Recently bought a new (to me) boat (first one). It has a hummin bird fishfinder in it. The "fish" on the display look like the little goldfish crackers. I want to put another finder on the bow, however, cannot decide if I want to go with one with the more traditional look or stick with something similar to maintain continuity. Any suggestions? Do the traditional looking arches, etc. offer any better information? Thanks!!

On mine and most that I have been around the "fish" is only displayed in auto mode. In manual mode you should get the traditional arch that you are talking about. The catch is, they only show up as arches under certain ideal circumstances. Everything has to be just right, boat speed, the direction the fish is pointed in ect. Other wise Fish may show up as clouds, dots, lines, semi arcs or arches. I use mine on manual quite a bit to look for fish or cover or pretty much when I am acturally fishing. I think you get a lot more accurate information from them once you get used to reading it, that does take a little experience to do it well and also depends on the quality of the unit.

Come to think about it I was messing with a buddies older model H.bird the other day and it was showing everything in x's when I tried to change it from auto. You would look down at the screen and see a line or a box of x's and I have no idea what it was indicating, I had to go back to auto.

Thanks for the reply.  I haven't even tried to switch it out of auto.  I'm new at using a fishfinder and I did not get a manual for it and didn't even think of that!

You may be able to download a manual off of their website, I know that you can or at least could with a Lowarance, and I thought that I remember seeing them on the humming birds also. Anouther place that you can look for some tips is on here in the Fishing Article section then Fishing Equipment tips.  I think that there are about 4 articles that might help with setting sensitivity and grayline some problem trouble shooting ect.

Which humminbird do you have?  The more basic ones cannot turn off fish ID.  

Most of the manuals are available at www.huminnbird.com

I had to get one for my 400TX

A pretty good deal is the 595c GPS and fishfinder. I got one last month and really like it. It mounted right on the quick disconnect from the 128 I already had on the boat, so I did not have to drill any new holes. Just had to change the cable clip in the quick disconnect. Took about 15 minutes and it was up and running.

Hans

I have an EAGLE 480 x 480.... Mounted on a Jon Boat ....Love it.....

**Low Budget Style**   8)

I also have a low cost one. Still works great. ;D