I have been kicking around the idea of upgrading my electronics on my boat. I mostly crappie fish but bass fish also. I would like to have side imaging for locating crappie under docks. What unit would you recommend?
Electronics upgrade
- Thread starter Rackseeker
- Start date
X-Tennessean
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- Jul 14, 2009
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Rackseeker":2h7p0qno said:
What are you currently running/familiar with?
I use Humminbird Helix 10 Mega units primarily because it all links with my trolling motor and such and Humminbirds are what I started with.
They are all great units and each have their own attributes. I know several who utilize multiple brands on their boats.
I am primarily a crappie fisherman and catfish.
I have a older Hummingbird now, I cant recall the model. I will only be running one unit and no need to be linked to trolling motor. Looking for a unit fairly easy to set up and operate, side imaging and down imaging. Would like to stay under/around $1000.
I use a helix 7 and they're pretty ready to go out of the box. Just read the instructions to get a feel for it. The transducer was the worst part of it for me. Id look at a helix 7 or 10 or some of the other brands that size. If i thought i would use side imaging alot i would try to get the bigger screen for sure. The SI is better on a larger screen.
wobblegobble
Well-Known Member
Rackseeker":1xgjulxk said:
To me the Garmins are the easiest and best!!! I run Lowrance but When I upgrade it's going to be Garmin next.
for the money and if you think you may want panoptix later then garmin is hard to beat for a 9" unit. even better when they go for $599 on sale sometimes. garmins included mapping is good out of the box, as compared to having to pay extra for descent mapping on the other brands and gps tracking is really good. that said there are some limitations to garmin and lowrance side imaging as compared to humminbird's detail and settings tweaks. it is not a know how or engineering failure on the part of garmin or lowrance but a patent limitation set by humminbird. BUT, garmin and lowrance is designed to show fish returns more than structure or cover detail.
if you want 1.2 mega imaging, it makes more sense to buy a helix unit when the garmins arent on sale, but then again helix doesnt have panoptix option. garmins have an array of transducer choices even for the 93sv line. this is an apples to apples comparison between comparable units like the helix, elite ti/hds and echomap series. the upper range units are a different comparison.
this scenario is what is making garmin and panoptix attractive. drop your trolling motor and scan under docks. find a school of fish, cast to fish, watch your bait fall to fish and see the fish take bait. no more wondering whether those white marks on a side scan is fish or debris.
open water, drop trolling motor and scan with panoptix(100-200 ft) and see a school of fish. creep up to fish, cast to fish, see bait fall, see fish take bait, catch fish. move with the school of fish and continue to catch fish.(this is key to prespawn crappie because they are on the move and not staying in one spot too long)
it picks up brush piles and other structure/cover as well.
good luck
if you want 1.2 mega imaging, it makes more sense to buy a helix unit when the garmins arent on sale, but then again helix doesnt have panoptix option. garmins have an array of transducer choices even for the 93sv line. this is an apples to apples comparison between comparable units like the helix, elite ti/hds and echomap series. the upper range units are a different comparison.
this scenario is what is making garmin and panoptix attractive. drop your trolling motor and scan under docks. find a school of fish, cast to fish, watch your bait fall to fish and see the fish take bait. no more wondering whether those white marks on a side scan is fish or debris.
open water, drop trolling motor and scan with panoptix(100-200 ft) and see a school of fish. creep up to fish, cast to fish, see bait fall, see fish take bait, catch fish. move with the school of fish and continue to catch fish.(this is key to prespawn crappie because they are on the move and not staying in one spot too long)
it picks up brush piles and other structure/cover as well.
good luck
If you know what your looking at on si lowrance and humminbird are close.The new mega just makes it pop alittle more for the less experienced user in my opinion.Im around helix 12 gen 1 and helix gen 2 mega a pretty good bit and i have a hds 10 gen 2 as my console unit.I have a gen 2 9 touch lowrance and a helix 10 with 360 at the bow at the moment.Ive never been around garmins and dont know a whole lot about them,but im thinking about adding a garmin 9in with livescope this year.If i do 3 units up front[emoji23]ill probally run over someone when im at the trolling motor[emoji23]WTM":wlxf2vvh said:
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larry ipock
Well-Known Member
Got a question. What do you do with the old depth finders? Never could sell them for a fair price, and don't want o give em away either? That's what holds me back on upgrading.
larry ipock
Well-Known Member
Got a question. What to do with the older depthfinders? Can't get a fair price for them, and don't want to give em away either. Thats what keeps me from upgrading.
bluball":h90fu6fu said:
well thats basically what i said, lol. pick a unit for what you are willing to spend and fish on. each have their nuiances at their respective price points. as far as comparing units head to head, you have to compare them with the same size mfd mainly because up to a 9" unit they all use the same display resolution pretty much. the same goes for a 10" and 12" comparison because they have different resolutions, or pixels per square inch. raymarine kind of solves this by using different types of diplay panel between their different sized displays.
as far as xducer detail ability, its fore to aft beam width angle pretty much tells you what you need to know at what frequncy. the smaller the angle, the more details that xducer can produce. lowrance has the highest at 2.8/1.4, garmin gt52/cv52 (stock xducer) is in the middle at 2/1 and humminbird is somewhere around 1/.5. garmins gt40 and gt50 are 1.1/.7 and you can tell the difference on a head to head comparison as these two have definately better detail.
i will say, from an engineering perspective, how humminbird is able to accomplish those razor thin beamwidths with such a small xducer.
x
edit: looking at the helix 8 and 9, 2019 models, it looks like they upped the resolution to 1024x600, which makes sense and hope the other brands follow suit. if you have ever compared a 7" unit to a 9" unit of the same resolution, to me at least, the 7" images will appear to look a little better.
