I recently switched from a Lowrance HDS10 gen 1 to a helix 12Si gen 1.
Running the SI in shallow water with the lowrance worked great, the fish really stuck out while trolling in shallow water. I literally could see a fish and a few moments later I would get a strike. After switching to the bird I got on the same bite and same spot as last year, however the fish were not showing up on my humminbird SI like they did on the lowrance. I made sure to change the chart speed to match with my trolling speed. I also messed around with how far out the unit would read but still nothing.
My question is will those fish stick out more in shallow water if I switch over from 800 khz to 455 khz.
Wish I could help… I have a 899, and have never ever been able to appreciate the side imaging, much less identify fish. Hope someone has some good advice for ya.
set your range down to 60′ or less. Maybe Lowrance is better, i’ve never used it… If you want uber crisp images, get a MEGA… I’m happy with my Gen1 Helix SI display…
800 is narrower beam btw and intended for “deep water” aka saltwater depths.
Birds are shallow water marking machines! How good is your understanding of side imagine?
That’s odd. I run the opposite with my lowrance.
In water deeper than 50′ my 800 won’t show bottom much at all. If I run 450 I see a crystal clear image. I use this on Lake Superior constantly when fishing reefs.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
800khz has better detail
Well what the heck, is the Lowrance SI just better then. What about sensitivity and contrast in shallow water. What do people have it set at?
No..
10 & 10
I never adjust…except when I’m looking for hard returns on a hard bottom. I may drop sensitivity some.
Fish on sand can be much harder to see than fish on mud.. why, because sand is a bright return and so is fish. I’m pretty good at spotting anything, but I’ll at times lower sensitivity to lower the brightness of the sand therefore exposing fish better.
I also turn sharpness off. It can make finding fish more challenging with it on than off.
800 is narrower beam btw and intended for “deep water” aka saltwater depths.
Birds are shallow water marking machines! How good is your understanding of side imagine?
That’s odd. I run the opposite with my lowrance.
In water deeper than 50′ my 800 won’t show bottom much at all. If I run 450 I see a crystal clear image. I use this on Lake Superior constantly when fishing reefs.
In 30′ or less, 800 is far clearer than the 450.
And in those deep senarios I’ll bet your not looking for fish on the si more so than your looking for bottom transition.
Bigger the scan area and deeper harder to see that miniscule fish show up when it is scaled 1/100.
800 is narrower beam btw and intended for “deep water” aka saltwater depths.
That’s incorrect.
455kHz is lower energy, thus the dimmer returns. However, it’s also lower frequency and the signal doesn’t degrade as much over distance and depth. Thus, it’s better at range and depth than higher freqs.
800kHz (or 1.2MHz) has higher energy, thus brighter/clearer returns. But the cost of the high frequency is greater signal loss over distance and depth. These are better shallow/near than lower freqs.
Humminbird suggests using 1.2MHz at shorter distances of 125′ or less to either side. They suggest using 455kHz at longer range out to 400′ to either side.
Running the SI in shallow water with the lowrance worked great, the fish really stuck out while trolling in shallow water. I literally could see a fish and a few moments later I would get a strike. After switching to the bird I got on the same bite and same spot as last year, however the fish were not showing up on my humminbird SI like they did on the lowrance. I made sure to change the chart speed to match with my trolling speed. I also messed around with how far out the unit would read but still nothing.
My question is will those fish stick out more in shallow water if I switch over from 800 khz to 455 khz.
There’s no one answer to this question. Rather, the conditions you’re in at any given time dictate what frequencies and settings you need to use.
It sounds like your Lowrance provided good all-around results, with plenty of contrast between fish and bottom or other structure. It seems that the settings on your Humminbird aren’t providing the contrast needed right now for those fish to stand out. The good news is that yes, absolutely it can do it…you just might need to make some adjustments.
Increasing to 800kHz will increase the brightness of hard objects such as fish and hard bottom. This can make fish harder to spot on sand or rock, and can make them pop right out on mud. With either 455kHz or 800kHz, adjusting your settings will improve your results in the same way that it does with standard sonar.
A good way to practice is by finding something interesting to look at in your SI. Move the cursor so your screen freezes, and then start playing with your range, sensitivity, and contrast to see what that does to the image.
This video is a few years old for the 1100 and Onix series, but it’s a great primer on basics for these settings that apply in the same way to the Helix and Solix.
I’ve got literally thousands of hours on EACH of the 3 different SI birds I’ve had over the years and I can count on 1 hand the hours I’ve had DI on display or SI on 800.
I’ve got literally thousands of hours on EACH of the 3 different SI birds I’ve had over the years and I can count on 1 hand the hours I’ve had DI on display or SI on 800.
the 800kHz is definitely more…tempermental…needing more active management of the settings. without doing that the images easily end up “washed out” too much; of course, with practice it can really create some amazing images. and thus the promotion of “Mega” 1.2MHz on the G2 units and those picture-quality returns.
and i’m like you in real-world use, the 455kHz tends to be more than adequate for my needs and is easier to manage. in fact, the reality that 455kHz is plenty fine for most fishing applications is what swayed me to add a discounted third 1100-series unit to my network instead of upgrading my first two to Helix G2s.
