Hummingbird started from humble beginnings in a garage-like setting in the community of Eufaula (pronounced “you-fall-ah”), Alabama in 1971. Back then, Humminbird employees reassembled Health Kits into fishfinders.
Several company changes and decades later, Humminbird is owned by Johnson Outdoors, a worldwide maker of outdoor equipment, such as Minnkota trolling motors, Ocean Kayaks, ScubaPro diving equipment, Eureka! tents and Jetboil camping stoves.
Several models of fishfinders are available from Humminbird, sporting various prices. Humminbird’s premier electronic fishfinder is the 1100 Series, which is one of the best in the industry today at giving you a clear view of what’s under your boat.
A key to this sonar device is a 600V x 800H Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen that’s a full 10.4 inches, or 26.4 centimeters across. As a fisherman, you see a huge color image of the bottom and any fish swimming below you.
Humminbird uses a technology that's called Down Imaging®, which sends high-frequency sound waves in amazingly thin slices from your boat to the bottom. You see a glimpse underneath that comes to you in remarkable clarity. Plus, the image reaches out to beyond the sides, front and back of your vessel. In a way, your Humminbird fishfinder looks into the water in the fashion of a fish, with a 180 degree fisheye view.
Like a fish, the Humminbird fishfinder uses two eyes referred to as DualBeam PLUS™.
A center sonar beam blasts a pattern in a 20 foot or six meter circle. At the same time, a second sonar beam is sent from your Humminbird electronic device in a 60-degree wider swath. Used together, these two sonar “eyes” hand you a clearer picture of the lake or ocean bottom, along with fish at various elevations of the water.
SwitchFire™ is Humminbird’s electronic methodology for adding or removing detail to your fishfinder’s screen.
For instance, if you’re boating up a shallow, muddy river, you can lower the clutter of mud particulates bouncing off your fishfinder’s sonar to give yourself a better image. When you’re fishing in a crystal clear lake, enhance the detail of your Humminbird fishfinder to the point that you can see thermoclines or even water currents that hide the “big one.” You can even watch your bait or fishing lure with this technological wonder, so that the presentation is perfect for the species fish that you’re seeking.
After that trophy fish is caught, “snapshot” screens detailing where your boat was located can be recorded onto a memory card, allowing for your accurate return to this favored fishing location. The Humminbird fishfinder can display a split-screen, enabling the ability to watch live sonar and recorded events, or to view marked structure under your boat, while looking for fish.
User comments from Humminbird fishfinder owners key in on the phrase, “user friendly.” Features such as 3D chart view and the ability to display large numbers make it nicer for the fishermen and fisherwomen of the world who don’t possess the best eyesight. Background and display colors can be changed to best match your visible color preferences.
Contoured maps that give you GPS plotting capabilities come loaded on this Humminbird fishfinder. Plus, your top-of-the-line piece of electronic fishing gear includes an in-dash mounting kit, to put it out of the way of slimy fish or sharp fish hooks.
Effective fishing starts with finding the fish. Historical knowledge helps, but a real shortcut for fishermen venturing into unknown waters is a modern electronic fishfinder. Humminbird manufactures one of the finest fishfinders on the market around the world. When the bottom line is catching fish, Humminbird produces the results.