Replacement for HummingBird Wide Eye?

[takirb]

My boat came with what appears to be factory installed Hummingbird Wide Eye fish finder on the front with a trolling motor mounted transducer. The unit itself will power up and display fine, but it won't come out of Simulator mode for some reason. I guess this means i should replace it (??) cause i think these units are old anyways. Are Hummingbird fish finders any good? I'd like to stick with something that could possibly use the same transducer and hummingbird gunwale mount if possible to ease the pain of refishing wires and remounting another bracket in it's place. Yesterday was the first time i've ever used a fish finder (got another one on the dash) so i'm totally new to these gizmos anyways. Any way to tell if it's the unit or the transducer that's bad?

 

[John_S]

Re: Replacement for HummingBird Wide Eye?

Yea its old and would be considered a basic unit by todays standard. I believe that unit trys to detect transducer, and if it doesn't see it, will go into sim mode. It has a quick disconnect, so remove head unit and make sure the transducer plug is seated correctly. If you have good connections, then a good likelyhood that the transducer cable/transducer is bad.

Even if it was good, I don't think it is worth salvaging for your main transducer. Most units come with one, and will have temp and dual beam. Salvaging the transducer would require a $25 cable from HB. The tilt/swivel mount can be converted to a 300, 500, or 700 series modern HB with a $7 connector block.

 

[takirb]

Re: Replacement for HummingBird Wide Eye?

Awesome, thanks! I started looking at other HB devices but wasn't sure which would fit the mount. Some cheap, some expensive naturally. I took another look at it Monday while on the trailer in the yard, and oddly enough it did NOT go into simulator mode that time, even with the trolling motor lowered. Both times i've had it on the water it messed up, so it's leading me to think there may be a short or spot in the transducer/wire that's getting wet and shorting out. Is the standard procedure for replacing these things to tie a line onto on end as i remove the wiring and use that to fish the new cabling through?

 

[John_S]

Re: Replacement for HummingBird Wide Eye?

Cable repairs can be tricky. A common place for them to break is right at the transducer element. It cracks there. Once dried out, you can try to epoxy, but no guarrantees.

If you go with a 300, 500, or most 700 series HB, the power cable you have could be used. The transducer routing is all how your boat is configured and how the original install was done. If you say you are going to sacrifice the existing transducer, you could cut the cable at the element, and basicly use it as the fish wire. You would have to do a very close inspection to make sure the connector end will pass through all holes. I think the minimum hole size is 1/2 inch, but check that. Usually a two person thing with someone pulling and someone wiggling the end to get it through areas. All depends on access.