  
Humminbird products,
made by Techsonic Industries, Inc., were first manufactured under the name of Fulton Electronics in Alabama, USA in
1971 in a very small, garage-like facility. In the early days, the company modified existing products to
create electronic fish finding devices, which were then marketed as Humminbird Depth Sounders. The company
continued their hard work and innovation and in 1975 it introduced the Super Sixty, the first waterproof depth
sounder, which became one of the largest selling fish finders ever produced.
In 1984, Techsonic
Industries, as it was then named, introduced the LCR Series, which was a forerunner of liquid crystal
displays. Later, the Humminbird LCR4ID fish finder became the top selling product in both the sport fishing
and marine industries. The company continued its success through the 1990s, creating the first 3D sonar and
the Humminbird Wide Series. The Piranha series of entry level fish finders was introduced in 2002 and
Smartcast wireless technology came out in 2003. Techsonic Industries was acquired by Johnson Outdoors in 2004 and
the company continues to introduce cutting edge technology to the marine fishing industry
today.
Humminbird produces
the Smartcast Series, Fishin’ Buddy Series, and Piranha Max Series of fish finders, as well as other sonar-only
units and more advanced versions that combine fish finders and GPS capabilities. The Smartcast Series
features multilevel high resolution grayscale displays and units that come in a durable hard shell carry case or
can be worn on the wrist or even mounted onto the fishing rod and viewed while casting.
The Fishin’ Buddy
Series has either high level grayscale or color display and down and side-looking sonar. These units are
highly portable and do not have any rigging, wiring, or transducer that needs to be mounted. Each unit in the
Fishin’ Buddy Series comes with an ergonomic clamp mount that can be used virtually anywhere.
The Piranha Max Series of Humminbird fish finders has multiple levels of grayscale display and single, double, or
triple beam sonar. There is also a portable version with a Smartcast wireless remote sensor and a hard shell
carry case.
The latest
Humminbird fish finder products are the simply named 300, 500, 700, 800, 900, and 1100 Series fish finders.
Each group of Humminbird Fish Finders has grayscale and color displays, single or double beam sonar, and advanced
combination versions with GPS technology, including chart plotting ability, built-in maps, and card slots for maps
and saving waypoints. The screen sizes increase dramatically with each series, with wide screen models in the
900 Series and very large, 10.4 inch displays on the 1100 Series. Prices rise with the quality of the display
(grayscale vs. color), the technical aspects of the sonar (single, double, or triple beam), and the size of the
display screen. Of course, units that combine fish finding and GPS chart plotting technology are the
priciest.
No matter what
Humminbird Fish Finder product you choose, you will know you are getting high quality merchandise from a
longstanding and extremely reputable company. Humminbird Fish Finders can sometimes be found online for very
affordable prices.
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