Humminbird 385ci 3.5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter with Sounder
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The Hummingbird 385ci is a fantastic piece of innovative marine electronics and performs way beyond its size. If you are limited for space and just don’t have the room to fit a large screen fishfinder then this unit is for you. Packed full of features the Hummingbird 385cs boasts a 3,5 inch 256 colour display screen, a 50 channel GPS receiver, GPS chart plotting with Hummingbirds built in UniMap that covers the US coast line and many inland lakes and waterways. Although preloaded with NaviMap the 385ci can also use HotMaps or Navonics cartography loaded into the unit via a waterproofed SD card slot on the front.
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Hummingbird 385ci – In the box
When purchased the Hummingbird 385ci comes with:
- Display Unit – Hummingbird 385ci 3.5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter with Sounder
- Mounting Bracket
- Instillation Cabling
- Dual frequency Transom Mount Transducer
- Owners Manual (CD)
Mounting
The mounting bracket that comes as standard is of high quality and comes with a quick release, this is extremely useful allowing you to take the display unit away with you after your fishing trip. Preset positions allow the user to tilt the display to achieve the best view of the screen. It is possible to mount the Hummingbird 365 flush by purchasing the IDMK-300 mounting kit, this does not come as part of the package and would need to be purchased separately.
The mounting bracket also allows for the operational cabling such as power and transducer cabling to run within it. The unit has three main connector ports on the reverse, power, the transducer connector (XNT 9 20 T transducer, packaged with the unit) and an optional input allowing the device to easily sync with other NMEA 0183 hardware.
Screen
Hummingbird devices have fantastic screens, with a 3.5 inch screen (2.8 inch x 2.1 inch) we found this unit to have a fantastic display although potentially a little small when viewed from a distance. The display performs fantastically in both sonar and chart modes both during daylight and night testing. Screen brightness and display colour can also easily be changed at the push of a button.
Duel Beam Plus
The Hummingbird 385ci allows the user to select narrow and wide beams that you can view individually, or combined in one display. The 20° beam provides high accuracy returns of fish, structure, and the profile of the bottom whilst the wider 60° beam provides greater fish and bait fish coverage. The two beams can be viewed separately, side by side, or blended together for a fantastic overview.
Freeze Frame/Structure Marking
Pressing any of the four-way arrow controls will stop the sonar graphic display, this is a great function as it allows the user a closer inspection of submerged structure, bait fish, and underwater contours. Pressing the Exit key will resume the display scrolling.
Overall operation of the 385ci is extremely simple a combination of a 4 direction cursor pad and front mounted push buttons make the unit incredibly easy to operate. The menu system can be accesses at any time from any page by double pressing the menu button allowing for quick and easy access to the key pages. The unit has the ability to allow the user to preset multiple pages for quick access.
Chart Views
There are 3 standard chart views:
- Two dimensional page (standard)
- Birds eye 3d view
- Combination Chart and sonar view
Sounder Views
- Full screen sonar view
- dual frequency view
- Split screen zoom view
- Full screen with data overlay view
- Flasher View
Waypoints
The Hummingbird 385ci has an intuitive easy to use waypoint navigation system and can hold up to 2000 user generated waypoints.
The user can mark any location using the 4 way cursor and navigate directly to it using the GoTO button. Marking a waypoint initiates the waypoint data display marking it on the map, plotting a course and adding distance and bearing to the screen.
Pre save waypoints stored within a waypoint list are navigated to in the same way, pre saved waypoints can be updated and modified by selecting them from the list to update and change their settings.
Fishfinder
The Hummingbird 385ci uses a duel frequency transom mount transducer. The 385ci puts you in control allowing you to adjust multiple settings such as depth range, sensitivity (gain) and chart speed, there are many more settings that are page dependant. There are five preset pages Full screen sonar view including dual frequency view, split screen zoom view, full screen with data overlay view and flasher view. Further adjustments can be made including transducer frequency, Fish ID, RTS, and SwitchFire mode.
Switchfire Sonar
Hummingbird SwitchFire Sonar gives you the power to choose how returns are displayed. With two unique modes, you have complete control to adjust with the fishing conditions, making the down-looking sonar an even more valuable fish finding tool. In simple terms this gives you the ability to change the sonar view when in shallow water.
Conclusion
If you need to save space and don’t want to compromise on performance, look no further than the Hummingbird 385ci. The combination of amazing features, good chart plotting, quality display and fishfinder sonar abilities this fishfinder is defiantly worth the money and would be a perfect ,marine electronics addition to and boat.
Humminbird 385ci 3.5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter with Sounder
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