I was just checking to see if there were any S/W updates for my unit. Looks like they made some significant changes in the 2D sonar display. I will be upgrading mine over the weekend. Just thought some of you HB owners might want to know.
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A post just prior to release=>
Nothing has officially been released yet so I cannot say for certain. However Mark Gibson our Senior Product Manager posted the following on another web site:
"I will be giving seminars @ 1:00 and 5:00 this Saturday at the Gonzales, LA Cabelas. One of the topics at this seminar will be a major enhancement that we will be releasing within the next couple of weeks. This enhancement is in downlooking sonar. We have been working on a major upgrade to our downlooking sonar for over a year. The amount of detail that you will be able to get on the downlooking sonar is incredible.
Just to explain the process a little:
As I have mentioned before we are constantly looking for areas where we can improve our product to assure that it is the very best product on the market. The goal of our efforts was to create a downlooking sonar that was superior to anything on the market today. We gathered feedback from consumers who were critical of our downlooking sonar and talked to them to make sure we understood what they felt were the shortcomings of our downlooking sonar.
Marketing and Engineering then worked together to develop a downlooking sonar that would address the shortcomings that were brought up by the critics. We also wanted to make sure that we didn?t loose the features that we now have in our downlooking sonar that people love.
When we had what we thought we were looking for we went back out to these critics and gave them pre-released software with the changes incorporated and asked their opinion on the new software. So far the feedback from this group that has tested the software is that they are blown away with the incredible detail of the software and the great lure tracking performance. We also have given the pre-released software to some of our regular pros and field testers and their comments have been along the same as those of the critics.
One of the primary advances in the software is the enhanced jig tracking capability. Other advantages are enhanced detail of both structure and fish. There is one main NEW setting in the unit. This new setting is a setting for TVG. Currently our units use TVG. TVG for those that might not know is Time Variable Gain. The great value of Time Variable Gain is that it adjusts sonar returns to compensate for differences in depth. For example if you were fishing with another brand of fishfinder (no names mentioned) they don?t use TVG so if there were a 10 pound bass in 10 foot of water and the same exact 10 pound bass in 50 foot of water the return from the 10 pound bass in 10 foot of water would be much larger and stronger than the 10 pound bass in 50 foot of water because of the differences in depth. With our current software the TVG will make adjustments to the returns to compensate for the different depths and both returns will have the same strength and size. The downside of TVG is that to accomplish the compensation there is some reduction in overall signal strength capability.
The new software will provide more flexibility to the user than other products on the market. If the user wants to get a cleaner screen presentation and utilize the advantages of TVG then they would operate with the TVG ON setting, which is comparable to how our product currently works. This setting is also best for very shallow water conditions, which explains why our product outperforms the competition in very shallow water. If the user wants to track jigs, spoons or drop shot or get the absolute greatest amount of detail of fish and structure they would use the TVG OFF setting. By utilizing this approach we have provided more flexibility in our units than the competition has. I am going to create an album called TVG OFF to show some of the detail you can expect with the TVG OFF setting. One of the downsides of not using TVG is increased surface clutter. If you have used competitive products you are aware of this. We have also included an much improved Surface Clutter adjustment in the new software as well.
I have created an Album titled TVG OFF and included some shots of the new software in action.
Sorry for the long answer to a short question. If anyone has questions please go ahead and ask away.
Mark Gibson, Humminbird Senior Brand Manager"
This was on February 12th, so a "couple of weeks" would be up on the 26th.
I'm sure that someone will post something on this site when the software is released to the Humminbird web site.
_________________
Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com
See the images here;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sideimaging/photos/album/1330512799/pic/list
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Release note for my 797: +>
Free Download:
797c2 SI Combo Update (version 4.510 - 0 bytes)
Description:
2/23/2009 12:00:00 AM - v4.510 Supports the XM NavWeather accessory. Adds new 2D sonar processing techniques, including the ablity to turn off TVG. Adds SI Image Enhancement features. Supports operation of the CannonLink accessory across an InterLink accessory. Modifies the Depth Offset menu item to shift the sonar image, not just the digital depth. Expands Water Type selections to include deep and shallow salt water. Adds Waypoint Decluttering control. Adds Demonstration mode menu item to disable point-of-sale mode when using a transducer with no thermistor. Reduces interbeam interference. Fixes the color of shoreline construction on Navionics charts. Resolves MMC (not SD) access problems.
Prerequisites:
You will need a working MMC/SD reader/writer device attached to your PC and a formatted MMC/SD card.
Instructions:
Download to your computer and use the HumminbirdPC program to upload to your unit. You may also copy the uploaded software to an MMC/SD card and then insert that card into your unit to update its code. CAUTION! We highly recommend that you restore the defaults on your Humminbird unit prior to downloading any new software as it can create complications that can only be fixed at the factory.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A post just prior to release=>
Nothing has officially been released yet so I cannot say for certain. However Mark Gibson our Senior Product Manager posted the following on another web site:
"I will be giving seminars @ 1:00 and 5:00 this Saturday at the Gonzales, LA Cabelas. One of the topics at this seminar will be a major enhancement that we will be releasing within the next couple of weeks. This enhancement is in downlooking sonar. We have been working on a major upgrade to our downlooking sonar for over a year. The amount of detail that you will be able to get on the downlooking sonar is incredible.
Just to explain the process a little:
As I have mentioned before we are constantly looking for areas where we can improve our product to assure that it is the very best product on the market. The goal of our efforts was to create a downlooking sonar that was superior to anything on the market today. We gathered feedback from consumers who were critical of our downlooking sonar and talked to them to make sure we understood what they felt were the shortcomings of our downlooking sonar.
Marketing and Engineering then worked together to develop a downlooking sonar that would address the shortcomings that were brought up by the critics. We also wanted to make sure that we didn?t loose the features that we now have in our downlooking sonar that people love.
When we had what we thought we were looking for we went back out to these critics and gave them pre-released software with the changes incorporated and asked their opinion on the new software. So far the feedback from this group that has tested the software is that they are blown away with the incredible detail of the software and the great lure tracking performance. We also have given the pre-released software to some of our regular pros and field testers and their comments have been along the same as those of the critics.
One of the primary advances in the software is the enhanced jig tracking capability. Other advantages are enhanced detail of both structure and fish. There is one main NEW setting in the unit. This new setting is a setting for TVG. Currently our units use TVG. TVG for those that might not know is Time Variable Gain. The great value of Time Variable Gain is that it adjusts sonar returns to compensate for differences in depth. For example if you were fishing with another brand of fishfinder (no names mentioned) they don?t use TVG so if there were a 10 pound bass in 10 foot of water and the same exact 10 pound bass in 50 foot of water the return from the 10 pound bass in 10 foot of water would be much larger and stronger than the 10 pound bass in 50 foot of water because of the differences in depth. With our current software the TVG will make adjustments to the returns to compensate for the different depths and both returns will have the same strength and size. The downside of TVG is that to accomplish the compensation there is some reduction in overall signal strength capability.
The new software will provide more flexibility to the user than other products on the market. If the user wants to get a cleaner screen presentation and utilize the advantages of TVG then they would operate with the TVG ON setting, which is comparable to how our product currently works. This setting is also best for very shallow water conditions, which explains why our product outperforms the competition in very shallow water. If the user wants to track jigs, spoons or drop shot or get the absolute greatest amount of detail of fish and structure they would use the TVG OFF setting. By utilizing this approach we have provided more flexibility in our units than the competition has. I am going to create an album called TVG OFF to show some of the detail you can expect with the TVG OFF setting. One of the downsides of not using TVG is increased surface clutter. If you have used competitive products you are aware of this. We have also included an much improved Surface Clutter adjustment in the new software as well.
I have created an Album titled TVG OFF and included some shots of the new software in action.
Sorry for the long answer to a short question. If anyone has questions please go ahead and ask away.
Mark Gibson, Humminbird Senior Brand Manager"
This was on February 12th, so a "couple of weeks" would be up on the 26th.
I'm sure that someone will post something on this site when the software is released to the Humminbird web site.
_________________
Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com
See the images here;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sideimaging/photos/album/1330512799/pic/list
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Release note for my 797: +>
Free Download:
797c2 SI Combo Update (version 4.510 - 0 bytes)
Description:
2/23/2009 12:00:00 AM - v4.510 Supports the XM NavWeather accessory. Adds new 2D sonar processing techniques, including the ablity to turn off TVG. Adds SI Image Enhancement features. Supports operation of the CannonLink accessory across an InterLink accessory. Modifies the Depth Offset menu item to shift the sonar image, not just the digital depth. Expands Water Type selections to include deep and shallow salt water. Adds Waypoint Decluttering control. Adds Demonstration mode menu item to disable point-of-sale mode when using a transducer with no thermistor. Reduces interbeam interference. Fixes the color of shoreline construction on Navionics charts. Resolves MMC (not SD) access problems.
Prerequisites:
You will need a working MMC/SD reader/writer device attached to your PC and a formatted MMC/SD card.
Instructions:
Download to your computer and use the HumminbirdPC program to upload to your unit. You may also copy the uploaded software to an MMC/SD card and then insert that card into your unit to update its code. CAUTION! We highly recommend that you restore the defaults on your Humminbird unit prior to downloading any new software as it can create complications that can only be fixed at the factory.