# Sounders purchased from the US



## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2006)

Hi,
Is there a way you can reprogram the sounder (purchased from the US, Hummingbird 343c) to display depth in metric as opposed to imperial (feet and inches)?

Thanks


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## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2006)

I can't really afford this one at the moment.


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Phoenix said:


> Hi,
> Is there a way you can reprogram the sounder (purchased from the US, Hummingbird 343c) to display depth in metric as opposed to imperial (feet and inches)?
> 
> Thanks


Probably. You might find the booklet that came with the sounder of some use.


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## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2006)

I am yet to get the sounder.

I just dont really like the idea of shelling out a crap load of money on a sounder here, when I can get the exact same one from the US for less than half inc. postage.


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Bloody America!!! about time they woke up to themselves and joined the rest of the world, but no they need to live in the dark ages. :? :lol:

As Kraley said, you cant convert them. I have a base model portable from the states and has only feet/fahrenheit, which isnt too bad in shallow water. Deeper water I would prefer metric.


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2007)

I've been doing a little checking. I went to look at some sounders recently and if you play around with the settings there is an option to enable you to change it from feet to meters and Farenheit to Celcius and vice versa very easily. I was able to physically change the settings

Is everybody missing this simple fact? or am I missing something?? :?

Has anybody checked this in the store?

Feet and Meters don't bother me. I can use both. There is aprox 3' to every meter anyway (3.28 to be exact)

However with regards to temperature I'd rather not have to deal with Farenheit.

Excuse me if I have missed some other important point.


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## ManjiMike (Jan 24, 2007)

I am not able to change my Humminbird Matrix 565 but idosn't really worry me. 
If I was worried I would print out a conversion table for the temp and laminate it to take on the yak.

Cheers Mike


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2007)

Oh OK Maybe only the domestic ones allow you to change the settings.

I'll be checking that I can make changes before getting a sounder from the US.


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## ManjiMike (Jan 24, 2007)

Zone said:


> Oh OK Maybe only the domestic ones allow you to change the settings.
> 
> I'll be checking that I can make changes before getting a sounder from the US.


It is more likely the doestic ones won't allow you to change, because domestic refers to 'domestic USA', Australian imports are the international units.

Cheers Mike


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2007)

> It is more likely the doestic ones won't allow you to change, because domestic refers to 'domestic USA', Australian imports are the international units.


Yeah But.............................



> by Zone on Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:33 pm
> I've been doing a little checking. I went to look at some sounders recently and if you play around with the settings there is an option to enable you to change it from feet to meters and Farenheit to Celcius and vice versa very easily. I was able to physically change the settings


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## TroopyF (Sep 18, 2007)

Just on purchasing from the US,
I read somewhere that some sounders bought overseas must be returned to country of purchase for warranty/repairs which adds to the delay in shipping and extra pastage costs. Not sure how true this is but I shelled out full price on my Cuda250 locally when they were half the price on E-bay in the US. :?


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## ManjiMike (Jan 24, 2007)

Hi Zone 
I would assume that if you were able to play with the sounder, it has been imported via a dealer, therefore it would be an International model and able to be changed.
My unit was imported privately from the US, so is classed as Domestic and can't be changed.
Sorry about the confusion

Cheers Mike


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## deano (Nov 26, 2006)

I'll have to remember never to buy a Hummingbird sonar - what a con.

I have an Eagle (Lowrance) unit that I bought from the States over the net - everything can be changed to suit local conditions (ie. feet into meters, Fahrenheit into Celsius, mph into km/h etc). And the unit cost me less than half of what they are selling for locally - man are we getting ripped off.

I recently began looking at mobile GPS units for camping. The US units can be bought for one third of the Australian price. It's bloody ridiculous - don't get me started


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2007)

> I have an Eagle (Lowrance) unit that I bought from the States over the net - everything can be changed to suit local conditions (ie. feet into meters, Fahrenheit into Celsius, mph into km/h etc).


I have been trying to decide between Hummingbird and Lowrance. The decision has been made. Lowrance.

Bestfishfinder website has some great deals from a consumer point of view.


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## Guest (Oct 31, 2007)

I have been doing more research into this and you definately have to pay the big rip off bucks locally if you want to convert from Farenheit to Celcius etc.

I am going to look at other brands and see if I can buy an International unit.

The things is, the local Hummingbird Units can be converted back to Farenheit but not the other way around. Why anybody here would want to do this I will never know.

There must be a way to convert a US domestic model. Punch in a code or something?


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## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

I think Humminbird does this to protect their international distributors. It is odd that they consider Canada as part of the US domestic market. Last time I checked the Canadians did that new-fangled metric stuff too. They are the ones who are really getting boned.

I like the Humminbird fishfinders, but if the units conversion is a deal breaker I would go with Lowrance.

One other option; go nautical units. I have my Matrix 37 set to knots and fathoms. That's just a hat tip to my navy background


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2007)

That's the trouble, over here we get ripped off and pay almost twice what the US sell them for. I refuse to be dictated by dealers over here in Australia when they continue to rip us off. Even with our Australian dollar coming close to matching the US$  they still sell for the same price here.

Having gained my wings in both fixed and rotary wing I can use both feet and meters, and can also use knots. The temperature is the only one that bothers me but I can learn to live with that I guess.

I decided on the Lowrance, then changed my mind to the Hummingbird 141C but now I am seriously considering the Lowrance again. The only way I will end up changing back to Hummingbird in the end is if I decide I'm not worried about the temperature conversion or we start getting better deals. $499 is the best price I have been able to find for a Hummingbird 141C locally. I guess that price is NOT that bad I suppose considering I can get the same unit from the US delivered express to the door for around $350 Australian. $150 more by buying it here.

Maybe we should send Doug into all the fishing and marine stores over there checking all the sounder brands on what can and can't be converted for Australia.


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## sam dimauro (May 13, 2007)

i purchased a lowrance from the states and was able to convert it to our system. not only that i was able to get the unit replaced under warranty in australia and found the guys at lowrance very helpful.


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## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

Zone said:


> Maybe we should send Doug into all the fishing and marine stores over there checking all the sounder brands on what can and can't be converted for Australia.


I stopped by the local West Marine today to see if the Lowrance and Garmin FF's offered metric units. Unfortunately, I got distracted by the Humminbird Matrix 787C2i Combo NVB. After ten minutes of playing with it I had forgotten what I had gone there for  I then wandered around the store in a daze while I tried to rationalize why I need a new fish finder.

After a little searching on the trusty internet I found another very cool toy....I mean some good information. I checked the Lowrance site and they have FF emulators that you can download. 
http://www.lowrance.com/Downloads/Emulators/Install/LMS-522CiGPS/default.asp
You can run a simulated FF on you PC to try out the features. The LMS-522CiGPS allows you to select metric units. You can also select the Kelvin scale for temps if you so desire????? I made a quick scan through the 252 page owner's manual and I didn't see anything about domestic or international units. 
I don't know if the base map is just the US or if it covers the entire planet. The emulator allows me to go to Australia, but this may be simulating use of the Navionics chart.
Looks like we might have a winner.

I'll try to get back over to West Marine tomorrow to check it out.


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2007)

Cool, your'e a legend Doug.



> After ten minutes of playing with it I had forgotten what I had gone there for I then wandered around the store in a daze while I tried to rationalize why I need a new fish finder.


hehe I know exactly where you are coming from. I do that all the time. These daysa almost each day I end up in a fishing tackle store somewhere and wander around trying to think why am I here.

I have been doing a heap of research on the Hummingbird 141C. I have been thinking that if I managed to screw the price down on a 141C for about $470 I might just buy it locally. (The cheapest so far I have found is $490 at Whitworths) I figure the difference between $350 delivered from the US and $470 locally I can probably live with, considering for the extra $120 I get an extra 12 month warranty and all the settings for Australia.

Perhaps if there was a few people interested in the same sounder and we lived relatively close to each other we could meet at the store one day and get a better deal if we purchasec several at once.

I could make some phone calls and see who will play ball on this option if people are interested. If you knew me, you would know I'm good at saving money most of the time. 8)


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2007)

*Here is a question I sent to Lowrance in the USA:*

I am looking to purchase an International model Lowrance X67C fish finder. The reason it needs to be international is so I can change the settings from degrees Farenheit to Degrees Celcius, feet to meters (even though I can use both feet and meters) and Miles per hour to knots and kilometers per house. I understand some units are not international and cannot be changed.Any help would be appreciated. I wish to buy this unit from the US but I need to be able to convert the settings as mentioned.

*The Answer from Lowrance:*

These are standard Units of measure for all of our units and not limited to the International versions only. There is no difference between the international versions of the X-67c and those sold domestically.


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## landyman (Oct 17, 2007)

Zone said:


> Cool, your'e a legend Doug.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I just purchased a Humminbird 323 locally and had the same thinking as you.. local warranty, no issues and I bought it from my local tackle shop who looked after me on price.. not only that.. but he continues to look after me on ALL my other tackle as well.. 10% off here.. 15% off there adds up pretty quick.. and he acknowledges the fact I could have bought OS but "chose" him as a show of local support.. Humminbird have a 72hr turnaround on warranty claims.. try that from OS.. which is worth the extra I paid locally

So maybe it cost me $60 more.. but I had it in my hands right away - he made a profit - I paid way under RRP and we are both happy..


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## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

I went back into West Marine this morning for a hands-on play session with the Lowrance 527C DF iGPS FF/chart plotter combo. Good news; metric units are selectable! I also checked out a similar Garmin color FF/chartplotter, the GPSMAP530. Garmin also allows the user to select metric units.

The base map on the Lowrance covers the whole world, but only has detail for the US. You can get Navionics chart cards that cover Australia, but they are a little pricey.

After playing with a Lowrance FF/GPS combo for a while I think I can safely say that I've cured my loyalty to Humminbird. The Lowrance units seem to be a step above Humminbird in most respects. The 480 x 480 display stacks up well against the 640 x 480 LCD that Humminbird has on some of their better units. The difference in resolution isn't as noticeable as it is with the crappy 240 x 320 displays on most of the Garmin and Raymarine FF. I don't know if it is a fair observation, but I get the impression that Humminbird started making FF for bass boats and then set their sights higher. Even their high end models look and feel like they should be on a Skeeter bass boat; not out on the big blue wobbly. The Lowrance units just have the feel of a real piece of marine electronics. Even their low-end units have features that aren't available on the Humminbird. Humminbird has some nice features (side scan, quadrabeam transducers..) but Lowrance takes the prize overall. Not exactly a scientific opinion-just my impression. I think my next FF/GPS is going to be a Lowrance.

Here are the links if you want to compare:
Lowrance 527C DF iGPS
Garmin 530
Humminbird 787c2i


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2007)

Cool, thanks Doug. You are a true asset. It's good to have someone on the other side of the Pacific Ocean to do a little research and homework for us.

However, I took the plunge today and bought a Hummingbird 141C. I got a good deal and am happy. Paid about $140 more by buying it locally but have an extra years warranty, and I have it now.

It pays to shop around and ask for there best price etc


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## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2006)

Well - got it yesterday, all seems to work. I will try and get it installed before the weekend.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2007)

You buying the Transducer Boot Phoenix?

I started making the Stainless Steel Mounting bracket last night. Changed the design from the original (copied) version. It's much more basic and sensible for me at the moment.

The only way I won't have mine ready by the weekend is if I decide to get the Transducer Boot as I don't want to permanently bond the transducer into the Transducer Scupper if I intend to purchase the Boot.


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## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2006)

I am purchasing the transduce boot and probably the power cable. I already have a battery & charger and I am making the mounting plate and battery tray myself.

As the forecast for the weekend is pretty windy I doubt I will have mine fishing - but the GPS is working very nicly.


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