Constant Issues with Humminbird Gen 2 Solix 15 & 10

[michaeldmck]

Get ready to get upset Humminbird pro staff. Go ahead and tell me everything I'm doing wrong. I switched to Humminbird from Lowrance for one simple reason. Constant glitches but mostly the sonar/DI would "kinda freeze" meaning it would crawl across the screen. Can't graph with that happening, am I right? Decided to switch so I spent thousands of dollars on equipment and install and had glitches from day 1 w/ Humminbird; solix 10 touchscreen works sometimes, sometimes it doesn't, networking sometimes works then stops. Bought an extra map card cause surely that will fix it, nope, Solix 10 cannot read a map card. Kinda need that map to show up to fish off shore, am I right? Had a big weekend planned at G'ville last weekend for graphing and ledge fishing. My solix 15 sonar/DI "kinda froze". It felt familiar for some reason. Multiple restarts didn't fix it so at lunch I did a factory reset and that fixed it but not before I wasted half a day casting to find fish offshore. 2 days later and my solix 10 started doing it, so now I get to do a factory reset on that.

This is the part where the people paid by Humminbird, ahem prostaff, will tell me everything I'm doing wrong and probably in a rude way. Lemme stop you right there. I've done all the restarts, all the resets, all the software updates. Blah blah blah. I don't want your help or your explanation of what I'm doing wrong, I'm here for one reason only - to let everyone who's bored enough to read this crap know that Humminbird, just like my old lowrances, are pieces of absolute s**t. Shame on Humminbird for building something this expensive that is absolute unreliable garbage and shame on prostaff for acting like their units aren't glitching out constantly. I value my time on the water and EVERY time I'm out something on those units is going wrong.

Next thing you're gonna say; oh send em back to humminbird they have amazing customer service. No I will not. Three reasons: they will tell me they work fine, they will be sorta right cause they do work fine, sometimes, which ain't often enough; and finally I like to have some kinda graph when I'm fishing so I'm not sending something back that cost me thousands of dollars just so I can be completely without a graph!!!

Welp I wish I felt better after all that. Look forward to meeting you Garmin.

[fishnfireman]

how much for the 15 ?

[stewartplumb]

Change the wiring to dedicated 10 gauge per unit and your time on the water will be positive.

[Markallan27]

Let me know how Garmin is. Thinking of jumping ship myself.

[SLYDoggie]

I'm not a Humminbird pro staffer but am a retired computer geek who turned fishing electronics geek. I just love fishing and am extremely experienced with Solix and now Apex. I am the Moderator of this forum but have zero ties with Humminbird. I'm also in the Nashville area and would be willing to help, if you want it... but it sounds like you may be beyond the point of no return.

Even though you think you have done everything, more than likely there are things you haven't thought of which are causing issues for your Solix... Especially since you were having issues with Lowrance before your move to Humminbird. The Solix units are very sensitive to low voltage and it doesn't have to be very low before you start having all kinds of bizarre issues and Factory Resets won't cure those problems.

No problem if you don't want my help. I have plenty to do.

[AndrewM-Fishing]

I'll second what SLYDoggle stated. I'm assuming the same wiring previously used for the lowrance is now running the bird network. I'll put money on the garmins acting weird if you don't do anything with the voltage.

[Northern Bass]

I'll second what SLYDoggle stated. I'm assuming the same wiring previously used for the lowrance is now running the bird network. I'll put money on the garmins acting weird if you don't do anything with the voltage.

I have many of the same issues as OP and I’m running a dedicated 16v battery. Graphs show they’re getting the 16vs too.

[DQM]

Since someone already asked about how much for the 15 inch, I'll go ahead and ask how much for the 10"? :)

I will admit, Solix units can be quirky at times compared to Helix units. And the DI is not nearly as good, in my opinion, as Lowrance's. But the SI is much better, again my opinion.

As for quirky. Really no more so, and probably less so overall, than my Lowrance units were. But with the Solix units it is very important to have good, solid wiring to everything, make sure all of the units have the exact same software updates and versions, and make sure you really go over with a fine tooth comb the network setup and and make sure you set your local sources vs. global sources very carefully. And once you get them set, go over them again and double check everything.

They are much more complicated than Helix units and any of the Lowrance units. Thats not good or bad, it just a fact. Multiple menus accessed different ways, settings in some weird places from a user experience perspective. And the slow, slow startup on the G1 and G2 units can cause network issues with maps cards, in my experience. I have found the unit with the map card or cards you want to use/share should be fully powered on and up and running before turning any other units on.

But overall I couldn't be happier with them vs. Lowrance for my needs, which is iPilot Link to my Ulterra and the superior side imaging, as well as Lakemaster maps which for MN in general are much more accurate than any other maps. Cannot speak for other regions/states.

I run Garmin for LiveScope (now LiveScope Plus) and, well, they have their quirks too. Especially the annoying Active Captain app and trying to update a unit. Nothing is perfect, and nothing these days with how complex all of these new units are, from any manufacturer, is perfect.

[bobcoy]

Well written and accurate, in my opinion. If you want touch (SOLIX)in HB you will have to read the manual and pay attention here on the forum in regards to wiring and setup. Helix is similar, but you don’t have as many choices or options to worry about. For myself, though frustrating for a long time I am spoiled with having the choice to have things the exact way I want. The lack of a seamless Navigation management program is still a sore spot with me. HBPC is available for some maintenance on Helix, but still as weak as it was many years ago. I had Lowrance for about 10 years. It is simpler to operate, but you guys that complain about flat rate repair costs? At least that is an option with HB. If you read the Garmin forum you will see problems popping up but still loyal users for the most part. Great perspective DQM