I have the 5 and love it. Couldn’t swing the 7 at the time.

A bigger screen would better but it doesn’t hinder me when compared to my friends 7’s.

I’ve found the lakemaster maps to be more accurate than the navionics on a phone. This is comparing the mapping on my helix vs my buddy with his phone and we’re standing side by side. To be fair, I do have the Lakemaster Plus MN card installed, I don’t know if that makes a big difference.

Battery life was decent with the stock SLA which has turned into fantastic with a Lifepo4.

I’ve had no issues dialing out interference from other units. (Helix,Vexilar and Panoptix all in close proximity)

I use the flasher and graph, set on A-scope, quite a bit. I like it.

One thing I have learned is that not everyone is cut out for a Helix. If you’re not willing to learn/tinker with the settings each time you put a different lure on, go to a different spot or whatever change has occurred, then the Helix is not for you.

My buddy’s dad fits that description to a T. Lol

He constantly cusses it and the vexilar comes out. I’ll fiddle with his helix, show and explain to him what I’m doing and get him squared away. Never fails. Lol.

Just my thoughts.

Joe Jarl wrote:

Muck Arctic Ice

I’ve been happy with these. Warm, comfortable, good traction.

I love these boots. At first I thought the Vibram Arctic sole was a gimmick but it amazes me. You don’t realize how well it works until wearing different boots/shoes on the same slick terrain.

I add Lacrosse wool insoles to my winter boots and feet never get cold.

Gary wrote:

Ben,

All of us in this forum have better engineering skills then the Garmin pole guy.

2 redneck engineering options that I’ve done because I couldn’t find an aftermarket pole at the time.

1. Basic $10 dollar mod to the joke pole. Get a bullseye level, tape, and 4 eyebolt screws(3” to 6”). Get creative on length of screws.

Step 1. Glue the bullseye level on the Garmin W base.

Step 2. Stop the pole wobble. The pole wobbles all over because there is a 1/4 gap between the poles and the Garmin W base. I just unscrewed the poles and wrapped masking tape 7-8 times around the the top of the pole that the Garmin W goes on top of. Again get creative to stop the pole wiggle. Simple masking tape solved it for me.

Step 3. Screw the eyebolts in the 4 predrilled holes that are already on that sweet Garmin W base. Level if needed on the ice.

Step 4. Celebrate and apply for the Garmin pole design team.

2. A DIY pole. You can’t do worse then the joke pole so get creative. The summit mount is just a telescopic pole with a tripod base.

I just had one of those smaller telescoping painter poles in the garage. I mounted the transducer to the pole. I had an old camera tripod that the painter pole went through. I glued a bullseye level on top of the pole. Made a free redneck livescope pole that actually worked great.

My wonderful daughter somehow found a summit pole mount for me. Only mod I made was to glue a bullseye level on the top of the pole.

Awesome!!!! Thanks!

I’ll definitely do that.

Gary wrote:

Like ranger said it’s all about how the transducer is positioned. Great explanation in that post. Everyone who has a livescope/panoptics or live target or humminbird version coming out should read his post.

It doesnt matter if the transducer is for livescope, panoptics, live target or one that mounts on a boat. If it’s not mounted right and/or pointing in the proper direction your gonna have issues.

A pole and mount are responsible for how a livescope or panoptic transducer is mounted/positioned. So if your pole and/or mount is garbage then…it’s always going to be a struggle between is it my settings or is it my transducer not positioned correctly.

Long story short—get a proper mount if you don’t have one, and get rid of that Garmin pole or modify it so you can make the slight adjustments per Rangers post.

Is there an aftermarket pole/mount setup that you recommend?

I was checking out the Summit after watching a Jay Siemens video but all sold out so next ice seasons purchase.

My buddies play bags with a twist. The use weatherproof bags that float

Drill 2 holes that are opposite of each other.

Bring the plow trucks up and put the blade in scoop config. Then pull the plow truck up to the back of the hole so there is a “V” backstop.

Pretty fun.

Matt Moen wrote:

I have the 8″ k drill and it’ll damn near break your arm opening old holes. You can grind through them but when they catch you better be ready.

I’ve been happy with the K drill but if you also have to buy a new drill I’d get a Strikemaster.

Ha ha!!

I can attest to this!!

Last March I grabbed a buddies k drill to drill a hole. Ice was thick.

When I was able to have the drill anchored against my body it was fine. Could tell it was rough cutting but going ok.

Had to squat down for the last little bit and the drill wasn’t supported as well. Auger caught and drill kept a spinning. There was a loud snap, I got hot/sweaty and thought I was gonna puke. Detonated the 4th metacarpal in my Right hand.

Happened at 0930. We were into some seriously nice crappies so I came off the ice at 230 to head to urgent care.

The lake is behind my house through the woods and we boondock the snowmobiles through the woods to get there.

Interesting ride back to say the least.

I won’t touch another k drill again if it doesn’t have an extension.

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mahtofire14 wrote:

Turn off auto depth if it is on. Make sure it is set to manual and set it about 5 feet deeper than the depth you plan to fish. Should solve the problem.

This was my experience as well. Along with shutting it off and then back on when all else fails.

BackwaterICE wrote:

https://marcumtech.com/product/lithium-shuttle-battery-replacement/ shows what the lithium battery in the shuttle looks like – no you can’t put a sla sized lithium in the shuttle

Interesting!

Thanks for the picture!

So it looks like that’s just a big 3 cell lipo Rc battery. I run 3 cell 11.1v lipos in my rc crawler so that’s My reason for saying this.

So that “should” fully charge to around 12.6 volts +\- and conservatively cutoff at 10.2 volts or so.

That clears a lot up about the marcum shuttle.

For the guys that have the Helix/shuttle combo I’d just run it and see what you can get out of it.

If a full day can be attained with no issues I wouldn’t worry.

It’s going to be a different experience than a 12v sla style battery.

That is just my thoughts. I could be way off.

As mentioned the battery percentage left on the Helix unit is no longer accurate with a Lithium. You have to go by voltage on the unit.

The Amped’s in my Helix and Panoptix start off at 14.4-14.5v then will slowly drop to 13.5-13.3v and then stay there for hours.

At 11.5v the units shut off. Party is over.

The runtime in the panoptix is 24hrs from full charge to dead. No idea on my Helix as I’ve never did a runtime experiment.

That is a great deal!

I have the walleye snare and Avenger 500 bait feeder set up and love it!

It is awesome for Crappies. Just lift the rod up to set the hook.

The charger should work just fine.

Fully charged my neighbors old style 15ah Norsk reads 14.4-14.5v.

Same for my Amped’s.

So I would put a voltmeter on it and see where you are at.

I don’t know anything about a battery needing to go through a couple deplete/charge cycles before 100% capacity. I’ve never experienced that.

Maybe give Norsk a call and ask.

Thanks for the video James!!

Amped Outdoors all the way for me.

You get a lot for the price point compared to the other brands.

I’m running their 12ah in my Helix5 and couldn’t be happier. All day with brightness turned up pretty high on sunny days is a non issue.

I got their 18ah for my Panoptix last week and the weight savings is ridiculous. Around 6 pound difference vs stock. I contacted them regarding if the stated weight was accurate and they said yes. Battery showed up and absolutely accurate. Dakotas 18ah weighs almost 2x more and is more expensive.

I have yet to put that through its paces yet.

As far as charging. I used the Helix for an hour a couple weeks ago playing with the maps.

When I was done the voltage read 13.x volts. I hooked up the stock Humminbird charger and it slowly
Charged it up to 14.5v and stopped. By stopped I mean voltage quit increasing but the charger light was still orange. I put my Amped 4a lithium charger on it and light went green. So it’s doable I think. Just slow. I’ll try that again after a full days use. I’m sure that was the battery management system kicking in, the reason it stopped.

It looks like Amped’s are available on Thorne Bros site. How accurate that is, I don’t know.

You can’t go wrong with any lithium.
Increased run time and substantial weight loss, what’s not to love!

So I did a quasi experiment.

Ran my Humminbird on simulator for around an hour checking out the lake map of the lake behind my house.

I have a 12ah Amped in the Humminbird.

I left the unit on and hooked the stock Humminbird charger up to it. Battery was sitting at 13.5v on the display.

It slowly,and I mean slowly, charged it up to 14.5v and stopped charging. By stopped charging, I mean the voltage stopped increasing on the battery and not the light turning green on the charger.

I take it that was the battery management system of the battery that stopped the charging.

I unhooked the Hummingbird charger and hooked up the lithium charger. Charger light went green, indicating battery fully charged.

So I figure it is possible to fully charge a lithium with a 1A SLA charger. You have to go by battery voltage though. Which you should already have setup anyways on your Humminbird and the Garmin shows voltage from the factory.

Next question is how fast do you want your battery charged.

Here are the different specs between my Old Amped lithium charger and Humminbird charger. Panoptix charger specs identical to Humminbird.

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I have the amped 12ah and 18ah. I only use their lithium chargers.

Their 3A charger showed up yesterday with both the Garmin plug and alligator clip connectors.

Seems well built and actually more solid than their 4A chargers I’ve had before.

I really like the ability to swap out different connectors.

For the price point I don’t think it can be beat.

LiFePO4 lithium Battery 3A Charger

Boots at door.

Rubber bottom sorel slippers

I saw a guy on YouTube turn his helix 10 into an ice unit.

He used a tackle bag for the case.

Great video

ETA-

I love my helix 5.

It takes some tinkering and has some quirks every now and then but it is awesome.

I 100% agree with being able to scout out spots with lakemaster while sitting on the couch.

I picked up a 12ah amped lithium battery this winter and I highly recommend it. Between the weight savings and much longer run time it’s been a huge improvement.

Yes. Voltage indicator on the helix. Regular battery % is not accurate the voltage is.

This is how to enable it courtesy of wormdunker.

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I picked up a small adjustable multi angle clamp from amazon.

I secure the clamp to base of the carrying bag.

When not in use I put the glow ring in with the transducer and the clamp in my bucket.

Works well.

ETA-this is the clamp I got. I mounted the glow ring mount to one of the attachments. Then I reamed out the vexilar mount with a drill bit so the cup can slide in and out.

https://www.amazon.com/UTEBIT-Articulating-Friction-Photography-Monitor/dp/B07GMZRT7L/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=utebit+7+inch+articulating+friction+arm&qid=1582645080&sprefix=utebit+7&sr=8-3

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My neighbor built a set using a pair of tractor trailer mud flaps, pronged tee blind nuts and bolts.

I can’t recall the spacing but there are a lot per flap. The bolt heads dig into the ice and the tires get traction from the bolt and blind nut.

Work very well.

Absolutely works.

Dug out a bunch of my small inline spinners for a weekend fishing trip beginning of the month.

My buddy hooked his camera up to the TV in his wheel house so we could see what the lures did.

As mentioned raise up, lower the rod and the blade flutters on its trip down.

No issue with tangles at all.

Caught a few perch doing this.

I love my Helix 5.

After the latest update I have target separation between a spoon and bare drop chain in 16 and 20 feet of water.

I too watched every single video I could find for settings. I found that those are a good starting point but ultimately it comes down to monkeying with it on the ice as you are using it. I am changing settings all the time based upon what jig, spoon, lipless bait I am using.

I am running mine in clear mode.

Also zero interference issues when running 6 feet from a Vexilar. Running right next to another Helix gets squirrely but you are able to tune it so it’s not so bad.

First time on the ice yesterday with the Amped 12ah.

About 12 hours on my Helix 5 and Vex glow ring. Voltage started at 13.5 and was 13.1 at the end. The stock SLA battery would have been crushed at that point.

Absolutely tickled with the performance and highly recommend any Lithium battery actually. You can’t go wrong.

wormdunker wrote:

Going to share some info that may help others.

I picked up an ice helix 7 chirp G3N all season.

Existing sw release 2.030. Upon registering the unit, I received email notification indicating a sw update was available.

Visited the HB site, sure enough 2.148 was available for helix 7 chirp g3n. I attempted to load it several times (by the book and with proper SD card) via micro 32 g3n series 10
SD to no avail, unit did not recognize any update. I popped open my FishSmart app to attempt to load via Bluetooth. My new unit was listed in the app but no sw update available.

I called Humminbird and learned the ICE helix 7 chirp G3N is not the same as plain helix 7 chirp g3n. If an update is available I needed totrack the Ice helix updates. So I open the “ice Helix” option on the sw page of the HB website, no update listed for the ice helix chirp G3N.

Turns out units purchased as ice helix 7’s will always follow the ICE helix update path whether it is in ice mode or open water mode.

I leaned there is no update for the ICE helix 7 chirp g3n at this time.

Just when you thought you knew everything. Hope this info helps someone.

Wormdunker,

I experienced this last weekend.

I had my friends dad’s Helix 7 home to update. I told him I would take it home, update it and tinker with the settings. Id bring it back out on the lake to him the next day.

Originally I downloaded the update from the standard Helix 7 section. Absolutely no luck when installing SD card in unit.

I then downloaded the appropriate update from the ICE Helix section. Perfect. Installed without a hitch.

I have only installed the updates from the Ice Helix section for my Helix 5 and never had any issues.

Interesting to say the least.

Walleyeguy34 wrote:

Just got an amped outdoors 12V 12ah lithium battery for my helix 7 g3n. When I go to look at the voltage reading on the helix it reads 0.0. I know that they battery level always reads 100% on a lithium battery but is the voltage reading supposed to read 0.0?

I charged my amped 12ah last night.

This is what it just read.

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______________ wrote:

The only thing negative I can say about Amped, he’s changed the charger options a few times. The first charger i got is the better of the ones I’ve seen more recently. My buddy got one that looks downright jenky, but is 4a. I heard he has new 4a and 8a on the way, so maybe better again soon?

I received my 12ah Amped and 4a charger yesterday.

The charger seems pretty good. Does not look like the picture on the website.

Only one indicator light on it that goes from amber to green and the unit has an internal fan.

Charger automatically shuts off when battery is fully charged.

ETA – The difference in weight between the Amped and stock SLA battery is crazy. I love how it lightened up my helix unit.

Cameron white wrote:

No real way to test the charger. I use a noco 3500 myself, way better than the factory ones, and has a lithium setting. The 1100 does as well.

Thanks for that noco mention.

I checked them out and they have some really cool products!

wormdunker wrote:

With lithium batteries you need to monitor voltage vs %. Battery % is not going to provide you with the info you need. To see voltage you need to make the digits view visible, turn OFF overlay, turn on boxes. Next select voltage in readouts.

You will now have the ability to view voltage in 2d and navigation views. You will NOT see voltage ever in flasher view, it is not possible.

Voltage range is usually 13.5-14 volts for full charge and about 10 volts dead. No battery expert but that is what I find on my 12amp amped outdoor battery.

Thank you for the tip Wormdunker!!!

I have an amped outdoors 12amp battery showing up this week and was wondering how to check the voltage. Wasn’t to thrilled about adding a multi meter into the mix.

I have a 500 Avenger on my Jt Walleye snare.

As mentioned bait feeders on dead sticks are awesome!

I did the update Friday night on my helix 5 and went out Saturday. Very nice improvement!

I don’t have to use as much gain or contrast now.

Battery life seems to of taken a small hit though. Going to be lithium time soon.