Particularly the helix 7. I'm looking at a helix 7 with di. And gps. Will it also come with the standard sonar? 

Yes it has both. 

Yes, it does.

Thank you fellas. What can yall tell me about chartplotter on the helix units? 

I can tell you that you have to buy additional mapping software if you want a decent chart.

 

A lot of people love the birds, I went with a Garmin echomap plus series and feel that I got a better value. Just something to consider. I was dead set on a helix 5 or 7 because my buddy got one and I was impressed. However, I ended up with the Garmin after I spent some time in a store playing with them. The touch screen, ease of use, no additional money for mapping software, and the screen size led me to purchase the Garmin.  

 

Before pulling the trigger, I would highly recommend getting some hands on time with them in a store. It's worth the drive and time to really nail down what you want. Make sure to go through the menu systems and simulate how you would use them on the water. Personally I felt that the helix menu system was a little bulky and cycling through the choices was time consuming always hitting the back button. With that said, I think the Helix side imaging is just a tad better than Garmin's but it wasn't enough for me to justify the cost premium. That's just my $0.02 though. 

8 minutes ago, SloppyJ said:

Before pulling the trigger, I would highly recommend getting some hands on time with them in a store. It's worth the drive and time to really nail down what you want. Make sure to go through the menu systems and simulate how you would use them on the water. Personally I felt that the helix menu system was a little bulky and cycling through the choices was time consuming always hitting the back button. With that said, I think the Helix side imaging is just a tad better than Garmin's but it wasn't enough for me to justify the cost premium. That's just my $0.02 though. 

Great advice!

 

All the top selling brands do a great job and a feature here and there doesn't make any real difference...but if the menu system is a pain for you to navigate through, you won't use your equipment.

 

Clearer this, stronger that and deeper that other thing make no difference if getting to them is confusing to you.

 

Hummingbird menus make the most sense to me, so that's what I buy, you may find you like something else better.

This is also going on a kayak so I dont necessarily have to have some great mapping as I dont really cover a lot of water. 

12 minutes ago, Shane Y said:

This is also going on a kayak so I dont necessarily have to have some great mapping as I dont really cover a lot of water. 

Save yourself some money and buy a Garmin Striker if you don't have to have mapping. The striker units have GPS but no mapping. The Striker plus units give you the ability to map your lakes but I don't know how well that would work on a Kayak. 

Nvm

Edited June 21, 20187 yr by Arcs&sparks
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