SS Reaper Posted December 1, 2015 Posted December 1, 2015 I am looking at purchasing a fish finder / gps combo. 70% inland 30% big lake. Currently looking at Humminbird Helix models. Any input or suggestions would be appreciated.
Priority1 Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 Jim, A warm to the Site. I run an old LMS 350A in the sonar only mode and a Panasonic Toughbook Computer as a Chartplotter. I hope bumping this up will bring some more responses.
sherman51 Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 I have the helix 7 and its a pretty nice unit. it has fast processing and a super bright screen. you can see the screen in direct sunlight. but if you have the money I would look at the larger helix models.another good unit to look at would be the lowrance elite units. the elite 7 hdi with lake insight with a sun cover regular 699.00 on sale for 449.00 and the elite 7 chirp with gps regular 699.00 is on sale for 499.00 at cabelas right now.
laker1 Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 Have a Humminbird 1197 and though out of date still enjoy using it. The nice thing about using Humminbird products is that you can call them for assistance/guidance on their 1 - 800 line and no question is a dumb question. Plus Humminbird will still try to service their older units. Lowrance will not ! Leaving you out in the cold. I used to be a long time Lowrance user but never again. I refuse to flush my hard earned money away. 1
SS Reaper Posted December 14, 2015 Author Posted December 14, 2015 Thank you for your feedback. It's good to know that they have good customer service.
SUPERTRAMP Posted December 15, 2015 Posted December 15, 2015 I see you will be fishing mostly inland lakes, a Humminbird 800 or 900 series with a Down image and an 83 200 transducer will work for both. Don't get a 5" screen unit as it is really hard to read. I run a Humminbird 858cdi, and use only the fish finder for my GPS I use one of Frank's Tough books with chart plotter. Big screens are a lot easier to read. and y9u can really pinpoint waypoints. 1
willfishforfood Posted December 26, 2015 Posted December 26, 2015 Just picked up a helix 5 but haven't installed it yet
SS Reaper Posted December 26, 2015 Author Posted December 26, 2015 Thanks to all that replied to my post. I just got a helix 5di/gps for Christmas and cannot wait to install it and try it out. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and a safe New Fishing Year.
willfishforfood Posted December 27, 2015 Posted December 27, 2015 I'll have the boat out next week so I have to get working on it
Steelhead#1 Posted December 27, 2015 Posted December 27, 2015 You guys will like the helix 5. Took this pic while perch fishing last year.
SS Reaper Posted December 27, 2015 Author Posted December 27, 2015 Very nice thanks for sharing this pic.
willfishforfood Posted December 27, 2015 Posted December 27, 2015 I played with it in the store for a hour and feel I made the right choice. the 7 has a bigger screen but $200+ more
SUPERTRAMP Posted December 27, 2015 Posted December 27, 2015 I can say that the Humminbird units are great units, but I will say also that the bigger screen is much more user friendly and gives a lot more detail than the 5". I personally would have spent the extra 200.
sherman51 Posted December 27, 2015 Posted December 27, 2015 2 hours ago, willfishforfood said: I played with it in the store for a hour and feel I made the right choice. the 7 has a bigger screen but $200+ more the 7" screen is well worth the extra money. the 5" is ok but the 7" gives you more time to view whats going on down there. back in the day of the older units I used many ff with small screens but now if I have the money at all to spend on a ff i'll get the largest screen I can afford that will fit on my dash. the helix 7 di gps combo I bought was on sale at cabelas with 10% off and free shipping. so it cost me 449.99 for a 499.99 unit. I would have loved to have had the money for a larger better unit but my budget was limited. so I settled for the helix 7 and am very pleased with my purchase.
willfishforfood Posted December 27, 2015 Posted December 27, 2015 I have a 16 Smokercraft Lodge and space gets tight
sherman51 Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 my dash space was limited also, so I bought a ram mount to mount my helix 7. I mounted the mount to the dash then adjusted the mount out past the dash and over to the side of the steering wheel, it works great and I have the larger screen. you will be amazed at how much better the 7" screen is over the 5" screen. if you can exchange the 5 for the 7 you'll be much happier with the 7.
sfw1960 Posted March 28, 2016 Posted March 28, 2016 The 9 thru 12's are pretty slick. I have a walk thru & had 2 up front and one on each console. I just sold my 899 to put a 12 in it's place. The C/S @ HB is super if you have any problems....
willfishforfood Posted May 22, 2016 Posted May 22, 2016 My boat is a open floor with two seat boxes so needed to mount to the side and low
willfishforfood Posted June 22, 2016 Posted June 22, 2016 like the Helix 5 but it is small works great fits in the area I have. Go with the bigger unit if you have room
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