Hummingbird Helix

A question for you Hummingbird guys. I am in the process of deciding which electronic’s to install on my new Warrior. I was going to put all Hummingbird on but have been hearing that guys are having problems soon after the warranty runs out. When they go back to the distributor they are told to send the unit back to them and they will sell them another unit at a slightly discounted price. I am curious how many of you have run into that situation?

I have five helix gen 2, so far no problems. Two fives I use for ice fishing, two nines on the back of the boat and a seven up front the fives are two years old and one nine is two years old the other nine is on it’s first year and the seven is one year old.

I had a Lowrance crap out on me two years ago. The utterly crap customer service I didn’t receive while trying to find out if I could get it repaired led me to Humminbird. My Helix7 is only two years old, but I’ll be replacing it with a larger one and putting it on the bow. For what it’s worth…

I know this isn’t exactly what you’re asking, but I bought an old gen 1 Helix used off craigslist a few years ago. Has worked like a champ since, even after burning the side of it to the point where wires from the inside were showing. My buddies have all bought Helix’s themselves after all the good things I had to say about mine and I haven’t heard a single issue from any of them yet. I think they all bought either 7 or 9 g2ns and a g3n ICE, for what its worth.

Who are these “guys are having problems soon after the warranty runs out” and how many of them are there? Sounds like bar talk to me.

My Helix 9 Gen2N was great and just received/installed my new Helix 12 Gen3N.

I wouldn’t hesitate to go humminbird. I actually had a warranty issue on a 1st gen helix 12si. Customer service sent me a brand new gen 2 unit to replace. I’ve called a couple times needing help with different things and have always been surprised by the level of help I received. None of the electronics companies are going to offer a whole lot outside of the warranty period (from the people I’ve talked to). All my other humminbird products have worked flawlessly…

I have had 10 different Humminbird units since 2008. 500 series, 800 series, 900 series, Helix G2 the only problems I have had have been related to install/wiring. Humminbird updates have improved performance particularly the Helix series. I also like Lakemaster maps that work in the Humminbird units.

I run a Humminbird 999 just for mapping and a Helix 12 for side imaging, down imaging and 2D imaging on the dash, a Helix 7 on the bow and use both the Helix 7 and a Humminbird Ice 45 for ice fishing. I’ve never had a Humminbird product fail, that’s not saying they never do because anything can fail, but Humminbird products have always been good to me. I’ve had a transducer go bad on rare occasions over the years but I consider that normal for all brands.
I got my first side imaging and down imaging unit, a Humminbird 797 in 2004 and I retired it years ago but it still works as well as it did when it was new. My very first depth finder was a Humminbird Super 32 flasher that I used for ice fishing and on my first boat for several years and it never failed either.

I have a Helix 10 MSI g2n that is a couple years old. The screen went out this year and I paid big $ to get it fixed. Then when the service department returned it, it wouldn’t recognize any transducers. So it went back again. I never fished with it all year. Tested it when it got back the 2nd time but haven’t fished with it since then. The service department is full of people that assume its your problem and they walk on water, for what that’s worth. I am sure they deal with scammers at times though. That said the bird has better imaging than the garmin I have, when it works.