I recently got a new HB unit with the autochart live feature. I haven’t seen many posts about it and was wondering now that its been out for a while what are people’s opinions? I will have to buy a zero lines card for $100 if I want to record more than 8 hrs of data so kinda wondering if its worth it or not? I was planning on using it to map out some backwater sloughs on P2.
Thoughts? Gripes?
I use mine quite a bit. My brother uses his as well. Once a year i upload all of out charts from his and my card on the computer to back them up and then put all the charts back onto (both) cards. Then i have all of his charts and he has all off of mine. Its an easy way to chart more lakes.
100% worth it. I troll quite often with i-link, and it works well for that.
Hate the fact that you have to spend $100 on what amounts to a blank SD card. They reel you in with the thought of making your own charts and not having to pay for a map card, then it turns out you have to pay for a map card anyway.
I have no doubt it’s useful especially on lakes that aren’t well documented already. But My budget allowed one card at the time so I went with Navionics rather than paying the same price and then having to map my own lakes.
Tool for a job. 95% of the time I have no need because of already having high quality maps from a chip, usually lakemaster.
That said, when in Ontario or a poorly mapped lake at a buddy’s place up north, I love it. Yes I got tagged for the zero lines. I even got hit for the Autochart pc software.
It’s like the corner crack dealer, the first hit is free 
and then you pay for the accessories
It’s a great tool for guys who fish the river. The map products for Pool 4 are marginal at best in most places and even worse for Pool 5.
I have a few spots mapped out quite well that I fish often. I have documented the height at the nearest gauge from when I mapped for hours on end a few years ago and when the river matches that height again each Spring, I do some “touch-ups”. It’s also great to have on when trolling as that seems to be the ideal speed for accurate mapping as you go. I try to wait to turn it on until I am committed to spending significant time in an area if I’ve never mapped it before.
A lot of it depends on where you fish most often. If you fish bodies of water that have high resolution maps available via Lakemaster or Navionics, then maybe you won’t benefit as much from it.
I fish in ND where maps are “good” but don’t do a great job with detail / covering the “spot on the spot” and have found the $100 worth it. It’s priceless in Ontario / other remote lakes with no maps / no good maps & works really good in situations like that when paired with IPilot Link.
Love it!
I fish the Miss mostly. It seems like the maps are decent on the main channel but the chips aren’t mapped in the sloughs. So I was thinking it would be cool to map the sloughs and be able to share that data.
I too just bought a new Helix with ACL. I already have a lakemaster chip but my question is this. When using ACL, does it draw the new depth contours on top of the Lakemaster chart, or do I have to go into a different map view that only displays my ACL charting?
Also, has anyone found the bottom hardness mapping to be very useful and/or accurate?
I would have to say I love it as I use it in Canada, on a portable set up for rivers and drag in lakes are extremely useful. We share info with my brothers and fishing partners once a year as well to update each others maps. I wouldn’t buy one with out ACL. Doubles up nice when you go Ice fishing.
Mike
I love it – fish the Mississippi.
Really interesting to see waypoints line up in an area that has been charted to update the real-time depths/contours compared to the Lakemaster card.
The autochart data is an overlay over your existing map and you can control how transparent the overlay appears on your screen. i.e. set it to your personal preference.
I too just bought a new Helix with ACL. I already have a lakemaster chip but my question is this. When using ACL, does it draw the new depth contours on top of the Lakemaster chart, or do I have to go into a different map view that only displays my ACL charting?
Also, has anyone found the bottom hardness mapping to be very useful and/or accurate?
yes you can, you have to have both your lakemaster and acl chip in at the same time and it will overlay on the the lakemaster map. I have found a couple humps out in the basin that i have mapped out that the lakmaster map missed.
Pretty simple – If you fish popular lakes you’ll want to use one of the HD map chips, but if you fish smaller lakes it will be invaluable to you.
Can’t speak for ACL, but I run lowrance and have done quite a bit of the genesis live mapping and navionics mapping. Its nice when you find a spot that’s not shown on other lake maps or if you fish small/poorly mapped lakes!
Hate the fact that you have to spend $100 on what amounts to a blank SD card. They reel you in with the thought of making your own charts and not having to pay for a map card, then it turns out you have to pay for a map card anyway.
I have no doubt it’s useful especially on lakes that aren’t well documented already. But My budget allowed one card at the time so I went with Navionics rather than paying the same price and then having to map my own lakes.
Completely agree with this. It is a useful tool but it should be able to be saved on your map chip with the rest of your maps once you map a lake.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
