Going to a lake with no map-What’s best way to record with Humminbird?

[clemsondds]

Hey everyone, I’m sure this is a simple question but figured i would just run it by y’all. I have two helix 7 gen 3 units on my boat with chirp/mega....  I’m headed to a small lake that has no maps that I am aware of. What’s the best way to record all the topography and structure so that I can use it for later fishing endeavors?  Should I record with both or just one? Thanks everyone for the tips! 

[A-Jay]

Watch this and then do it ~

A-Jay

[12poundbass]

If you have a zero lines card, I’d record at the helm and then put the zero lines card on the bow when fishing up there. 

[clemsondds]

 

1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

If you have a zero lines card, I’d record at the helm and then put the zero lines card on the bow when fishing up there. 

I’m not real familiar with zero lines card. Can you tell me what that is? 
thanks ajay for video!! 

[12poundbass]

26 minutes ago, clemsondds said:

 

I’m not real familiar with zero lines card. Can you tell me what that is? 
thanks ajay for video!! 

If you don’t have a Humminbird Zero lines card then you can only record about 8 hours of AutoChart Live recording on the unit (at least that’s how it was with the Gen1 units). Either way your internal memory is limited and you’ll need a zero line card if you’re doing a lot of mapping. 

[Tennessee Boy]

1 hour ago, clemsondds said:

 

I’m not real familiar with zero lines card. Can you tell me what that is? 
thanks ajay for video!! 

A Zero Line card is a product that Humminbird sales that is just a SD card that stores recordings and also has map files with the shoreline of most bodies of water.  The shoreline is the zero depth line,  thus the name.

[12poundbass]

5 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

A Zero Line card is a product that Humminbird sales that is just a SD card that stores recordings and also has map files with the shoreline of most bodies of water.  The shoreline is the zero depth line,  thus the name.

Do the Gen 2 and 3 come with more memory than the Gen 1 or still the same? 

[Russ E]

while Lakemaster is my preferred mapping card, there are a couple lakes in my area lakemaster does not cover.

for those lakes I have a Navionics card. I have not found a lake yet that Navionics does not map.

the problem with navionics is the maps are not as defined as lakemaster, but they are better than no maps.

[clemsondds]

2 hours ago, clemsondds said:

 

I’m not real familiar with zero lines card. Can you tell me what that is? 
thanks ajay for video!! 

Ha obviously I hadn't had a chance to watch that video before I asked this question.

 

Do you have to have the zero lines card in order to record?  Just you just record onto a blank SD Card? 

[txchaser]

7 hours ago, clemsondds said:

Ha obviously I hadn't had a chance to watch that video before I asked this question.

 

Do you have to have the zero lines card in order to record?  Just you just record onto a blank SD Card? 

If you are going to use autochart Live a blank SD won't do much for you. 

 

Ok here's the deal, you have two choices, the easy low drama way with limited features or the multi-step more complicated and expensive way with lots of features.  

 

1) Get the Zero Lines card. The internal memory for Autochart Live (on your device) is just a demo. You get 8 hours of free recording and then you have to overwrite the whole thing. Not complicated just get the card and put in and record via the autochart selection. You are recording depth at a given location and nothing else. 

 

2) Get the software called Autochart (PC) or Autochart Pro (PC). It includes the zero lines card.  Turn on full recording of everything. Import that to your computer and make really cool maps, overlays, sidescan mosaics (pro) etc. Allegedly complicated, obviously powerful. 

 

Think of the autochart zero lines card as a key that unlocks autochart live functionality, and it is also the unlocker and carrier for new maps whether they are made via autochart live or autochart PC. 

 

I ended up getting autochart pro PC because it came with the zero lines card (which I definitely needed) because I knew I'd be aggravated if I wanted the software later and ended up buying the zero lines card twice. 

 

Bonus that might help someone later, Reefmaster (PC) software (third-party) is really cool, but it appears that it cannot write its output to Humminbird because of some encryption. Might be a workaround, or an update, but I haven't found it.