First Time Fish Finder Buyer

[MBG3]

Hey guys never owned or even used a fish finder of todays modern technology. Got real big into bass fishing about 3 years ago and never thought I really needed a Fish Finder until recently. I just do not know what to buy or what to look for. I mainly fish along the VISIBLE grass lines or like to flip bushes, simply because I can not see whats under the water or tell how deep it is. The Mobile Tensaw River Delta here in Alabama is not clear and I think a fish finder would help me out some when the fish move off of the bank into deeper water. I have been looking at the Hummingbird Helix (specifically the Helix 7 or 8) after playing with all the other brands just in the stores the past few months they seem the clearest and easiest to use. I was really interested in getting the 'Side Imaging' feature but was told by the guy at Bass Pro that it is not pointless to have up front because side imaging only works when you're trolling with your big motor about 3-5mph. Can anyone speak on this from experience? Planning on getting two units, one up front and one on the console. Going on a 17ft G3 

 

1. Would the 360 feature be a must have up front vs the side imaging (since side imaging is supposedly useless just easing along with the trolling motor?)

 

2. Where would you spend your money? At the console... the deck... or does it really matter?

 

3. And lastly is a 7" unit going to be hard to read up front or would it be a sufficient size?

 

[Dirtyeggroll]

  On 6/10/2019 at 11:33 PM, MBG3 said:

1. Would the 360 feature be a must have up front vs the side imaging (since side imaging is supposedly useless just easing along with the trolling motor?)

 

2. Where would you spend your money? At the console... the deck... or does it really matter?

 

3. And lastly is a 7" unit going to be hard to read up front or would it be a sufficient size?

Expand  

Side imaging works fine on the trolling motor. It doesn’t work as well as on the transom because of the turning of the trolling motor, but I can still get fantastic images with side imaging on the front of my boat. That being said, if I had to choose the transom or the trolling motor I would 100% put it on the transom. I use my side imaging most effectively to cover lots of water to find targets. I find that done most effectively putting around with the big motor.

 

1. If I had to pick between side imaging and 360 up front I would go with 360. However, if I had to choose between 360 anywhere or side imaging at the transom I would go with side imaging on the transom.

 

2. The order of how I would and did rank spending my money would go like this.

-1 Side imaging at the console

-2 360 at the bow

-3 Side imaging at the bow

Many units are capable of networking so you can see the same information on the bow and console. A common setup is to have a sonar/down image setup on the trolling motor and a side imaging setup at the transom.

 

3. A 7” will work. Most people will say get the biggest unit you can afford especially if you are using side imaging. While it’s nice to be able to clearly resolve each pebble in a rock pile on a 12” unit, it’s not necessary. Simply looking at the unit and being able to tell that there is something different on the bottom is enough information to give you a new casting target.

 

Hope this helps.

[Tennessee Boy]

  On 6/10/2019 at 11:33 PM, MBG3 said:

1. Would the 360 feature be a must have up front vs the side imaging (since side imaging is supposedly useless just easing along with the trolling motor?)

 

2. Where would you spend your money? At the console... the deck... or does it really matter?

 

3. And lastly is a 7" unit going to be hard to read up front or would it be a sufficient size?

 

Expand  

1) I have 360 and it has changed the way I fish but it has A LOT of room for improvement.  It is due for an update and personally I would wait to see where Humminbird goes next with this technology.  

 

2) I would spend it at the console first.  Many people say you spend more time at the bow but I'm focused more on fishing when up there and only glance at the screen occasionally.  I spend much of my time on the water idling around scanning structure so my console unit is more important to me.

 

3) Personally,  I have a 10in Solix on the bow and wish I had gone with a 12.  Both have the same screen resolution so the pixels are pretty small on the 10.  At the console I'm very close to the screen and the 10 is fine.  I recommend you go to a store and look at each unit from the distance you think you will be viewing it from on the water.  Screen size and screen resolution both play a role in how well you can read the screen.  

[Troy85]

  On 6/10/2019 at 11:33 PM, MBG3 said:

Hey guys never owned or even used a fish finder of todays modern technology. Got real big into bass fishing about 3 years ago and never thought I really needed a Fish Finder until recently. I just do not know what to buy or what to look for. I mainly fish along the VISIBLE grass lines or like to flip bushes, simply because I can not see whats under the water or tell how deep it is. The Mobile Tensaw River Delta here in Alabama is not clear and I think a fish finder would help me out some when the fish move off of the bank into deeper water. I have been looking at the Hummingbird Helix (specifically the Helix 7 or ? after playing with all the other brands just in the stores the past few months they seem the clearest and easiest to use. I was really interested in getting the 'Side Imaging' feature but was told by the guy at Bass Pro that it is not pointless to have up front because side imaging only works when you're trolling with your big motor about 3-5mph. Can anyone speak on this from experience? Planning on getting two units, one up front and one on the console. Going on a 17ft G3 

 

1. Would the 360 feature be a must have up front vs the side imaging (since side imaging is supposedly useless just easing along with the trolling motor?)

 

2. Where would you spend your money? At the console... the deck... or does it really matter?

 

3. And lastly is a 7" unit going to be hard to read up front or would it be a sufficient size?

 

Expand  

1.  Never used 360 or side imaging up front.  So I really can't say.  I do have side imaging at the console and I really like it. 

2.  I think it depends a little on where/how you fish.  I generally fish water less than 10ft deep, I don't do much video gaming fishing. So I have my more expensive unit with side scan at the console.  I'll motor around certain areas scanning, and if they look good, I'll come back later and fish them after I've given it a little time to quiet down. 

3.  I have a 5" screen on the bow and I don't have any trouble seeing the screen, so I don't  think you would have problems seeing a 7.  Now I can't really use split screen up there, because that would be a little small.  If I need to use my map to troll to waypoints, I have a ram mount on my 9' console unit, so I just spin that around and I can easily see it from up front.

[Goldstar225]

I have two helix 7 SI units, one console, one bow.  IMO the SI works fine on the trolling motor.  I have no problem spotting brush piles, logs and stumps with mine.  I do have a concern that I'm missing detail that I might see if I were using a 10 or 12 inch unit but I went with what fit the budget.  (Actually I was going to buy one helix 7 to start and another later.  My loving wife bought me two at once for an anniversary present.)

[WRB]

This topic belongs in the electronics forum so it may get moved.

Starting to see side imaging TD mounted on a seperate non moving post attached to the TM shaft so the TD doesn't move with the TM head. The problem is steering the boat requires moving the TM head faster then SI/360 TD can keep up and you have no idea where you are looking.

Keep in mind that everything displayed on a sonar unit screen is scrolling history of everything you passed, it's not real time full screen imaging.

Tom

 

[MBG3]

Thank y'all very much with the info. Im thinking the Helix 7 Mega SI Gps on the console for now then see how I like it and try one up front maybe.

[slonezp]

The guy at bass pro is wrong. Look at the screen shot thread at SI/DI images taken at less than 1mph. It's a matter of matching the scroll speed to the boat speed. Set the scroll speed on the graph to 1 and, aside from possible interference from the trolling motor, you should be able to get decent images. Secondly, Are you looking to take pretty pictures or find fish and structure. Unfortunately graphs aren't a set it and forget it kind of thing. They need tweaking depending on speed, noise(electrical interference from the trolling motor), and view. If you're using 2d and trolling extremely slow or are still while vertical jigging, you want a fast return(fast scroll speed). SI/DI does not work when the boat isn't moving, but it does work at very slow speeds(slow scroll speed)