I have been thinking of uprading my ice electronics. The Helix 9 G2N and the Garmin 73 cv are the two that I have narrowed my search down too. Just wondering if any of you can give me some useful feedback on either of these two products.
Having used both Humminbird and Garmin I would say both have been very good units and you will probably be happy with either one.
If you are thinking you may want to either now or down the road hook up to a trolling motor you may want to take a good hard look at the Helix 9.
If that is not something you are interested in I would say the EchoMap is a great unit for that $ and with the built in updatable mapping, Clear Vu, awesome 2d sonar, ease of use, and slightly lower price point, I would have a hard time not choosing that one.
If you are looking at a Helix9 G2DI I believe you will be at the same price as the EchoMap 93SV so that makes that decision even easier.
Hope that helps!
So it will be strictly used for ice fishing and the possibility of rigging up either panoptix or 360 imaging to either for ice fishing is also a factor
Panoptix for ice fishing. Why hasnt garmin taken advantage of this and market it to ice fishermans? Ive seen demos on youtube and am blown away by it. This would take the guessing game out in which direction the fish are.
If you are thinking you may want to either now or down the road hook up to a trolling motor you may want to take a good hard look at the Helix 9.
Eric you made the comment and I am looking at the Garmin 93sv and from what I read you can attach it to a Minn Kota with i=Pilot, Is true or false?
Garmin hasn’t tapped into the ice fishing market because the panoptix transducer needs a separate power source and is another thousand bucks on top of the unit already. Suppose that’s great if you’re already using it in your boat in the summer. Feature wise, the Garmin is tough to beat on its own. If you’re going to use the ice ducer from them, you have to get a head unit with CHIRP.
Resurrecting an old thread here with a similar question. I’m interested in a system for ice fishing only (don’t own a boat and already have a small garmin for my kayak) and I’m deciding between the Echomap Plus 73cv ice bundle and the Helix Chirp GPS G3. For those in the know, how do these units compare? I guess the Helix G3 is new but maybe you can chime in if you’re familiar with the G2. I will not be adding the Panoptix ducer, so it’s a straight comparison of the “in the box” features at the $700 retail price point.
I’m assuming both are battery hogs? Looking at an Amped Up lithium either way I’d guess.
Garmin is touch screen. I don’t care about that but with use it’s the type of thing I could see myself looking back on and liking or wishing I had.
How does the Lakemaster vs Navionics thing work? I have Navionics on my phone. Lakemaster is chips that need to be purchased – correct? Is the Garmin/Navionics simply free upgrades?
Also, does anyone know if it’s worth it to buy the GT8HW-IF transducer to put on my Garmin Striker Plus 4 (or just get the ice bundle with float, case, etc) to use as a secondary/backup unit, or is the open water ducer able to stand up to use on the ice?
Anything I’m missing? Thanks for your input.
IMO, Garmin has the best 2d going, so if you don’t care about SI/DI, they are an excellent choice for ice fishing. I’ve been running the gt15 in my boat the past year and have been amazed at the detail and clarity. The gt10 works very well.
Garmin is touch screen.
The pinch zoom is extremely quick and easy to set, I can’t imagine setting the zoom any other way now that I’ve used it.
Is the Garmin/Navionics simply free upgrades?
I believe the current policy is one map data upgrade within the first year of purchase. This is per user, applicable across all registered units. After that, it’s a fee. The map data upgrade requires the use of a microSD data card.
If you want to check the garmin out, I’d be happy to meet up. I’m planning on fishing locally until trout season opens.
I haven’t used either but I can’t count the number of threads here over the last year with some kind of issue with hbirds. I’ve totally crossed them off my list.
I’m a lowrance guy mostly but would be looking hard at garmin if upgrading.
Re: ice ducer for striker. I think the open water ducer would hold up to winter use but not sure if it has a suitable cone angle for ice fishing?
Thanks both for your input and helpful information. I realize this is a weird question because I am not looking at open water capabilities. My friend I fish with often has the Helix 5 G2 so I’m somewhat familiar with the features and drawbacks there.
Fishwater that is a very nice offer to let me check out your unit. I may take you up on that 
Tangler maybe try out the Striker unit on Grindstone come trout season? My FL8 tops out well below max depth there so maybe a good trial.
Appreciate the input. Tight lines, folks
Garmin will have better battery life than Helix.A guy I fish with got a Helix 10 last summer,and will run down the battery if used over 8 hours.We have the same battery and outboard,and my HDS Gen2 touch never came close.I will look into the settings more next spring.
Tangler maybe try out the Striker unit on Grindstone come trout season? My FL8 tops out well below max depth there so maybe a good trial.
Appreciate the input. Tight lines, folks
Yeah I’m hoping conditions will be good enough to get up there maybe Sunday the 19th. Will Pm ya.
Garmin will have better battery life than Helix.A guy I fish with got a Helix 10 last summer,and will run down the battery if used over 8 hours.We have the same battery and outboard,and my HDS Gen2 touch never came close.I will look into the settings more next spring.
Way to many factors involved to even bring that up. Different boats, different batteries, different battery size, different battery age, brand, other accessories on, screen brightness, etc, etc, etc)
I’d bet they draw similar amounts of power.
Look up the specs.
Did an amp draw test on my Helix 10 G2. I set it up for ice fishing. Did test with LCD ammeter so should be accurate.
On initial start up it drew 1.2 amps for a very brief time. Then varied on draw but never over .75. I suspect the units with chirp will have a varying power draw.
Any how if 12 AH battery is used it should last a minimum of 16 hours.If a 10 AH battery is used 13.3 hours.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>milemark_714 wrote:</div>
Garmin will have better battery life than Helix.A guy I fish with got a Helix 10 last summer,and will run down the battery if used over 8 hours.We have the same battery and outboard,and my HDS Gen2 touch never came close.I will look into the settings more next spring.Way to many factors involved to even bring that up. Different boats, different batteries, different battery size, different battery age, brand, other accessories on, screen brightness, etc, etc, etc)
I’d bet they draw similar amounts of power.
Look up the specs.
In reality,I will probably bet on a bad starting battery.He said it was just over a year old.Possibly a bad cell in it,so will tell him to take it back to Sam’s.My battery is much older.And we have the same motor,and very close boat model.Nothing for accessories on that battery,just the Helix.
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