You go in to the snapshot and recording view (while you are on the water of course!) and hit menu and tell it to begin recording and hit menu and stop recording when you want to stop. Just be sure to have a blank SD card in there and lock your Lakemaster card so you don't accidentally write to it. You can switch views while you record and fish with no problem. It really is a wonderful option to have. The more you play with it off the water the easier it will become to understand it.

The PDF manual that came with my Helix 10 is very informative, more so than the little booklet that came in the box. Or maybe I downloaded it from the humminbird site, don't remember.

I know from my own experience that it seems overwhelming to you right now but with it running in front of you, either on the water or on the couch, it WILL become less daunting.