Wayne P.

There is an Android version too.

Get a larger battery with more reserve capacity than the one you have now.

Since none of them are linkable to share a transducer, you cannot run all of them at the same time. You can use the 581i for GPS only by turning Sonar OFF and don't have to connect a transducer to it. Put that beside the Helix and you can have GPS full screen and sonar full screen on the Helix. Lots use a dual unit setup at the console and bow for the above.

If you have a SI and a DI unit you can also cross view the technologies, Additionally all the current 800, 900, 1100 and ONIX units support the 360 accessory. 2D or DI or SI units. For a cost saving installation with a 2D unit, you can add a 360 and get SI/DI views from that.

Yes

Was at Briery Creek again today. 5 less bass than yesterday-- same depth range and water temp.

I was at Briery on April 1 and caught 19 bass, mostly in the 5'-8' depth range. I was there today and caught 27 bass, mostly in the 3'-6' depth range. I saw some 67 degree surface temps on downwind areas.

You can by a whole unit with carry case for $29.00 on Ebay

What versions of each unit do you have? HD or non-HD

I use YELLOW

Transducer Shield and Saver will have a mount for those transducers soon.

I have a couple hanging in my garage that were included with Motor Guides. I have always used the one on my boat wiring harness that is just like it.

Use a band of 3/8" electrical heat shrink tubing like this: A perpendicular inserted hook has a higher hook-up ratio than a parallel inserted hook

At least one person is doing Navionics Sonar Charts at Lake Monticello. Wasn't any new data applied when I did an update a few minutes ago. I talked to him at one of the Winter sports shows. You can see what is done so far by looking at the Navionics website's Web App in the Sonar Charts layer. The whole lake will be 1' contours when it is finished.

Display size and shape The Helix displays are a lot better for Side Imaging than any of the units smaller than the 800 series. For Side Imaging, screen width is the most important factor. Before the Helix series, the 500 and 700 series 5" display were the best. This is a comparison of the 5" square display and the Helix rectangular display

You can record video on both units. The units can use up to a 32GB card which is more that a day of recording. BUT you do not want to do a long recording. 15 to 45 minute segments is the best. It is very boring watching a recording playback waiting for some subject to be displayed. The largest card I use is 16GB and I have not come close to using all of the memory. I record for a purpose not just to have long hours of recorded data. I keep all my recordings in a file for later viewing and for using the data for contour mapping. I file them by the lake name. The Simulator that the units have is a recording just like what you can do. There are several free recording viewers you can install on you computer to have better control of the playback instead of just using the unit itself. Humminbird does not have a computer software for that purpose. I use HumViewer and DeepView FV.

One more thing. With Auto Charts, only the track you record will have contours. That means to have connected contour lines for a whole body of water, you have to parallel/overlap your recordings to fill in a whole lake. With Navionics Sonar Charts. They create a HD map based on your recordings and the shoreline or their data or both and you get a whole body of water with contours that you can adjust later to make it more accurate. They will also re-draw the zero line ( shoreline) if that is inaccurate and add docks and ramps. The maps they purchase from "other sources" may be inaccurate and when you are recording, your track may be shown on land. They fix that. Every body of water I have done Sonar Charts with has been redrawn to apply all of my data. One body of water had no map or even an outline--they created the whole lake to apply my data by changing their world base map. Takes longer to get a processed map when that has to be done. BUT Sonar Charts is FREE and included with Navionics Hotmaps Platinum and Navionics+ versions.

For Humminbird products, only the ONIX and ION units share map data. All the core units need their own map card, so to have the same maps, you need duplicate map cards. You can only load Auto Charts on a Zero Line card. You would only need one Auto Chart computer software to process the recordings--but each unit would need a loaded Zero Line card to display the processed sonar logs. In no case can you copy map data to a memory card that is not prepared to accept the data---encrypted. Lakemaster has a new feature this year that you can purchase a single body of water in their inventory and load that to a regular memory card that has been encrypted by a Humminbird unit. I did one for testing. Waypoints, Routes and Tracks are not map data. They are GPS data and can be shared via Ethernet. The GPS works the same with or without a map background. There are a couple of plotter types: A Track Plotter does Waypoints, Routes and Tracks on a blank plotter screen. A Chart Plotter does Waypoint, Routes, and Tracks with a chart (map) background. The units you listed are a Combo sonar and Chart Plotter. Humminbird has some less expensive units that can be Track Plotters with the additional purchase of a GPS antenna. Those can never be a Chart Plotter since you cannot add maps to them. The 718 is one of them

One more thing. You can copy your recordings, give them to your friend and he can purchase the Lakemaster software to apply the recordings to. Or he can purchase a Navionics product and download your data that was processed by Navionics with the Sonar Charts program. Sonar Charts is shared data and can be viewed on the Navionics website's Web App and by anyone that updates their Platinum or + card.

A recording does not make maps. A software program makes the contour maps from the recording's data. You have two choices; Lakemaster has the Auto Chart or Auto Chart Pro computer program that you purchase and use your recorings to create contour maps on a Zero Line card with your computer. That card is what your unit reads. Since you own the computer program, you can do whatever you want with the data with how many Zero line cards you want to purchase. A Zero Line card has the outline of thousands of bodies of water to create your own contour mapping. When processed, the Zero Line card is used just like a Lakemaster map card. Navionics has the Sonar Charts program that you upload your recordings to and they process the data to create contour maps that you then download to either a Navionics Hotmaps Platinum card or a Navionics+ card. You cannot copy Navionics data since you won't have Navionics map writing/creating software and cannot purchase it. If you have a Humminbird ONIX, you can record and create contours on the unit with Auto Charts Live, but that cannot be copied, just applied to the Lakemaster Auto Chart software and Zero Line card. The unit will store 8 hours of data.

How did you make your maps????? There is no such model as a 799.

Yes, the image quality is as good as your mobile device. Download the free app to check it out like the above pictures. You have three choices for the wireless transducer. A castable "bobber" type A permanent boat mounted model that uses boat power. A portable mount model with battery.

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Standing timber. dock posts, etc are scanned by the diameter. A 12" tree/post will be the same size as a 12" bass that is parallel with the transducer. There are some standing trees in this image that was done with a 5" display, but it is not as wide as the Helix. Note the shadows are the most distinguishable: If there are whole trees with limbs under water, then they will be displayed well enough to see, but still are relative to the depth and SI range.

I took this screen shot yesterday with the ONIX. It shows the vehicle creek crossing on the left side. All the other lines are vehicle tracks too.