Helix 5si

Wondering if any of you guys have any pros or cons. Is it useful here in the south fishing mainly shallow waters I'm looking to mount a unit on my bow and just wondering if the side imaging is helpful or not so much.

I mounted mine on my trolling motor against the advise of the salesman at Bass Pro. He was trying to tell me I couldn't or wouldn't be able to tell anything about anything cause "you'd be turning the trolling motor all the time". Well, I can and do see what I wanted to see with the side view. I keep mine on side view both left and right and if I want to see what is coming up, I just turn the trolling motor a half turn and let it scan for a little bit. I mostly single pole fish, hunting downed timber and tops. Works great for me. Good luck and good fishing.

I was told for the price it's a good unit. Superior trolling motor in Lafayette. Sells them and I have heard good things about them

Thanks guys just something i was looking at but Derek from the looks of your posts I just have to follow you around then who needs sonar

Lol I use mine mostly for depth and water temp.

I have one mounted one my trolling motor. I like it but it is hard to read in bright sun. needs to be elevated

Use a ram mount so you can adjust it

Attachment 207497
EZ-Poleholder on MS board made the mount for mine....swivels and is height adjustable

be nice to have a mount for those crappie nibbles on the rod holder so you wouldn't have to bend down as far.

That's a lot of hardware to catch fish with. What's the little basket for?

Maybe a drink holder? yes, no

Anything you want...crappie nibbles....a drink....cell phone, cigars....whatever you want to put in them

I put one on my trolling motor. It works good. Mine has gps and down image. I dont have Side image on helix 5 . I have side image on the back in a 898 .. I find for the money its a pretty good unit.

I have the Helix 5 si/di, I use it as my main gps and to scan for structure. The hummingbird standard mapping is garbage, I purchased Hotmaps premuim card. It works much better with that. Even with the map card purchase it's still cheaper than a Lowrance unit with the same features. I will say that the Lowrance has better map option though. Overall I have been satisfied with the helix, I fish Henderson, Pigeon, and the marsh(Delacroix, Dularge, Grand Isle)
pigeon area the maps don't work well, but it will cut a track so you don't get lost.
I also talked with a Humminbird rep at the sportsman show, he showed me how to optimize the settings for the imagery, be sure to put the unit in advanced mode. Any other questions hit me up, I've had it since they first hit the shelf.

Thank you all for the info now any help or idea how to explain this to the wife

Use the we won't get lost excuse!! Mine girl still asks me all the time, do you know where you are going?!? I tell her we've always made it back right!

A 5" screen isn't really efficient when trying to locate fish. You'll find yourself leaning over. I'd get a minimum of a 7"

The 5 works for me as it is mounted on my dash. A bigger screen would always be nice, howeverat the price point of the Helix you can't beat it.

Mikehinthehouse ok I just bought the helix 7 I had to wait a while for it but I have it anything I should know about the settings on day 1 as far as optimizing it?

Change it from standard modd to advanced, once you do that you can really tweak the sensitivity of the Di/si sonar. Also I find that the blue color palette is the easiest to read and see in the sun. I have a lil quick card somewhere that has the optimum settings for sensitivity I will find and post I for from it