Curious if anyone uses a Minnkota heading sensor AND/OR a Hummingbird AS GPS HS – External GPS Receiver with Heading Sensor or anything else simular to them in the same boat? There’s times where I think that a GPS puck up in the bow of the boat would make the trolling motors job easier to hold and maintain its position.
Any thoughts or input from people that have used tried both of these units in the same rig?
The only MinnKota “puck” I know of is the heading sensor, which is nothing more than a magnetic compass. And Humminbirds since the Helix series came out have their GPS electronics inside the unit case, not as a separate “puck”. The MinnKota communicates with the Bird for positioning like follow the contour and spot lock, so the closer the Bird is to the trolling motor, theoretically the more accurately it would position. Not sure if a few feet would be noticeable on the water.
I modified my orginal post to refer to the following GPS Receiver.
Hummingbirds AS GPS HS – External GPS Receiver with Heading Sensor
I guess my question is does this unit provide a better output than the Helix’s internal GPS itself? If so do you use this on its own and not have the Minnkota heading sensor or does anyone run both?
It looks like the Helix would wire direct to this AS sensor and your Minnkota would then connect to it somehow to capture the heading compass? If not I would assume you might still need a Bluetooth version of the Minnkota style puck as well for the trolling motor??
I run 2 pucks. 2017 Terrova with the Kota HS and put in a Humminbird HS last year. The Hummindird external GPS/HS is faster to lock on and more accurate. It also is mounted above my transducer at the transom to be more accurate. Minnkota HS is only used for Jog and Circle mode with TM.
The Hummindird external GPS/HS is faster to lock on and more accurate. It also is mounted above my transducer at the transom to be more accurate.
Are you running a tiller setup?
Curious if anyone uses a Minnkota heading sensor AND/OR a Hummingbird AS GPS HS – External GPS Receiver with Heading Sensor or anything else simular to them in the same boat? There’s times where I think that a GPS puck up in the bow of the boat would make the trolling motors job easier to hold and maintain its position.
I guess I’m not sure what benefits you’re thinking you’d get from it? The Heading Sensor that links to a Minnkota trolling motor via bluetooth is used exclusively for the jog functionality on equipped models and only provides a heading, no GPS position. That’s all it does for the trolling motor. If you have a Ilink equipped Minnkota & it’s networked to one of your locators you can leverage the heading sensor capability of it through networking.
The ASGPS HS is a heading sensor + GPS puck that connects directly to your locator & doesn’t do anything for the trolling motor. As Wingman99 commented above, I have one, located as near my transducer (in a console boat) as possible to improve the accuracy of my waypoints. I really like the heading sensor capability for slow speed navigation that you don’t get from the internal GPS sensor in the unit when navigating to the “spot on the spot”.
The ASGPS HS is a heading sensor + GPS puck that connects directly to your locator & doesn’t do anything for the trolling motor. As Wingman99 commented above, I have one, located as near my transducer (in a console boat) as possible to improve the accuracy of my waypoints. I really like the heading sensor capability for slow speed navigation that you don’t get from the internal GPS sensor in the unit when navigating to the “spot on the spot”.
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Thank you – I understand it’s functionality better now.
You ideally want to run the GPS antenna that is closest to the transducer you’re watching on the screen. That way your waypoints will match the bottom.
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