Helix 10 failed for the 3rd time

I have had a run of bad luck with my helix 10 mega si g2n…I am about ready to give up. The first time I had trouble, the screen would flicker white and black like an old tube TV and I could eventually get it working by smacking it on the top and front. I sent it in to humminbird out of warranty and paid the outrageous repair price. They sent it back and it would never pick up a transducer. Not the side imaging one or the generic one in the trolling motor or my ice ducer. So I sent it back in again and they “fixed” it. They shipped it back and it worked for ice fishing this winter for a few days. Now it is back to screen flicker and white lines everywhere. If you call you get to wait on hold for a few hours and then get the run around from the phone rep on software updates and troubleshooting steps. So frustrating. I expect I will need to dump another 350 into this dumpster fire for it to be gone all summer and fail again in a short time. Oh and they have a 90 day repair warranty, so if it doesn’t work after that you get to pay again even if its doing the same thing they originally didn’t fix properly. Did I mention I still have all the original packaging and the protective screen film is still on the unit? Its like brand new usage wise, but too old to be a warranty problem. One plus is I have another helix mounted on the bow and networked so I can still use the imaging up there.

Call and talk to a manager and nicely explain what is going on and ask if they will back there repair. If that does not work buy a Garmin LOL

I would be fine if they would just ship me a new or reman unit and save all the hassle of shipping and not having it to network all summer…again, otherwise its just another runaround and more dissatisfaction. Then again a reman could just be a new can of worms. I need to call but I fear it will end in more frustration.

That’s too bad. I’ve been really satisfied with HB customer service when I’ve needed some troubleshooting. Hope you can get it figured out.

Took some video of it acting up on the water yesterday. Need to just suck it up and call in again. I hate calling customer service…

My Garmin has worked perfectly the whole time. It is lighter, smaller and has touch screen…but it just doesn’t do as nice a job at the sonar side.

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Only other idea to try is try the head on your buddies boat to see if it still acts up

I have a 120 to 12v wall power adapter for it that humminbird sent me the second time it acted up to try troubleshooting. I will give that a try to see if its power source related.

Lack of power and SD cards seem to be the culprit on many HB issues…. always the first things to check…

Like mentioned lack of power is a very common issue. Boat wiring from the factory these days, just isn’t heavy enough to handle these newer large units. Direct wire from battery is really your best option, as soon as you start going through switches or fuse terminals that are original equipment on the boat you’re asking for potential problems.

This might not be all your issues, but it might definitely solve a bunch of them.

Update – unit is headed back to humminbird for the 3rd time in 12 months. At least they aren’t charging me another repair fee. We shall see what becomes of it. Unit won’t power up now so whatever is going on inside has gotten substantially worse.