Have you guys found that the down screen fish finders are better at finding structure and fish? Thinking about upgrading from my old Hummingbird units.
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Have you guys found that the down screen fish finders are better at finding structure and fish? Thinking about upgrading from my old Hummingbird units.
I have down and side, love them both. Its def a step up and helps a lot.
They night not be better finding structure but it sure is easier to see what it is.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...pscktihicd.jpg
This is a stump in 2D on my Helix 10.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...psua3ln7qb.jpg
This is the same stump on Down Image. Sorry for the less than perfectly clear photos. They were taken by my phone rather than screen shots off the Helix.
Thanks. The down image shot is definitely easier to read. I can't understand how a "down shot" shows the stump from the side. But I like it better!
I've shown those pics to some non-fishing friends and they accused me of cheating. The Helix is light-years ahead of what I used for years. I go all the way back to the green-box Lowrance flasher then used Humminbird Super 60 and 30 during much of my bass tournament days. I did get into the Lowrance and Eagle paper graphs, which I said were the best locators I had ever owned until I bought this new Helix. I have A Humminbird 1199 HD DI/SI on the console.
You like the Helix better than the 1199?Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdux
I bought a 999 last year. I wish I would've waited. So far I'm not satisfied with mine.
Honestly, I'm rigging a new boat to start guiding and haven't ran either unit many hours. I'm not as big a user of SI as many here and the DI on the 1199 is computer generated. I have been amazed at the detail shown on the Helix 10 DI/GPS. I've ran 788, 898,998s and now the 1199. I knew what the unit was capable of and what it was not. I just wanted the largest screen I could afford on both units. I will say the Helix 10 is SO MUCH brighter and clearer in my mind.I don't want a SI unit on the bow.Quote:
Originally Posted by tcounty
Here are more and some clearer pics from a thread I started; I'm using a LakeMaster v3 card and the green area next to the boat icon is a flat that had 6 or so feet of water on top at winter pool.
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/fishi...elix10-di-gps/
I'm reading this to mean the helix 10 is a true DI and not a computer rengeneration of other sonar is that correct?Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdux
That is correct. That is also why I wanted the dedicated DI on my bow. Rickie (rnvinc) is my cousin and also one of the most knowledgeable folks out there when it comes to fishing electronics and why they do what they do. He has commented on this same thread on the electronics forum. Me? I just want to turn the thing on and see what I need to see. I could care less WHY it does what it does.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boatbottom
Dang ... I had to come all the way to Mississippi whew ... Just kidding ... Doug asked me to pop in and help ...
HB SI core units do not have a "down pointing" piezo ... HB DI units do ...
Therefore the DI image in a SI core unit is a computer generated blend of the left and right SI image ...
In my seminars I like to explain HB imaging Sonar beams (DI and SI) as similar to a flashlight ... Casting a thin slice beam ..
If we take a flashlight and shine it at our shoes (as in a HB DI unit) ... Our shoes would be very bright ...
If we take a flashlight in each hand and shine them at our buddies shoes standing next to us (as in a HB SI unit) ... No amount of computer generating can make our own shoes very bright ...because neither flashlight is illuminating our own shoes very well ...
DI from a dedicated "down pointing" piezo will always be better than "DI from SI" ...simply because a DI piezo is pointing right at the stuff directly under the boat ... The SI piezoes are pointing at the stuff out to the sides ...
Rickie
So do the Helix 9, 10, and 12 all have dedicated DI?
The dedicated DI, SI piezo's have been in the Lowrance units all along. That's why you get a separate sonar ducer. I wish I could get some lessons on the Lowrance units. I know there was a guy in the Kentucky Lake area that gives some lessons, but don't remember who he is.
Can't wait to install their new 3D Structure Scan. My new demo units will ship tomorrow.
The new Garmin PanOptics is awesome, but I didn't have a connection to get a deal on them better than my Lowrance deal.
Why is it on EVERY Humminbird thread we have to hear how much better Lowrance is????
We are just telling you where you went wrong just kidding.
There are HELIX SI in 5, 7, 9, 10, and 12 that have "DI from SI" (no DI piezo) ...Quote:
Originally Posted by Rees Guide
There are HELIX DI in 5, 7, 9, 10, and 12 that have dedicated DI (no SI piezoes) ...
ONIX is the only HB SI unit that has both SI piezoes and a dedicated DI piezo in the same xducer ...
Rickie
LolQuote:
Originally Posted by sinkermaker
Thanks Ricki
Learn something new on here every day!
Never said it was better. Just said their side and down imaging used separate piezo's.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rees Guide
Thread title didn't say anything about a brand either. It ask a general question about down imaging units.
I also mentioned the Garmin units.
Is there any significant diff between helix 10 di gps and helix 9 di gps other than sizeQuote:
Originally Posted by rnvinc
Not much difference in size either when you see them side by side like we did at the show, 12 looks like a TV!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Boatbottom
Priced higher than a tv!
Same size cabinet, same size cable collector, same size gimbal mount ...Quote:
Originally Posted by Boatbottom
Different size screen ...
No difference in functionality ...
Rickie
Just get separate DI and SI birds and jam them on your console.
And you got a quality system
LOL
just ordered a Helix 7 for the front of my boat. Humminbird wants sixty bucks to exchange transducers. They said you can by a bracket that will let you mount your transom mount to the trolling motor for 24 $. Any experience with this. My thought is buy the trolling motor transducer. I already spent 600 for helix and map card whats another sixty and I know it will work. Thoughts please?
I bought the same mount on amazon for 14 bucks and free shipping and mounted transom transducer on TM.....works great
So the down image from a helix si unit is less quality than the down image model ? got to spell it out for me lol . I thought the down image looked good .I have the helix-5 si .( has sonar/di/si)Quote:
Originally Posted by footballcoach
What I'm getting from it is that on all HB's, when the unit is si and di combined, the down image is a regeneration made from the side image picture and is not near the quality of the pure di unit.
Core and Helix. Correct. Can't say for the Onix.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boatbottom
Correct ... Read my post #10 in this same thread ...Quote:
Originally Posted by eagle 1
Rickie
Which HELIX 7 ...??Quote:
Originally Posted by footballcoach
HELIX 7 Sonar GPS ...
HELIX 7 DI GPS ...
HELIX 7 SI GPS ...
Rickie
Are the new Helix models networkable? I know the ones last year were not.
helix 7 DI gps. I would appreciate your imput Rickie
I know the Helix 10 is.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine
9, 10 and 12 all are.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine
Rees is right as usual. 9,10,12 are networkable. The 7 is not. Would not make a big difference to me as I would not know how to do it. You boys in Miss are a lot more high tech than me. I'm barely past using a big lead sinker and string for depth finder. I'm a decent football coach and pretty fair crappie fisherman but even though I live in Alabama I don't work in Huntsville for NASA. I wish I was more technologically adept but the Lord gives us different gifts. Tight lines to all you guys
Coach, its pretty simple if you are just hooking 2 things together, after that it gets a little more complicated, switch box ect ect.
Networking only takes a cable and a few settings changes. No big high tech stuff needed.
I went several years with my fishing buddies in my ear about me using low-tech locators.My argument was this: I don't want to have to learn how to use them.Quote:
Originally Posted by footballcoach
I started out basic with a 788C gps/2d. As I got better at setting it up, I went to better and better units, buying good used units that fit my budget. Well, Ol' BRM blew my budget for several years and I have rigged out my new Excel with new 1199HD and a Helix10. I also have an ace in the hole who happens to be my 1st cousin, rnvinc (Rickie). Any time he steps in my boat, the 1st thing he does is start playing with my Humminbirds. His 1st question is---"What do you want to see?" Anything else is just clutter and is hidden wherever that delete button puts it.
With so many new models coming out, a lot of good used core HB units are showing up for sale at a fraction of their new costs. You asked about networking? My units are networked and all it is is a cable that is much too expensive for what it is that is hooked to both units. In the network mode, they share info. In my case that info is waypoints on one are shared with the other but not stored on both. Only problem is if you forget about the sharing and turn one off, all waypoints that were saved on the unit that you turned off will not show up on the unit that is running. Put all waypoints onto both units, you will get duplicate marks for each waypoint.
I will say the high-tech electronics has made me a MUCH better fisherman than before I started using them. I have no desire to go back to the Super60 of my past.
BTW, my brother lives in Huntsville and works on the Redstone. Not for NASA. He also could care less about why the Humminbirds work, just that they help us catch a lot of crappie.
The HELIX 7 DI GPS comes stock with the XNT 9 DI T ...Quote:
Originally Posted by footballcoach
The trolling motor puck version of that same xducer is the XTM 9 DI 25 T ...same beams angles - different housing shaped to fit a trolling motor with a hose clamp ... It also has internal shielding for possible RFI (you may or may not have RFI issues) ...
Humminbird | XTM 9 DI 25 T
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...psbqgrj8t0.jpg
The AD XTM 9 adapter will mount the stock XNT 9 DI T xducer to the TM ... But it's not as sturdy a Setup as the puck exchange ...
Humminbird | AD XTM 9
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps0kca4qhe.png
Rickie