Helix 7 which one

Good morning
I am looking to buy a Helix 7 for dual purposes. Ice fishing and for the bow of my boat.

So do I purchase the Helix 7 Ice or purchase the Standard Helix 7(same options, then buy ice transducer)

Are there a pros and cons for buying one or the other.

thanks

better get the one packaged with the Xi 9 1521 chirp ducer because you cant find them anywhere sold individually.

Thanks for the heads up!!!!

wormdunker wrote:

better get the one packaged with the Xi 9 1521 chirp ducer because you cant find them anywhere sold individually.

Actually I bought mine from right here. They are back ordered currently but it will be available. Best price around as well.

http://www.hodgesmarine.com/Humminbird-Xi-9-1521-Ice-Transducer-p/hum710273-1.htm

Personally I would go with the boat setup and do whatever you want for an ice shuttle.

I was told at one of the ice shows the helix 7 ice has different settings internally than the standard helix 7 optimized for ice fishing, so I would actually go with the ice series so its ready to go for ice fishing than purchase the chirp transducer separately

^^^Just need to update to the latest software(which you should do whenever you get a new unit) and it will be the exact same. I did it and side by side you cannot tell a difference.

even with the IR rejection?

Yup

I should preface that by saying it must be a Gen2 Chirp model. I don’t believe Gen1’s have the capabilities.

I purchased a used Helix 7 SI GPS off craigslist last summer for the boat and already this winter I bought a $95 transducer and a $30 carrying case and now all of a sudden its a sweet new flasher. Has worked great so far!

Uncut angling posted on facebook today about a customer complaining about buying a new Helix 7 ice the other day, only to find the average length of use with 1 battery is about 4 hours. I made it 3 full days with 2 batteries with mine. Hope this helps!

A couple things to note before you make your decision. The Ice version is a chirp/sonar/gps G2 model and will not have side imaging or down imaging capabilities. For a lot of walleye type anglers that isn’t a big deal because you will just hook the bow unit into the US2 sonar on the trolling motor but if you are wanting to run SI/DI off the trolling motor with an additional transducer you can’t do that if you buy the ice model.

The more important thing to note is that the ice model is just a G2 not a G2N meaning it can’t be networked with other humminbird fish finders on the boat or a minnkota with link. That is what makes it a deal breaker for me, I like all of my units to talk on the boat so I would have to buy the Chirp/Sonar/Gps G2N model and then buy the ice ducer and ice pack for it (they sell all of that together as a kit as well).

Hope that helps

Big 2+ on the G2N for me. If they offered the ice pack in a G2N form, I would pick it up. However, since it is only the G2 you cannot network it with your dash unit.

I have a Helix 9 SI (gen 1) on the dash, and a Helix 7 DI (G2N) on my bow, I love being able to idle and scan with the side imaging, put waypoints on fishy places, them move up to the trolling motor and have the waypoints on the front unit ready to go.

Also, you can see the side imaging with the G2N, regardless if it was sold as a SI unit, as long as there is a SI ducer in the network.