Originally Posted by jethro, post: 10485963, member: 21734

I own 4 Humminbird sonars. A portable PirahnaMax 160, a 581hd ci, an ICE55 and now have been using a Helix 5 HD SI GPS for 2015. They are all great devices but the Helix is really an amazing machine. Mine works flawlessly. If you have bad eyes I do not for the life of me understand why you are saying you'd prefer a grey scale unit. I can only imagine this is a typo and you meant the reverse? The reason I have the helix is because the 581 was grey scale and the color units are so much more unbelievably easier to see. I had to buy a color device after using my 581 for a year. The difference is so much that I would tell people to use no sonar at all until you can save enough to buy a color unit. With the color units I can know what's going on in a single glance, with a grey scale unit it takes a few seconds of interpretation. Even the menus are easier to use. The color screens are also just simply better quality. Sharper edges on the lettering... I severely suggest the color screen.


If you are looking for a true 5" + widescreen model then there is really nothing else to look at. I can promise you that next year Lowrance will do something because Humminbird stole the entire sub $400 market with the Helix line, but for now you are limited to the 'Bird. And it's not a bad thing. If I had to say one bad thing about Humminbird, the company is not very helpful after your warranty period is up. Technically they don't have to, but with my Ice Flasher 55, I wanted them to look at because it was doing some strange things on startup. It was out of warranty so the deal is, you pay to ship it to Humminbird, enclose a check for $130, and they will pay the shipping back. They won't even consider looking at anything without the $130. I know, it's out of warranty and what can you expect, but a lot of companies are really flexible with that year thing.