Humminbird 596C Color Sonar Only Reviews | Marine Electronics

I did a lot of research before buying this unit, I couldnt decide between this and the almost identical Lowrance Elite5 chartplotter unit. After reading countless reviews I chose the Hummingbird. The Lowrance has more color palete choices but the hummingbird had the old style sonar ability otherwise they seem the same to me. I am soo glad I chose this one! The downscan is awesome, truly showing great detail of structure and bottom, but its really hard to see fish and baitfish on it. The old style (seems like an updated version)shows fish and baitfish great and will mark them on the screen. This unit allows you to split the screen and use both sonar types at the same time, and its freaking awesome. The chartplotter is nice for navigating the big lakes but the included mapping is bad on small lakes showing just a blank white screen with your boat in the middle. But you can mark a waypoint for the dock to help you get back and view your tracks as you go to help navigate blindly. The coolest part of having a chartplotter is being able to mark locations of structure or fish zones and be able to return to them later without wasting time having to troll over dead water trying to find "that spot" again later in the day. Sounds crazy but this thing truly has changed the way I fish and made me a better fisherman! I just cant imagine what they can come up with next.

I wasn't certain how useful down-imaging would turn out to be for my style of fishing. After several months of use I've found down-imaging indispensable. It helps me precisely locate structure & fish that I previously would have missed.

Overall I really like the unit, but not Humminbird.
I sound harsh, but I would just get a 2D, or move up to a larger screen unit.
I was very let down by the down imaging hype and pretty pictures that humminbird shows on their ads.
The unit is great, and I love it, but don't think for a second that you'll see what the ads show. You might if you are running on an indoor swimming pool with NO wind and crystal clear water. The best pictures I have seen so far after 4 weekends using it will not even tell you if you are above a tree or an old concrete slab down below. What a waste. Other than a worthless down imaging feature that you spend an extra $100 for, the unit is a great GPS and 2D sonar. I already wasted my money, too late. Do you really want to waste yours? Humminbird, you really need to improve your "trick them into believing we can do anything" ads.
Also, I was at 3 stars, but the included "charts" are nothing but an outline of the lake. My 6 year old cell phone gps shows that much!