I have the humminbird 798 on my console, and love it, except I have trouble seeing much in si mode. I know I should have popped for the bigger 1198, but just didn't have the money at the time. Any suggestions for seeing fish, structure etc. I dropped the range down to 65ft, but it's so dark I still can't make out stuff.

any suggestions are appreciated.

thanks,
BD

Use the Sensitivity setting as a brightness control. Pick a SI color that is easy to see according to the ambient light.
I change SI colors during the day to what looks the best during varing light conditions.
Make sure you have the proper voltage to the unit by the unit volt digital display. A voltage reading at the unit plug won't tell you if the wiring has the capacity to handle the amp draw of the unit.

Send Doug Vahrenberg a pm and he can tell you everything you need to know. I would change colors like bdreamer said but also open up the sid imaging enhance feature and you can change the contrast, sensitivity, and something else while you are still side imaging. It will really allow you to get the best images out of the unit and to turn up the settings until the bright images of fish pop out on the screen.

Also, if you see something you have to investigate a little closer.. hit menu, switch the screen to left or right to bring up one side or the other on the whole screen which doubles the size of the image.

Try using the Amber 1 setting during the day when the sun is out instead of the blue, which I use at night.

I also like to keep my SI enhance on high as well to highlight and brighten fish while using side imaging.

Those are some things that help me anyway.

thanks guys, I'll give those tips a try!

set your SI range to around 50-60ft... it's not a wide range but it will increase the size of everything you are seeing.

im having the same type of problem with mine, can only be seen in green/red, and really dont see much, sure not like the pics i have seen with them, tried the sensativity and dropping the range, still not great, if anyone has any other ideas, please let me know, its a brand new unit

Yes, shortening the range, playing with the contrast, etc. will help but the problem is the small screen is just too small to use SI in most situations. The HDS 5 has the same issue. At least for my eyes and abilites, I never could effectivly use it for SI and had to upgrade to a bigger screen.

I just bought a new rig with an 1198c on it and it's an entirely differiant world.

I don't know if the smaller units support it but I used the grey-scale color palette during the day while at the skeeter tournament. I really like it because it shows up much better than most colors when the sun is right at the screen.

tried most of it, gonna try some more on weds, any other ideas, please write or pm

ok, think i got it figured out, if you had it installed, you need to contact whom ever installed it and find out if they installed a new DOWNLOAD from Hummingbird to install the software from them to your unit. I'm waiting on a reply now but apparently my installer did not put the software into my unit. Look at your quick start guide, it expressly says to install the software to make your unit work. I will update as soon as I hear from hummingbird.

I'm also not expecting to get the same picture quality and side by side comparisons on my 700 series as compared to the 1100 series.. that's asking a lot. I don't mean to offend anyone with that and it's not geared towards anyone, just food for thought. Bigger is better.

have you looked at youtube for some help? there is also an unifficial humminbird forum out there that I have used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV-Rh8wXTY0 - this video is pretty good to get you started. He is not using the 798 in his video, but the settings are the same principle. I have the 797 and 1197. I get good view on both. I can see structure and fish on both.

side image some structure you know well. Stuff you may have put out. See what it looks like on your screen. I have the 798 and love it. It would be nice to have 1198 but not necessary to get similar benefits. once you know what to look for, it is a great tool. Main difference is with 798 you can find brushpiles with side image, 1198 (friend used and told me the difference He has 797 ) will show you the brush piles and usually can tell if they have fish (crappie is what he was looking for) on them. It took me a few weeks to figure out what i was looking at. I did have someone with a lot of experience with the unit riding with me explaining what I saw. if you can do this, it is very helpful. If you ever get in the Conroe area, let me know and we can take a trip and even use your unit. The 798 will pop off mount and another can be placed in its place in seconds. works great when setting up area's to put out brush and both individuals have same unit. You are able to both have coordinates without putting them in manually

well, I got the new download in, will try it weds and see if it works, watched all the videos that came with it, will try some stuff and see if I can get it to work