Garmin fish finders

[bobbymalone]

Anybody have one?  Happy with it?  

 

I'm thinking about tossing one on my boat.  I like the mapping feature and I love the price point compared to a similar featured helix 7 with side imaging.

 

Not looking for a Ford vs Chevy vs dodge thing or a rooster measuring contest about watts or marketing gimmicks.

 

I'm also super interested in its use on the ice.  My friend says his helix has an ice mode.  He says it has a slight delay in normal mode and ice mode apparently turns that off and you can see your jig move in real time.  Seems strange that it would ever have a lag like that, but he says he he isn't super sure what the ice mode does but it appears that's what it doing.

[rundrave]

I think you would be happy with either my best suggestion is buy the biggest screen you can afford. I wouldn't go anything smaller than 7" if wanting SI regardless of brand. I have it on a Helix 5" and its hard to get the same experience you get on larger screens. I use mine on a kayak and then swap tranducers in the winter and take it straight to the ice. I like some of the Garmin maps that others upload on smaller bodies of water that I cant get on other chips. Especially on smaller bodies of water here in SD. Otherwise I think in terms of the graph they are very similar with maybe a slight edge to the Helix on the SI stuff on the new units. But Garmin puts out a nice product also.

 

48 minutes ago, bobbymalone said:

My friend says his helix has an ice mode.  He says it has a slight delay in normal mode and ice mode apparently turns that off and you can see your jig move in real time.

I dont experience any lag with my helix units (G1, G2). With that said it took some effort to get them set up and working great. There is a bit of a learning curve with these newer units. Everything from fishing mode, noise filter,  and turning off auto depth range all made a difference.

 

I spent about 20 mins last winter at an ice show here in Sioux Falls with Brian Brosdahl at the Humminbird booth. He was really helpful getting mine dialed in and helped me with all the questions I had. He went completely out of his way to help answer every question I had. To get it all there done in person with the unit in my hand top notch. Super cool guy BTW nothing but good words to say about him after that experience.

 

On the ice I set mine up to use the  2d element when not using the si/di transducer. I dont think you have to use ice fishing mode, however. Ice fishing mode increases the sensitivity and updates the circular flasher view but that's all it does.

 

I am ready to upgrade but my gen1, gen2 helix stuff still work great. I have used the gen3 first hand the new features are great. But then I hesitate to buy anything I just have a feeling there is going to be some new stuff coming out like panoptix that will change the game and come down in price and become more affordable.

[Duffman]

Just picked up the cheaper Garmin Striker 4 for the canoe to replace my Showdown Troller. 

Have not used it yet, picked up the portable bundle. Will probably get an Ice ducer come winter.

The ducer it came with will shoot thru the canoe hull when mounted in a foam block adhered to the floor with some added water.

I generally need just the depth, but this will be a step up with the GPS. (Lining up trees on shore gets old )

I'm also curious how it will perform on the ice in flasher mode.

As a GIS dude, those mapping features sure peaked my interest, maybe if I upgrade the boat locator one of these years?

But for the canoe.....this unit should work great.

Good luck with your decision. I know this post probably didn't help ya. 

 

 

[bobbymalone]

4 hours ago, Duffman said:

Just picked up the cheaper Garmin Striker 4

 

 

Lol, no it didn't really help, but  I was planning on putting one of those on the trolling motor if I go with garmin.  Put the big boy in the console and the lil guy on the trolling motor.  Let me know what you think once you get it on the water.

 

 

[Duffman]

On 6/3/2020 at 7:26 PM, bobbymalone said:

  Let me know what you think once you get it on the water.

 

For the canoe, it's been a big plus having the GPS, with the tracking on...........man, did I pound a select few spots this past summer.

I can recognize bass on the display at certain spots.. And I like being able to see what speeds I paddle during certain conditions. It's been a nice upgrade, user interface is pretty easy to figure out. I'd go with Garmin again if I chose to upgrade the boat locator.

Did build a waterproof  AA lithium battery box that also holds a spare set to cut the weight of that 12v gel cell for Bdub trips.