The age old question…choosing electronics

I’m in the process of upgrading my boat(16′ glorified row boat with a 25hp tiller) with better equipment. Bought a new trolling motor, some new seats, lights, etc. Now I really want a nice fish finder.(nice that I can afford lol) However after a trip to bass pro to look at them, I’m more confused than ever.

The ones I was looking at were the helix 5 by HB and the elite 5 by lowrance. I can’t decide. Is one of them better? Is there a better option in that price range. Thanks in advance for your knowledge.

Hello Max and welcome to IDO!

I’m sure you’ll get a variety of opinions here and some useful advice.

A place to start might be deciding what you’re mainly fishing for, and then look for the features you need. For example I’m mainly interested in good GPS and mapping capability as well as showing me depths and weedlines etc. I don’t really look for fish near the bottom, or need side scanning or other features like that. It helped me decide which unit would work for me. Oh and a good sale price helped too

Good luck, sounds like a fun project and we need a picture of your boat when you get it all screwed together!

SR

I do not know specifics of those units but as far as brand name I have been a Lowrance guy mostly over the years, when I have bought HB though I find them easier to use, more dependable and the black/yellow holds up better than the Lowrance grey. Good luck shopping. The internet is a very good place to do research.

Unfair for me to try and spend your money but I just can’t see getting a sonar/gps split screen in 5″ that I wouldn’t hate. I’d buy a used larger screen unit before getting a 5″.

A 5″ screen doesn’t do well when splitting map and sonar. Becomes to small. Better off buying a bigger unit is that is your Intension. Im with super Dave on that one. You won’t be disappointed with either brand unit they are very competitive.

Mike Klein wrote:

A 5″ screen doesn’t do well when splitting map and sonar. Becomes to small. Better off buying a bigger unit is that is your Intension

Well or well enough for the money??? That was the question for me three seasons back. I was in a similar position of an older, smaller boat that I was improving with limited funds. Bang for the buck I went with HB’s 5″ offering at the time(597ci hd di). 2d and mapping were my must haves. DI has been a nice bonus.

Does it work for my fishing, yes. At times do I think the screen is too small for splitting views, absolutely but funds were limited.

Helping a co-worker on this exact question two days ago.
Helix 5 with mapping, 2d, and DI on sale at Cabela’s for $300 right now.(he got this one)
Helix 9 with much bigger screen is also several hundred more. If you’re putting that much money in, might as well get the SI so you’re at $1000 retail.

Sorry, I can’t speak to one brand being a better choice than the other. Happy with my Bird but others are just as happy with their Lowrance. Welcome to IDO

One word of caution. If you think you want to spend the money on side imaging there may be a mounting problem for the transducer. An SI transducer needs a clear line of sight to BOTH sides.

Here’s the long version of my saga trying to upgrade to a bigger screen with SI
https://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/new-999-with-side-imaging-and-im-screwed/