki]

My dive buddy got one for their 20'ish Apex. They were looking forward to being able to ID new dive sites, and see exactly what wrecks looked like and such.

Their current evaluation is that it doesn't work. Last weekend, they tried getting a shot of a 40' sailboat hull that sits in about 25' of water. Carol said she saw a blob, and that was it.

Here's what she posted on the exercise:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
While waiting for Jeff and his buddies we cruised around running my Humminbird sidescan over the barge and the sail boat to see what they looked like on it. The barge was pretty much unseeable.
The sailboat showed up well, but didn't look very boatlike. All in all, I wouldn't buy the Humminbird again. That feature is pretty useless, but not cheap. :-)
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Note: The Barge was a 60 to 80' sailing vessel that had been dismasted and used to tow cargo around the Monterey area. It apparently burned and sank (and not necessarily accidentally.) It's now just a series of ribs and some planking sitting in 65 feet, with a relief of maybe 3 feet at the high points.

The sailboat, as I said, sits in 25 feet, partially buried, and has a relief of at least ten feet. It *may* be made of cement, though I suspect it's glas. I haven't been diving on that particular site for many years, so the current data may be a little suspect. FWIW, my Lowrance apparently picked up about the same echoes off the sailboat as her Humminbird thingie.


jky

[Diver]

Try to search for humminbird on this forum. I have posted a few times on this subject with snapshots of wrecks I have found as deep as 150´. I find the 997 a really good tool for the money and have just ordered the bigbrother 1197, in the USA, the dollar is so weak now!

It takes some time to get really good pictures, but for the initial wreck search it is GREAT!

Regards
Henrik

[captnjack]

The sidescan features work very well on metal, less so on wood and GRP. But 80% of this functionality is up to the operator. It can be challenging to interpret. You won't be mowing the ocean and finding very many new wrecks with it. But to help you find things when you are already in the area it can be helpful. I have the smaller screened 797 unit.

[paul holder]

there was a diver in the baultic posted images on this forum some time back.they were from a 977, & in 150ft water & were very good ,.he was going to move to the 1197 .they are being released in uk june time.

[Diver]

I Think that diver was me:-)

I have never searched for GRP hull, but that is useless anyway... Wooden structure and wooden ships will show up perfectly!

Attached picture of 18th century WOODEN wreck..:-)

But of course you will not find many new wrecks without postions to start from.

Regards
Henrik

[Diver]

oh.. and this wrecks is 25m long...

[adrianevo]

Thanks guys looks like i'll have to suck it and see for myself!
will post results,keep scan picks coming!

[Simon B]

You are starting to make me jealous Diver, I wonder if Humminbird could smooth the image; the line down the centre or the side should be flat this could be off set off.

[Diver]

Hi Simon,

I dont really know what you mean?? off set off?

The sonar files have so much more information than the snapshot shows. There is a file converter called Yellow fin, which makes the pictures even better... I just don´t know how to get it to work, need a DANISH manual!

Season just started over here.. I have had 12 dives in March allready, all ready and we have a handfull of new positions in the Baltic to check out.

Regards
Henrik