Hawkeye DT1H Handheld Depth Finder with Temperature, 300 Feet

I don't write reviews often, but I felt compelled to do so after seeing the negative reviews for this depth finder. It's actually a phenomenal product. I received this depth finder as a Christmas gift and immediately put it to use on my swimming pool. To much of my dismay, it didn't read depth, so I reached out to the manufacturer. I received a response within minutes stating that it would not work in a swimming pool along with a link to a knowledge base article explaining why.So, the next day I took it on the ice and was quickly thrilled by its effectiveness if I followed the instructions regarding clearing snow away and using water. I was able to obtain readings directly through the ice so that I could tell the depth before I drilled my hole. I did notice however that it had difficulties reading in white ice (more about that later). I drilled several holes and tried it out again in the holes. I did notice that it works great where the ice was not too thick (1.5ft or so), but had difficulties where the ice was really thick (3 ft or so). When I got home I contacted their support again and once again received a quick response with explanations and links to knowledge base articles. Turns out the "white" ice is air trapped in the ice which they said it would not shoot through. More web research indicated that they were telling the truth and not making excuses. Sonar does not travel through the air. Just water. So if the ice is "black", you are good to go. As far as the unit not working in the holes I drilled where the ice was very thick, it was explained to me that the sonar signal gets blocked from returning to the top of the hole when the ice is thick. Makes sense as I have the same issue with my flasher. That is why I have to adjust my transducers on my flasher (made by another company) so that it sits below the ice.I recently took the product on vacation to the Florida Keys. We rented a boat so I took the depth sounder with me. It worked great everywhere I tried it (you have to hold the unit verticle to the water). I even took it snorkeling and loved being able to see how far the bottom was away or how far the surface was. I even aimed it at a bridge piling and it told me how far away it was.In summary, don't be turned off by the poor reviews. It's a great product, but it has limitations all of which are explained in the manual (which I finally got around to reading during my trip to Florida last month.

As advertised, Love it

Simple and accurateUsing to check anchoring depth and chart accuracy.

This HawkEye depth finder arrived with no printed manual or instructions. Instead, it comes with a tag requiring you to scan a QR code. A glossy postcard inside the box says that Hawkeye is doing this “[i]n order to reduce waste ….” Yet, Hawkeye included the glossy paper card with that message as well as advertising for its other products. There is another card included that advertises free shipping. They also included a HawkEye decal they presumably want you to fix tear boat or whatever. clearly “waste“ is not the reason they did not include a manual or some simple instructions. Using less paper than that used for those promotional materials, HawkEye could have easily included basic instructions for this device. I would like to know who at that company thought it was a good idea not to include instructions. Have they ever considered that depth finder may be used in remote areas where there is no Internet access? Have they thought about customers who are not tech savvy? Have they thought about customers who do not have QR readers on their phones? It was highly frustrating to receive this expensive product without the most basic instructions included and accessible. I eventually will be able to read the QR code in the instructions and manuals. I know several other people who fish who simply would never be able to access the instructions without help from someone else. I don’t know if or how this product will work, because I have not been able to access the instructions yet. So since I could not simply open up the product, install a battery and start testing it, it gets one star. Way to go HawkEye! And, despite all the paper you included in the box advertising other products, I will not be buying any.

I originally owned the earlier version of this hand held depth finder. It lasted about 6 years and failed due to salt water ingress. This new model has a much improved water seal method and looks like it will last a lot longer. It is easy to use the simple slide switch to get temperature / depth of the water. But it can be confusing as to which reading is going to be shown. If you see temp then immerse and try again or vis versa. Getting an accurate water temperature requires that the unit be immersed for a minute or two otherwise you are reading some version of the air temperature and the water. The temperature sensor will be stable at air temp initially so it will take some time to cool / warm it to water temperature. Otherwise I have found this to be reliable and a great way to be sure that the water depth is less than my crab pot float! Otherwise it is good by trap and create a boating hazard. So this unit gets kept in our dinghy during Dungeness Crab season.

Bought this to replace my off brand yellow one (which worked well for several years until the end cracked). These handhelds are a must have for our fly in trips to Ontario. These lake have no topo maps and I can have a reading in 2 seconds. My friends with floating fish finders are still trying to connect their Bluetooth/ WiFi and I’m on to the next spot. The floating fish finders are pretty cool and have their place but if I had to take my pick one, it would be the depth sounder. The Hawkeye seems better made than my old yellow one (although they both did the job). The temp thing isn’t really that useful but whatever. Well worth the money.

This is a simple, easy to use, hand held depth finder.Verified its accuracy using a survey gradeGPS system. It is tough, east to use and very reliable.

Easy to use, accurate and gives water temp for swimming as well. Use it to check accuracy of 'on board' depth finder on charter yachts which can often be subject to large offsets