Humminbird 360 Review

[scrutch]

I have an 1198 and the 360 imaging transducer.

I've had this thing about a month now and have used it on the water three times. Lets start with the positives...

I love the idea of looking forward of the boat and scanning structure and cover all around the boat.

The installation was a breeze.

Humminbird support has been very helpful so far. ....segway...

It's a good thing because I've needed them. Now for a few negatives,

The interference issue continues to rear its ugly head. I have a Terrova non-US2 TM. It interferes terribly with my 360. When the TM turns on, it's a white out on the 360 screen. The DI and SI screens are fine now thanks to the ferrite rings I've installed that HB send me. I've been chasing my tail for a LONG time on this issue.

I keep getting error messages that the 360 unit doesn't deploy or retract fully when doing that from the head unit. This is the next issue to discuss with HB.

The software doesn't seem to be quite there yet. It seems buggy. I'm using software version 6.64. The screen switches to the nav screen almost randomly.

And I get another error message that says something like 360 lost contact with source.

The heading sensor doesn't seem to work correctly. The boat icon points in odd directions when underway. It should be pointing in the direction I'm traveling.

The imaging doesn't seem to be as sharp as the SI and DI images. Some of this might be a learning curve on my part, but I'm going on four years with this technology and I think I know my way around it pretty well.

Overall, I think that Humminbird is on to something here with this technology. I just think they need some time to develop the technology so that it produces the images that they use for their advertising.

More to come as I work out the bugs....

[tomustang]

Thanks for the write up. Do you know if the terrova is the only TM that causes interfere or does it do it with others too?

[Wayne P.]

Thanks for the write up. Do you know if the terrova is the only TM that causes interfere or does it do it with others too?

 ANY electric motor/electronic circuit can affect a sonar unit if that RFI is on the same frequency/s that the sonar unit uses. It can be single motor of any brand or model of trolling motor.

[scrutch]

Thanks for the write up. Do you know if the terrova is the only TM that causes interfere or does it do it with others too?

Yes Tom, as Wayne said, any TM can cause it. It seems that the Terrova is particularly bad for this. Thankfully Humminbird has several ways to mitigate this noise. I've heard that Minn Kota's have more interference due to the composite shaft that is non-conductive. Many people have resolved the noise problem with a ground wire ran from the head unit of the TM to the negative terminal of the TM batteries. However it did not resolve my issues.

If I didn't have the 360 I wouldn't still be chasing the interference issues. I need to find a way to install the ferrite rings on the 360 cables (I'm talking about where and which cable) to eliminate the noise. The standard SI/DI transducer has the rings installed and has no issues. The problem is that the 360 uses an Ethernet cable to send the transducer info to the head unit for processing and I cannot get very many wraps around the ferrite ring.

Work on this issue is ongoing and I will post more info when I get it.

[Wayne P.]

The issue is not the sonar unit, it is the motor--fix that.

One of the grounding measures is a ground wire from the trolling motor skeg to the negative of the sonar unit power cord.

There are dozens of possible resolutions to the RFI issue. It may take rebuilding the motor itself  or replacing the motor to eliminate it.

A friend of mine using a Lowrance HDS at the bow had to get his MotorGuide Tour rebuilt to reduce the RFI and he still had to add a ground wire to eliminate it.

 One size does not fit all.

[scrutch]

The issue is not the sonar unit, it is the motor--fix that.

One of the grounding measures is a ground wire from the trolling motor skeg to the negative of the sonar unit power cord.

There are dozens of possible resolutions to the RFI issue. It may take rebuilding the motor itself  or replacing the motor to eliminate it.

A friend of mine using a Lowrance HDS at the bow had to get his MotorGuide Tour rebuilt to reduce the RFI and he still had to add a ground wire to eliminate it.

 One size does not fit all.

I agree Wayne. I have installed the motor case ground wire. By itself it did not resolve the issue. I'm going to try to re-install the negative (TM battery) to negative (starting battery) jumper to see if that makes any difference with the motor case ground wire installed now. I have the ferrite bead now but have not installed it yet. The instructions did not come with it so now I am looking for some.

I fear that my motor might in fact need to be rebuilt. It runs great, however, when I was tinkering with it yesterday I took the prop off to check for fishing line and ran it a little with the prop off (in my garage). I noticed two things...

First, there was an intermittent squeaking noise coming from the motor. I have never noticed that before. It didn't sound right. I'll need to call MK about that one.

Second, the TM shaft got very hot during the few seconds that I ran it in the garage. Too hot to touch. In the water this would be cooled quickly so I'm unsure about this. I suspect it is not normal.

Another thing, I ran it in shallow water a few weeks back and ran the prop into a submerged laydown that stopped the prop for a few seconds, maybe ten seconds or so. The result, I think, was the red wire next to the spade connector under the head unit cover was melted and a new spade needed to be installed.

I'm getting closer to the solution. I can't wait till I get it.

[scrutch]

Out on Table Rock today shaking out my electronics. Installed the ferrite bead in the TM. Discovered that I have a serious vibration in the TM. I still have the interference problem. It's pretty clear now that the TM needs servicing.

I swear this lake is where Humminbird made their recordings for the simulator mode on my 1198. I got some great screenshots of underwater cover and structure. They look just like the simulator mode. I hope to get some time to post some of them for everyone to see.

Man I wish I lived here. This lake is cool.