Humminbird 360 Imaging — Boring A Hole In Your Wallet (Part One)

This week at the annual ICAST Show (the fishing industry’s product showcase and wholesalers’ convention) a new concept in fish finders will be launched. “Humminbird 360 Imaging” will debut as the newest, greatest, and most expensive transducer and fish finding system ever sold for general use. With a price tag of over $5,500 dollars which includes an 1198c (2,799.00) finder and the transducer system(1,999.00) which allows a 360-degree-300-foot radius circle of coverage, this system will for the first time allow anglers to see what’s in front of their boats.

Without a doubt, this will start an entire industry shift towards this type of technology and you can plan on several other electronics companies getting in on the action within a short while. I applaud Humminbird and the Johnson group for their efforts. Innovations are the spice of life. But has anyone thought about the end game here? We now have bass boats that cost over $70,000 dollars rigged WITHOUT the “best finder” in the industry. It now costs up to $250 dollars a day to run a 250 or 300 Hp motor on large lakes; tackle is more expensive, and the list goes on and on. I fear we are pricing ourselves right out of our boats and back onto the shore.

The fishing industry moguls and their marketers have sold anglers for years on a concept known as “shiny object syndrome;” and we (as a group) have bought it hook, line, and sinker. We all want an edge: the fastest boats, the most powerful trolling motors and batteries, the most expensive and advanced rods and reels, and the most high-tech lines and tackle. Heck, we even spend $2000 a pop for a couple of glorified anchors that extend and retract at the push of a button. We do this to get an edge, that little extra something that might make the difference, help us catch bigger fish, win more tournaments, or bring more fish home for the frying pan.

The flavor of the month in this industry-wide quest is the brand-new and certainly “shiny” Humminbird 360 Imaging. Let me ask you a serious question though. When 250 hp motors appeared on the scene did they change your life? Were those extra horses really that important? When fish finders moved from black and white screens to color, did you immediately catch more fish, win more tournaments, understand better what was going on under your boat? Did it hurt even a little to have to pay almost double what you paid for your black and whiter version? And, when you switched to color was it because your black and white version wasn’t working?

Think about your answer because I have friends who could put whichever finder they wanted on their boats but still rely on the Lowrance X85 (black and white and as old as the hills) to locate lake trout. And, these guys catch more fish than 95 percent of anglers who chase and buy the newest finders with all the bells and whistles.

If you listen to the marketers, the implication of their advertising pitch is that if you don’t follow suit, buy the best, and keep replacing it year after year with the NEXT THING that comes a long, you will miss the boat and end up wasting your time on the water because “only those with the newest and the best will catch fish.”

Regardless of how ludicrous that last statement might sound, with the long list of pre-announcement sales that Humminbird has lined up, apparently shiny object syndrome is alive and well in the fish-finding world. I only hope that before you write that check or put that large balance on that credit card in your wallet, you will take a moment to think about the technology already in your boat. Chances are that any finder purchased in the better part of the last decade, has more processing power than the computers used to put men on the moon.

Have you ever heard about someone using a special lure or bait to catch fish on one of your local reservoirs? Do you recall moving heaven and earth to get a hold of one of those lures or baits (overnight shipping, etc), so you’d have it for the next tournament or trip to the lake? Then, when you tried the lure or bait you discovered that fish didn’t instantly smack the lure, or eat the bait? The same principle applies here.

If I were to tell you that you could use your existing fish finder and its “limited” technology to do what you imagine the Humminbird 360 Imaging system will do, which is to target and catch more fish, would you be even mildly curious? Would you want to know how much that would cost? Would you move heaven and earth to figure how to do it? Well, in Part Two of this article you will find out that by spending under 10 bucks, you will be able to turn your current fish finder (regardless of its age or limitations) into a true fish-catching machine.