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I've been playing with the unit for a while now and can't get it to clearly show trees, logs etc that I know are on the bottom of the lake. I didn't know about upgrading to the hdsi sonar before opening the package so I'm using the stock sonar that came with the unit so is that the problem or is something else going on?
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Not sure about the 9, but my Helix 10 shows trees and other items great. Ran across some spots today. That on my old 987c-Si you could tell something was there. But on the 10 it looked more like a picture. Showed a drop with a tree haning off it. And could see every fish hanging around the tree. Same for an old Dock, that isi flipped upside down. Been laying there for 8 or so years. On my old unit it showed it enough you could see the floor joist on it. But today with the 10. We could see the cracks between the floor boards. Its in 25ft of water and was washed in there in high waters. Unreal how much these new units are over the older ones.
Pete
Hard to know what you mean by not seeing them clearly, snap a pic of what you are seeing and it will help.
If you mean they are too small to see clearly, try bringing the SI range in to 40-60 ft. It makes everything much "bigger" on the screen. I have also found that using the SI only screen and switching to the triple view only when I see something snazzy right under the boat makes better use of the big screen. If you are running a bank or looking at laydowns try using right or left side only, that way you get double the screen size showing whatever it is you want to see.
I have been toying with the idea of using the contour mode where it doesn't show the water column in the center to further enhance the size of the returns but haven't done so yet.
As far as brightness turn it up to the point where the lake floor looks really hot or bright white and then back off until you can see details clearly.
Not a Helix user yet but what I had to learn on my first SI unit was to turn the sensitivity down, like to 4-6. I mostly fish clear water, soft bottom lakes with little to no features along the bottom, all less then 40' deep in the deepest parts. To my eyes, it became easier to find both fish and what little structure there was when I went below the middle setting on both contrast and sensitivity. It will depend on the color pallet you choose where you end up.
On the small screen of my 598, 60' is about the max when looking for structure and when looking for fish I'm usually below 50 because the fish dots are so small. That new Helix 9 should be awesome when you get it figured out.
Don't give up, play back your recordings time after time with different settings. You'll get it and then you'll say "Wow".
The most common oversight I see with my Sonar students is leaving the SI unit in Default for Chart speed ..which is 5 ...
This Chart speed (5) is way too fast for most SI scanning ... and merely "smears" the data on the SI image ...
Match Chart speed to boat speed ...
Rickie
I guess what I mean is nothing is showing up. Every now and then you can see a bright white spot that I assume is a fish but other than that I'm not getting any detail on the screen. Definitely not seeing brush or logs that I know for sure are down there. I've got the chart speed set at 3 which is how fast I run the boat, sensitivity at 11, contrast at 8 and SI range at 50 but nothing is showing up. When I go this weekend I'll take a picture to post. Maybe I'm just expecting too much but I see screen shots of the same unit and you can clearly see brush and fish on them.
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Have you made any recordings of your trips so far that you can play back at home? If not, get an SD card and record some moving images. I like to use 8-10 minute segments for experimenting back at the house.
Playing with those recordings from waters I actually fish later at leisure at home and pushing buttons was my best learning.
Make sure you got by some stuff visible above water and see what it looks like under water. Tree tops, standing timber, boat ramps etc. I just upgraded to a helix 10 from a 899 to get bigger screen and clearer pics. But I could still see everything on my 899 with standard ducer.
Yeah you made the same mistake as me. You have to upgrade to the HDSI Transducer to get the really clear pictures. The salesman didn't tell me this info at the time of purchase. I have the Helix 9 SI and swore the unit was bad. With a little research I found out I needed to upgrade the transducer and make a few adjustments in the settings according to the lake you're fishing. Once you open the new unit Humminbird will not give you a full refund or exchange on the transducer. Your best bet is to keep the old transducer in case of emergency.
Thanks, I was afraid that was the case. I'll keep tinkering with it just a little bit longer before I spend the $200 but I'm afraid ill have to spend it eventually.Quote:
Originally Posted by Perk1964
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I have the upgraded ducer. I did upgrade at point of purchase just because it is cheaper. But I normally ALWAYS run mine on the 455khz. Which is the same khz setting your basic transducer uses. You should be getting beautiful images even at the 455khz with that unit. Make sure in your menu that you have the right transducer selected. Believe it should be the SI compact (if im wrong on the selection someone correct me please). If all that is matched correctly plus what is mentioned above....then the structure is just not there. If it is there.....the graph will show it. You have a great unit.....now "trust" it.
The correct setting for the stock XNT 9 SI 180 T (Compact Sidescan xducer) is listed under the "Connected Transducer" menu (under the Sonar tab) as simply "Sidescan" ...
This setting enables the 83kHz/200kHz transmit frequencies for 2d and the 455kHz transmit frequency for SI/Blended DI ...
Rickie
For the Helix 9 SI, the default setting for Connected Transducer should be for the compact transducer ("Sidescan"). If you upgrade to the HDSI transducer, you will need to change the Connected Transducer setting. Also, anytime thereafter if you reset factory defaults then you will need to change the Connected Transducer setting.
cjones,on your helix si ,if the brushpile is old,small limbs,not in water colum and if hard bottom ,it will not show you those limbs,yours or theres.what you have to do to help you on older brush is to train your eyes and the best way to do this is to find a good pile and put a marker on it ,then go over it just far enough that it will not be in water column,stop unit by hitting cursor,then adjust it as good as you can,after that look at it until you know what you are seeing,it will usually be a light spot with a little shadow behind it.do not range out too far and for practice ,just use one side to give you a bigger pic.go by it at different angles and see how well you can pick it up with unit and with your eyes.All of us have a tendercy to think of our units as greater than they are,we see fish and brush that just jumps out on the screen but fail to take into account all those times that we miss seeing piles that we pass by.practice is going to be your greatest friend,and being alone is the best way unless you have someone more knowledgeable than you going with you
Cjones, did you make it out this weekend? How did it go?
Made it out but shortly into my trip hit a piece of debris in the water and spun the hub on the prop so the trip got cut short. Hope to have it fixed and back out Saturday so hopefully I have a report this weekend.
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Finally got out and got to use the unit a little. I appreciate the help because the wrong transducer was selected and a couple of other things that were mentioned needed adjusted as well. Still not seeing the brush/fish like I thought I would(based on others pictures I see posted) but still trying to train my eyes and get it a little more fine tuned. I forgot to take a screen shot but will try to do that and post it. Thanks again for the help.
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It is worthy of note that most of the pictures people post of side imaging are when they run over something really cool looking. Like right over it. It is easy to see stuff right under the boat on SI because it basically looks just like a regular display. When you view things way out to the side they look wierd most of the time and there is nothing to be done about it but figure out how to interpret the image. This is coming from someone who is still learning btw so dont think i am being holier than thou.