One Head 2 transducers

[Ed F Dinardo]

16' Sea Ark stick steer so not a lot of room,,,I want one head but read both transom trans and trolling motor trans, and just rotate the head.

I don't need to read both at once just while sitting up front. Looking hard at Helix si gps either 5 or 7. I just don't want to have 2 head units for this small boat plus I'm not rich..lol Using hand controlled Trolling motor no remote.

I believe Helix 5 si gps  with extra xtm 9 hwt would work with Y cable but can someone verify and do I need the $90 HB switch?? Thanks in advance.

[Ed F Dinardo]

Helix 5 or 7 

[slonezp]

Looks like you need the switch. If you use the Y cable, i believe you will get some type of return from both transducers at the same time

[Ed F Dinardo]

I asked HB but no answer yet,,,wondering if the switch comes with all the wires needed minus "y" cable.Thx

[Ed F Dinardo]

HB site not very helpful sometimes,,,,they show switch but don't show cables which I have diagram of,,,,

https://humminbird.johnsonoutdoors.com/sites/johnsonoutdoors-store/files/assets/misc/HU/H/HUM_productmanual_IG_TS3_531870/HUM_productmanual_IG_TS3_531870.pdf

[Russ E]

You need a switch. If you are using 2 identical transducers.

 

My boat has 2 transducers without a switch, but they are doing different things.

 One is a shoot thru hull for 2d and depth.

The other is on the transom for side and down imaging. This is pretty common on fiberglass boats.

If I unhook the shoot thru there is no depth reading. If I unhook the transom there is no imaging.

It takes a special cable but it works. The reason for the shoot thru hull is to still get depth readings while on plane.

 

On a 16 foot boat I would just use the transom transducer all of the time? Why mess with 2 transducers?

[Ed F Dinardo]

Ok,,,,so if I get a si unit it will read side close to shore line as I troll good enough? I thought I needed one up front mounted to trolling motor as well,,,,,,,I see ur point,,,16' is not that big and if I speed up or adjust my return speed to match my trolling speed it should view pretty well,,,,Am I thinking correctly? Thx

The Helix 7 or 5 with all the bells and whistles should be fine....the 5 is around $500 the 7 is around $700. and they both have ability to do one side at a time I understand,,