Wayne P.

I fish several electric-only waters and do it alone most of the time. I use a transom trolling motor for extra speed and control along with the bow motor on my PT 170 TX, I stow the bow motor and use the transom motor to drive the boat on the trailer. Standing at the transom raises the bow some and allows getting farther onto the trailer. Then I winch the rest of the way if needed--usually less than 1'. Trailer depth makes the difference.

Check out some Radio Shack stores that are closing for a similar battery. I got one yesterday for 1/2 price

Additionally the Humminbird units have a saltwater setting that has a different set of FishID symbols based on the larger size fish found in that water.

All Dual Frequency Humminibird units do the FishID the same way whether grey scale or color. The tree picture shows the fish in the tree, I check that tree everytime I am at that lake. If I don't see any fish symbols, I don't stop to fish it: Like this. I caught all three FishID bass in the tree, plus some smaller ones that were too small to be assigned the symbols.

Arches are a result of time and distance within the sonar pulse. Look at the sonar tutorial on the Lowrance web site to see how it is done. You are somewhat misinformed about the use of FishID. Humminbird units filter the returns and only assign the fish symbols if they meet the criteria for those symbols. I use it to determine distance from the transducer, size, and to pick out fish within cover. It is fishing tool. Other brands--not so much.

At the same output power (thrust) a 24V motor uses 1/2 the amps as a 12V motor. A 36V motor would use 1/3 the amps.

I use a 36V 105# on my 16' Tracker. There is no such thing as too much trolling motor power. In wind and current there is such a thing as too little trolling motor power.

It's not about the size of the maps, its about the amount of data your unit can process. When you shop for a map card, pay attention to the card capacity. I have a $199 Hotmaps Platinum regional card and it is 16 GB. Look at the list of compatable units for each Navionics product on their web site. Your unit will be listed with the 2GB max versions.

Good explanation, novices need all the accurate information they can get. Being in Ontario, the OP needs to check closely what locations are included on the map product he choses. All the locations that Navionics has are shown on their web sites Web App. Does Fishing Hotspots Pro USA include Canada? I see there is a Great Lakes version.

There is no such map product. Hotspots is a Lowrance product and Premium is a Navionics product. There is Navionics Hotmaps Premium . The best product is Navionics+ for your unit. Max 2GB of data. It has no maps, you choose what individual waters to download to the card from anywhere in Canada and the US. It also has the Sonar Charts feature. The only $100 product is Navionics Update and that takes an already owned older Navionics card to activate it to make ti the Navionics+ version. MSRP for Navionics+ is $179 MSRP for Hotmaps Premium is $149 MSRP for Navionics Update is $99 --- PLUS a currently owned card.

No, not any with contours. Just a basic color background with some outlines of bodies of water. Additionally since it is a lesser quality unit, it's processing capacity is limited to 2GB map cards. Do a web search for that model to see what map products are compatable. Also check the Navionics web site for their map products that are compatable with the Elite 5. The more sofisticated units can have Insite mapping included, but that doesn't work with the Elite models.

If the unit does't come with mapping that covers your waters, you have to add it if you want it.

Humminbird has Side Imaging and Down Imaging Lowrance has Side Scan and Down Scan Garmin has SideVu and DownVu Raymarine has SideVision and DownVision

Mine has Tracker on both sides. Came from the factory like that.

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/News/Lowrance-Partners-With-MotorGuide-to-Launch-PinpointConnect/

Function wise, any SI is better than no SI.

The Helix 5 SI GPS has a wider display than the 500, 600, and 700 series Side Imaging units. That is a good thing for that technology. BIGGER is definately better though.

No, there are two 859 units. 859ci HD Combo is 2D only 859ci HD DI Combo is 2D and Down Imaging You cannot get SI by using a SI transducer in place of the one that comes with the unit. 899ci HD SI Combo is Side Imaging, Down Imaging, 2D sonar. It's a little more complicated that the older models, but a good thing. Both of the 859 units can display Side Imaging when connected to a Side Imaging unit or a 360 via Ethernet.

The D size is recommended. 2 1/4" ball On calm waters, you can get by with the C. 1 1/2" ball.

Check out the Balzout mount also. It looks to be as adjustable as the RAM, but no rubber balls that can loose grip in rough water.

I have only used it once on the water, don't know much about it yet.

Navionics can do that for you. The program is called Sonar Charts. You get that with the Navionics+ map card. That is for Nautical Charts and Sonar Charts. You record on a blank formatted memory card and upload the recordings (sonar logs) to the Navionics Sonar Charts servier. After your data is processed, you get an email letting you know it is done and you can download the map/s. It is a FREE service, you just buy a map card to download the Navionics maps to. It is shared data and can be viewed on the Navionics web site's Web App and anyone can get your maps by doing an update with their Navionics+ or Navionics Hotmaps Platinum card. The Navionics+ product comes with no maps, you choose what locations to download to the map card from anywhere in the country. You can have one lake, a dozen lakes or hundreds of lakes up to the card capacity of 2GB. It is updateable for a year. I have submitted over 200 sonar logs for that program. There is also Lakemaster Auto Charts that is done the same way, but you purchase the computer software to process your recording/s yourself and it is yours only. This is one lake I did that had no maps of any kind, not even an outline on the Navionics Nautical Charts. This is what I had before Sonar Charts, just land with my GPS waypoints: This is what Sonar Charts produced with lots of recording. The lake is 420 acres and is electric-only: Note the GPS location is the same in both pictures.

The only one I use is the Sonarphone App. I have the iPad and Android versions. Just need to purchase the wireless transducer to go with it. There is a castable version---T-POD Then you can see what is "out there". After the testing phase is complete, you may be able to map your pond with it using Navionics Sonar Charts. The top one is Android and the bottom one is Apple

Side Imaging's benefit is COVERAGE. Down Imaging, Down Scan, DownVu, DownView is just that DOWN just like 2D sonar. I don't use Down Imaging, just take some screen shots with it for examples. No, the HDSI transducer is not "necessary". Some don't even notice any difference. I do since I use both. None of the Helix units with GPS have any locations with map contours. They have Uni-map which is basically a color background with some outlines of bodies of water. They will read Lakemaster and Navionics map software.

The motor is minimal, a more powerful one is better. Your budget will determine that. That is not a battery, that is a box to put a battery in. An unnessary expense. You need a 12V DEEP CYCLE battery. The size will depend on how much run time you want with the motor and how much weight you want to deal with. Go to Walmart and pick up some of the batteries to see which you want. The bigger, the better with those too.