Helix ice

[dbooth]

Has anyone bought the ice ducer for their helix? If so how do you like it? Any problems?

[JDP]

I purchased the Dual Spectrum CHIRP XI 9 1521 Ice Transducer and hooked it up to my Helix 7 GPS/Sonar G2N unit with 1.64 software.

The first spot I fished was a soft bottom (mud).
I was able to manually adjust the unit (fish id off, CHIRP IR setting, Surface Clutter, Zoom, gain and etc., to show my lure in 30 FOW and had awesome target separation when marking walleyes.
I was EXTREMELY PLEASED with the performance in sonar (A-scope) and 2D modes.

The 2nd spot I fished was hard (rock) bottom also in 30 FOW.
Terrible performance!
If I set the gain at 1 could see lure occasionally with a lot of interference.
If I set the gain at 2 and above lure is lost in interference.
I tried all the IR settings.
Tried Clear Mode and Max Mode.
I tried various gain settings no improvement.
I turned the unit off and restarted numerous times.
Way too much interference.
Could not identify my lure.
Could not see fish.
There were no other depth finders in the ice fishing house or vicinity.
I was on Lake of The Woods (U.S./Canada Border water) with poor cell phone service.
I did try and call Humminbird but my call was dropped before I could speak with someone.
After a couple of hours I gave up and fished blind the rest of the day/trip.

I have since called Humminbird Customer Service.
Their recommendation is to try a 'Factory Reset'.
If I was thinking clearly I probably would have tried this at the time.

I have performed the Factory Reset.
I plan on fishing mid-week over rock.
We will see what happens...

[Wormdunker]

I have 4 Helix Ice units, all with Chirp. All work great. I did have an issue when I tried to update to the most recent SW release, 1.83? Anyway that was a disaster. I went back to 1.64 and they are great.

Flasher mode go with A-Scope. Adds almost a 3 dimensional detail to the fish and jig marks.

[sfw1960]

I'm with WD....

I love the XI 9 1521, you do have to adjust the units for conditions, I was never a fan of "automagic" !

[Chief Brody]

I have 4 Helix Ice units, all with Chirp. All work great. I did have an issue when I tried to update to the most recent SW release, 1.83? Anyway that was a disaster. I went back to 1.64 and they are great.

Flasher mode go with A-Scope. Adds almost a 3 dimensional detail to the fish and jig marks.

Pic?

[sfw1960]

From the flight Sim W/BL split ...

[dbooth]

Whats the difference between the xi9 1520 and the xi9 1521transducer?

[Wayne P.]

Whats the difference between the xi9 1520 and the xi9 1521transducer?

The xi 9 1521 is for Dual Spectrum 140-240 kHz CHIRP.
There is no xi 9 1520.
There is the xi 9 20 for 83/200 kHz.

[dbooth]

My mistake. Half awake when i asked. Assuming the 1521 is going to be the better of the two?

[sfw1960]

Yep.
Very wide range of adjustment.

[dbooth]

Thank you

[sfw1960]

YW, just trying to help out - that's how we roll @ the BBC!

[Wormdunker]

From the flight Sim W/BL split ...

Just an fyi, this SIM photo is not very representative of the real deal. Turn on A-scope, go fish. You will see what We are talking about. Segments are not only represented in intensity in color but are almost 2 dimensional.

[A Wood]

I will add as I just picked up a new helix 7 ice with the ice ducer that there is great target separation compared to previous models I have used. I think I would owe that to the new ducer.

[sfw1960]

Yup - I know, I run it that way on the ice (A-Scope all views) - but I don't use the flasher view that often, usually I run split W/Bottom Lock "conventional".

The actual pics usually don't translate to a monitor anywhere as well as the native display!

You'd better get busy & post a "live" shot WD....

[Wormdunker]

Yup - I know, I run it that way on the ice (A-Scope all views) - but I don't use the flasher view that often, usually I run split W/Bottom Lock "conventional".

The actual pics usually don't translate to a monitor anywhere as well as the native display!

You'd better get busy & post a "live" shot WD....

Sent you an email

[sfw1960]

Saw that....

Here ya go.



Screen shots always look cleaner than a snapped image - but you get the idea.

[Wormdunker]

A-scope not only represents signal strength by color (5 colors) but also width and shape of segment. In the photo you can see very small faint signals that do not span the width of the flasher or vertical flasher. As the fish gets closer to the middle of the cone the segment get broader and wider and eventually red. That bottom RED mark is a fish on my jig and came up the hole shortly after. The small segment under it just came into view just as I set the hook.

[JDP]

I purchased the Dual Spectrum CHIRP XI 9 1521 Ice Transducer and hooked it up to my Helix 7 GPS/Sonar G2N unit with 1.64 software.

The first spot I fished was a soft bottom (mud).
I was able to manually adjust the unit (fish id off, CHIRP IR setting, Surface Clutter, Zoom, gain and etc., to show my lure in 30 FOW and had awesome target separation when marking walleyes.
I was EXTREMELY PLEASED with the performance in sonar (A-scope) and 2D modes.

The 2nd spot I fished was hard (rock) bottom also in 30 FOW.
Terrible performance!
If I set the gain at 1 could see lure occasionally with a lot of interference.
If I set the gain at 2 and above lure is lost in interference.
I tried all the IR settings.
Tried Clear Mode and Max Mode.
I tried various gain settings no improvement.
I turned the unit off and restarted numerous times.
Way too much interference.
Could not identify my lure.
Could not see fish.
There were no other depth finders in the ice fishing house or vicinity.
I was on Lake of The Woods (U.S./Canada Border water) with poor cell phone service.
I did try and call Humminbird but my call was dropped before I could speak with someone.
After a couple of hours I gave up and fished blind the rest of the day/trip.

I have since called Humminbird Customer Service.
Their recommendation is to try a 'Factory Reset'.
If I was thinking clearly I probably would have tried this at the time.

I have performed the Factory Reset.
I plan on fishing mid-week over rock.
We will see what happens...

I was out for 2 days of fishing on rock exclusively.
The Helix 7 worked perfectly the entire time.
So, doing a factory reset does make a difference .
Yes, it is a pain, but worked in my case.