They should have skipped the mega live and came out with 360 mega live if they wanted a leg up on the competition
They should have skipped the mega live and came out with 360 mega live if they wanted a leg up on the competition
Now that Lowrance has produced a few videos and images.... I wonder if humminbird will show us something soon?? Curious how similar they will be.
Joe
2000 Viper Coral 202
2001 Mercury 200 EFI
Im pretty confident its far from being released, the so-called “leak” was nothing more than a marketing move to keep humminbird guys from doing a garmin Black Friday purchase. Pretty easy to read between the lines on this one.Originally Posted by Wayne P.
This is business at its best. I love this stuff. Almost want to un - retire just to get back in the game. RMP "leaks" a Humminbird product sheet at the time Garmin can't make enough Live Scopes to keep up with.
There is no doubt in my mind that the boys in Eufala knew exactly what the boys in El Dorado were doing.
Lowrance was probably a little ahead of HB. I imagine Johnson Outdoors knew it, so felt they had to do something, hence the "leak".
Garmin, already a year or so ahead of the game, was quietly upgrading their Live Scope, probably maintaining that lead unless one of the other two comes up with something really special.
It's going to be an interesting year in 2021, if we don't all die of WuFlu.
A good marketing move for the bird IMO, hope they execute the product well. I pre-ordered almost two weeks ago and was told March. Now just time to kickback and enjoy some winter time fishing.
2013 Ranger Z521 | 250 Merc Pro XS
360 Live? Run two Mega Live transducers! One pointing forward and one pointing backward! Lol!
That would do it!
I don't know much when it comes to the "live" offerings from Garmin and now Lowrance, other than people's videos they post. I've never been hands on with livescope, but I'm wondering how Humminbird is going to match them, or hopefully put a new twist on it to make it better, without the need of the external "black box" for the processing power that the other companies have seen as being needed. That makes me a little nervous about how good Humminbird's version will really be.
Joe
2000 Viper Coral 202
2001 Mercury 200 EFI
If the images are far above Garmin and Lowrance, then I believe that is noteworthy. Imaging on par with some of the best Chirp,Mega+ on 360,down imaging,and sidescan. Everything I have seen on live anything, I feel is still in infancy of this technology. I am not knocking any of it at all. This takes a lot of research, science, and talent to make these units available to us. For myself, I will wait to see what lies ahead.
360 Mega Live makes no sense. It's just two regular Mega Live. Live quality will never match the actual 360 because the number of transducer elements needed would be insanely costly - plus - it would need to churn out huge amounts of energy, which is likely not possible either. Humminbirds Live tech does have the theoretical potential to be a bit better than livescope, though. It might as well such, though. Impossible to tell atm.
It will come out. Next logical step
It looks to me that the Lowrance Active Target is the Garmin LiveScope system with some modifications for appearance sake. So I think it will be no better and no worse. That will be a big plus for Lowrance users as the LiveScope system is a success story for Garmin. Now Lowrance users don't have to buy Garmin to get it. I suspect it was part of the litigation settlement when Garmin lost the DownScan suit. The LVS system has three arrays mounted at specific angles. The Active Target system also has three arrays mounted at the same angles. They just put each of the shorter ones on alternate side of the longer one instead of them being on the same side as Garmins. The one plus I see is in the mounting Active Target is a little bigger allowing for it to be bolt hole to go all the way through and be mounted from either side. That should simplify installation. If in the attached pic I overlaid a Garmin GLS10 box you might not know this is a Lowrance product.
The advance pics of the Humminbird competition looks to be a competely separate animal and different design. Who knows? Maybe it will be better!! Nobody wants to wait until March to find out though. It looks a lot like the Oculus product. If it's based on that, it's likely proven technology.
My wife asks if I'm going to fish every day. I can't fish every day. Some days I might be sick.
I watched video of the Oculus product and it looked great but I believe that transducer was like $20K or something so I’d find it hard to believe that the quality of image would be the same for substantially less but I can hope I’m wrong.
Well, I am totally guessing. But my guess is that Garmin took the design, made a deal if any patent issues were invovled, and then built their own. The model of a semicircle of transmitters mounted on a separate receiver may offer some advantages. The frequencies, ranges and detail that can be had have already been demonstrated in a product of a reasonable size. Just have to wait for it. I'm expecting to see a competitive product.
My wife asks if I'm going to fish every day. I can't fish every day. Some days I might be sick.
The Oculus has 512 elements
Wayne Purdum
Charlottesville, Va.
Helix 12 CHIRP MEGA+ SI G3N/G4N, Helix 15 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G4N
SOLIX 12 SI/G3, Helix 8 CHIRP MEGA SI+ G4N, Ultrex 80/LINK, MEGA360,
MEGA LIVE, LIVE TL
so is it safe to say that the most affordable (new) unit with a 12" screen that will work with mega live would be the G4 helix 12 DI+ CHO model that retails for $1999. ?
2016 Tracker pro team 175txw 75hp 4 stroke
helix 12 si console helix 10 di and helix 10 si bow and ulterra 80 i-pilot link and transom 360 and Garmin 126sv and Livescope
At this point nothing is "safe to say" :-)
The images you get with a Mega + on si have been around for many years IF you had the cash to get them. When a company like HB takes that technology, or similar, and makes it work for the masses prices come down quickly. The search technology that was $500 K ten years ago is about half of that now. I think HB had a lot to do with that as folks adapted SI to do things that was only possible with the more expensive tech before then.
The only thing that keeps technology from getting any less expensive is the control of the industry they are used in. FWIW I make a living in the medical tech world and control is the game. In my world that isn't always a bad thing. Not all players would take cheaper tech and make good products.
well for what it's worth I was at bass pro yesterday and I showed them the image from "hawg" first post on this thread and he was very surprised, so he sent the picture to the Humminbird rep, and he confirmed that it was legitimate and accurate.
2016 Tracker pro team 175txw 75hp 4 stroke
helix 12 si console helix 10 di and helix 10 si bow and ulterra 80 i-pilot link and transom 360 and Garmin 126sv and Livescope
If you like to follow the business side of fishing, which I do - a little tidbit. In about 2002, Johnson Outdoors purchased Computrol (sp). Computrol owned, among other outdoor products, Bottom Line Depth Finders. The higher end Bottom Line units had a rudimentary side looking transducer that would allow you to see out the side. Nothing like what we have now, but it worked. I ran them for a while. Pretty cool.
Just wonder if that basic patent is what let HB get the jump on side imaging technology, and if some of the Bottom Line engineers ended up in Eufala.
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