Hummingbird Sonar Data Collection

Capturing data in this manner will, over time, generate enough data to build a contour depth map to add to the project. This guide was produced using a Hummingbird 597 CI HD DI unit. Other Hummingbird units may be different. This guide assumes your Hummingbird is properly installed and powered on your boat, with the matching transducer unit mounted to your hull and plugged into the unit. It is also assumed you have a SD card. Unfortunately, by default, the Hummingbird does not capture the required data needed to produce contour depth maps. It must be enabled manually before every boat trip. To turn on the data capture, follow the steps below.

Turn on the Hummingbird.

Insert your EMPTY, properly formatted, SD card in the provided slot, label side to the right. (Make sure the data protection slider tab is set to unlocked on the card so it can be written to)

Using the "View" and "Exit" buttons, scroll through the different screen choices until you see a purple screen that says "No Images Found" in the middle, and "Snapshot and Recording View" at the bottom.

(Note: The Hummingbird allows turning screen views on and off in the settings. If you can't find the described screen, press the "Menu" button twice, go the "Views" tab and set "Snapshot and Recording View" to "Visible")

When you are ready to leave on your trip, press the "Menu" key, and in the drop-down menu, highlight "Start Recording" and press the "Right-Arrow" key.

Ensure the drop-down menu has changed to "Stop Recording" as an option.

Now press the "Exit" key to close the drop-down menu, and then use the "View" and "Exit" keys to navigate to the desired screen view for your voyage. (Recording will continue in the background)

At the end of the voyage, use the "View" and "Exit" keys once again to navigate to the purple recording screen.

Press the "Menu" key, and in the drop-down menu, highlight "Stop Recording" and press the "Right-Arrow" key

Ensure the drop-down menu has changed to "Start Recording" as an option.

Press the "Exit" key twice to close the drop-down menu and leave the purple screen.

Turn off the Hummingbird.

After a single trip, many trips or at the end of the boating season, you can now remove the SD card and copy all the contents of the card to a folder on your computer.

Please contact me if you're willing to share your data with me to further this project.

The 2GB SD card I used, appears to provide an estimated 1 thousand hours of recording time. Most likely enough space for an entire summer.