Humminbird questions

I am currently in the market for a humminbird unit for my 18 foot modified v jon boat, I am pretty new to the electronics game but I have narrowed it down to the helix 7 I like the size and keeps the price decent but do not know if I should run side or down imaging. I do a lot of walleye fishing up in the northern lakes and around the boarder of Canada and fish a lot of lakes in the metro area for bass and pan fish as well as fishing the Mississippi and Minnesota river. I have done some research and from the sounds of it you can run DI on a SI unit but it will not be as clear and accurate is that correct? Also I have done some reading on the chirp system but is it worth it for me get mega imaging SI or DI? Eventually when money allows I would like to be able to run a unit on the bow and at the stern but for starters would like peoples input on which unit to start with and what are some of the drawbacks of one or the other, there are so many choices it’s enough to make a guys head spin.

I find SI much more useful than DI.

Since it sounds like you would eventually like to network it, make sure to get a g2N.

Any 7″ Helix without the “n” will not network.

But to be honest, if I were you I’d look for a used Gen 1 9″ or 10″ Helix SI.

It won’t be a MEGA unit, but you will have a lot more screen space to run multiple screens, like mapping and imaging at the same time.

The gen 1 9″ and 10″ will network for you in the future (they don’t need an “n” in the description like a 7″)

Can you still get a new helix 9 or 10 gen 1?

Humminbird and Garmin

Has anyone done this? Can a person put the transducers side by side with no interference?
I have a humminbird now. It has glitches when I am in shallow water. They say it’s from hard bottoms.
Want to keep it for GPS and ice fishing.

I had a garmin before and I liked it want to add one back.

Thanks

I really doubt it, but it’s possible one is hiding in a warehouse somewhere??

Cabelas still has the Helix 9 SI G2N for $999. This is a great buy for a nice size screen. This comes in very handy when splitting the screen 2 or 3 ways.

Once you have SI you’ll never go without. Walleye fishing in particular, you want to find those fish before you target them. Working/viewing the weedines from the side rather than being right on top – you can cover so much more subsurface area with SI over DI or sonar.

BoatsHateMe wrote:

Cabelas still has the Helix 9 SI G2N for $999. This is a great buy for a nice size screen. This comes in very handy when splitting the screen 2 or 3 ways.

Once you have SI you’ll never go without. <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleye fishing in particular, you want to find those fish before you target them. Working/viewing the weedines from the side rather than being right on top – you can cover so much more subsurface area with SI over DI or sonar.

I agree with this. For fishing walleye, I can see it being very useful to search without having to run over th fish. My dad just got a Helix 7 Mega SI G3 and we spent some hours on the water yesterday and today. Side imaging is definitely a huge plus. We are still getting used to it and are beginners, but we were easily able to find some fish of multiple species.

Found and caught some crappies and bluegills that the 2d sonar had no problem finding, but the DI really helped confirm to us they were fish as opposed to weeds since they were so tightly schooled and DI really breaks them apart and shows more individual returns. Then the side imaging helped us relocate schools as they roamed.

After that, we searched some more typical spring walleye areas and were able to locate a couple pods of what were almost certainly walleye. They looked very different from the crappie/bluegill schools. We also got a picture in a deeper water area of a large lone fish close to the bottom but far enough off to give away a tell tale shadow that was even shaped like a fish. If it wasnt for the shadow, it would have been easy to miss over the hard bottom.

Needless to say, as beginners I am quite certain the unit will prove itself very useful once we have more hours on it to know how to really dial it in. I wouldnt trade the DI or the SI at this point since they both proved to be useful, but if i had to choose only one it would be the SI.