Helix 5 from Humminbird

[Duckaholic]

Do any of you guys have the new Helix 5 GPS unit on your boat? If so, how do you like it and is the GPS good. Any pro's and con's would be appreciated..

Duckaholic

[keakar]

I just bought one but I have not hooked it up yet.

I just found a great deal on the Helix 5 DI GPS with downward imaging for only $308.95 and free shipping

http://www.thedigitaloasis.com/Hummi...l#.Vak6Rs_bJ9A

[keakar]

this is a reply I got from another website where I was asking about the helix and color vs grey scale sonars

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.

hope its helpful

[Duckaholic]

Thanks for the info. I have a guy that wants to sell me the Sonar/GPS model off of his new boat. I think it is worth what he is asking because he has a Navionics chip with it. I'm headed to check it out this afternoon. I know that the Sonar/GPS model does not have Di but I fish mostly BL and can do without that.

[keakar]

yep, I really wasn't looking for DI but it was $9 more then the regular unit for $299 so I couldn't pass on it. I have no use for DI either since its on a flat boat and most of my fishing is 4-5ft water but its a toy I can play around with just to see what a few structures I fish at look like in 10ft of water

everything I heard about them was they have no competition in that price range and you jump to $500 for anything else with gps

what is he asking for it by the way?

[keakar]

are all the map cards the same or do they need to match the sonar?

I never had gps before

[Duckaholic]

Well I bought the unit and installed it on my boat. It came with the Navionics Plus card. I had to download the Chart Installer program from the Navionics web site but it was easy. Then I selected the area I wanted to show up in detail on my chart and selected the model from the list. Once I saved it to the card, I just popped it in my unit and it came up and worked fine.

Then downloaded the Humminbird PC program and used it to import way-points that I already had into the unit. I haven't put the boat in the water yet but it all seems to work fine in the yard. PM me if you need more information.

Duckaholic

[keakar]

thanks, I haven't installed mine yet, lots of BS getting in the way, but I hope to install it by next week.