Humminbird 409620-1 HELIX 5 DI Fish Finder with Down-Imaging and GPS
People fish for a whole host of reasons; sport, leisure, to be outdoors, for food, and even as a living. Having the right tackle, flies, bait, or high-tech equipment is essential. However, when you hit the water and are thinking about where to start fishing with all that liquid in front of you, it can seem rather daunting.
If only there was some way that you could be able to know where the fish are, or if there was some sort of technology that allowed you the ability to find them. Running up and down the water in your boat trying to track down your targeted species, can become very costly.
No one likes to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on fuel just to end the day sunburned and skunked. Catching fish may not be our only reason for fishing, but it sure is nice to hook into a big one. So why not even the odds?
Thank goodness we live in the future and with the help of the Humminbird Helix 5, we are able to not only find where the fish are, but be able to mark their locations to come back another time. Thanks to this technological advancement we are able to locate fish, see what is below us under the water, and we are able to mark locations and chart a course to finding them using one device.
Hummingbird Helix 5 DI Features
This device offers an internal GPS capable of chart plotting and comes with a UniMap cartography feature. It also has a Micro SD card slot that will allow you the ability for optional maps and saving important waypoints.
This fish finder has a gimbal mounting system and an 800 x 480 resolution on a 5 inch display, which offers 256 colors and a back light to help you find your prey more easily. This device also comes with down-imaging and dualbeam plus sonar that offers 4000 watts of PTP power.
Hummingbird Helix 5 Advantages
The Humminbird Helix 5has a whole host of technological advancements from previous versions.
With its color display and down imaging sonar, anglers are able to see what exactly is under them while they are fishing.
Say you’re fishing an area that you know to be good for bass. You fire up the Helix 5 and look at your screen to use the sonar to see what is under you, now you see sunken log that you had no idea was there. As you troll around the lake now you see more underwater objects that fish love to bed down in such as trees and grass, with the GPS system you can mark those locations.
Once those locations are marked you have the ability to use the on-board Chart plotter with the built in map and BOOM, add a waypoint to your secret fishing hole. This way the next time you find yourself in a fishing tournament or you just want to out fish your friends, you know right where to go with precision.
If you are fishing for your livelihood you know that time is money and everyone that owns a boat also knows that driving a boat all day on the water is very costly. Knowing where the fish are or at least where their habitats are gives you an edge that can cut down on costs to you. Go to where the fish are rather than spending the day chasing your tail.
Having the ability to store maps and waypoints on a removable SD card really helps out a lot. If you are like me and go to a lot of different places at different times of the year, it’s nice to be able to have different cards you can use to reflect the seasons. Now you can plot all those great destinations for spring, summer, fall and winter and not have to worry about running out of space or having to re-do everything when the seasons change.
Helix 5 Disadvantages
Having said all the wonderful aspects of the mapping and GPS system, let me follow that up with some truth and warning. It is not free. Unfortunately to be able to use the really awesome GPS system you will need to purchase separately. This also means you will not be able to see the bottom contours as well in GPS mode, that also requires another purchase of a cartridge.
Another issue I did not care for was the fact that it came with a soft cover, that is not waterproof. An electronic object that is going to be mounted on a boat that can be used in all weather, needs to come with at least some sort of waterproof fabric cover. The unit can tilt on the gimble mount, but in order to do that you have to loosen two thumb screws. Which is not that big of a deal, but I stand and sit a lot when I am on a boat so I was constantly having to move screw and unscrew to move the Helix.
The ability to store information on SD cards is great, but the cost of the SD cards is not so great. Having to get several, at least 3, to get good use out of it sure makes the cost rack up pretty quickly. However, you can hunt around and find deals.
Final Verdict
It is a good fish finder. The Humminbird Helix 5 does exactly what Humminbird says it will do. It can locate underwater hidden gems for locations of great fish habitat and it gives you the ability to mark that location so you can plot it out for return trips.
You have a lot of options at your fingertips with this fish finder/GPS, just be ready to spend the money required to use it to its fullest potential.
With all the options it has to offer, it is pretty user friendly and easy to use. Great for everyone at all experience levels. Being able to get the jump on good fishing saves you money, money that can be spent on buying more fishing toys!
