For the H'bird guys...

Any of you watched this?

https://doctorsonar.com/collections/dvds/products/understanding-humminbird-side-and-down-imaging

At the rate I'm going, it will be 2020 before I have a good understanding of what I'm seeing on my Helix and how to maximize its' use. I need some cheat sheets...

What do you mean what you See? The fish are basically lines but you can tell what kind by looking at shape of the shadow most of the time. The other things under water show up as what they are, tires, rocks, trees etc.

Take some pics of what is confusing you and post em here and let us tell you what we see.

I'm gonna say this... I am not dissatisfied with my Hbirds, but I wish I would've stayed with Lowrance. The only thing Hbird does is (arguably) paint a prettier side/down imaging picture, and heck I wasn't unhappy with my Lowrance picture. I found it much easier to see/distinguish fish, and certainly more easy to mark those fish with a waypoint, on the Lowrance.

I'm still new enough with the Birds to give them more time, maybe it will click with me pretty soon. And lots of folks convinced me that the Birds were easier to use....I don't know, maybe I was just so used to Lowrance that I'm fighting the Birds.

Are you on the humminbird forum?

The mapping and mega imaging blow lowrance away. I am glad I switched

I'm not humminbird, but Simrad had some side imaging tutorials that explained it by printing off the screen and folding it like this. It made it click for me on what I was looking at.
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The way I see it so far is that is true, but you have to tweak the SI like a Philly lawyer to make it so...manually adjust the settings with advanced knowledge. I could just turn on the Lowrance and boom, there it is. More times than not on the Bird it's really "dark" (for lack of a better explanation), and I continually think "dangit, didn't I adjust this darkness out of the picture the other day???" On my old HDS unit I don't remember ever touching it.

I want to be able to determine drops offs or inclines, differentiate floating debris like broken up weeds from actual structure, etc.

I also want to know how to set it for the maximum benefit in different water conditions.

I saw the "folded" image when I first bought it so I understand how to look at it.

I see pictures posted online of trees, brush, bicycles, etc that are clear as a bell and so far I've not found anything along a creek channel that I can say for certain what it is. The problem is provably in my settings

Didn't know there was a Humminbird forum.

BBC has a Hummingbird Images forum. I can't get on there any more but it had some good info when I was allowed in.

BBC is a great resource. Of course I got my 'Bird on down scan and keep it there.

I turned mine on and it was already on factory recommended settings the only adjustment I make is the range of the si. Mine is much lighter on side imaging than Lawrence ever was.

The detail in the map is more importantnyo me than anything. I have no idea how lowrance can be so far behind in mapping

Factory settings is what they recommend. Come ride with me one day, tomorrow too soon?

I can take you to see boats, old bridges, railroads, tires, rocks, etc

It takes a little time to figure them out but way better than anything else on the market IMO.

Just play with it, I can see all kinds of stuff on the bottom with mine. Bikes, tires, cars you name it the detail is scary.

Two things I am struggling with. My HDS made fish BIGGER. When you idle over a hump on downscan the fish show up like larger dots. With my Helix, yes that image is crisp, but those same fish are teeny little dots. Heck, I confuse them for rocks or shad. And I felt like I could be more precise with the waypoints. I like to idle over those fish and place a mark on the top and bottom of them. I'm sure the Helix "can" do this, it just looks different to me.

I liked the touch screen stuff on the HDS. Guess I coulda got Solix units or something, but not sure they're touch either.

I'd love to do that, if I can work out a time to do it.

Yes Solix are touch and easier for the hrs touch guys to switch too. I have not had a hard time with the switch back to buttons of the helix though

PM me your # and I will text you some images and explanations.

In case your computer is low on blinky envelope fluid, I thought I'd tell you that I sent you a PM.

Did you get my texts fur

Si, but then you already know that. I'm just answering so people don't think I'm ignoring you. Thanks for the pics.

It was a wild and crazy Friday at the shop. I didn't have much time to spare.

Those days happen. My last two were that way. Not fun at all.

What causes a lot of confusion with the Helix units is understanding the capabilities of the particular unit that you have. MHZ(Mega) units are the best. Higher frequency and slower speed equal better image quality. All non Mega Helix G1 and G2 units are not the same. The Helix 5, and 7 do SI and DI at 455 kHz. Helix 9 out of the box will do 455 KHZ and 800 KHZ if you upgrade to the HDSI transducer. The HDSI transducer also improves the 5 and 7 somewhat because of the larger element you get a better image even though still running 455 KHZ. Helix 10 and above are 800 KHZ units out of the box. Notice the speeds of the images you're comparing with. If the boat speed is around .5 or less probably shot from a kayak. Yes, a bass boat can go that slow but usually, the movement of the trolling motor degrades the image a little. Everyone always asks how to get the great images. Start with factory defaults and play with your SI range and sensitivity to get your best image. I hope this helps.

I thought the Helix 9 Mega SI had the HDSI transducer with it?

It does