Humminbird HELIX 5 Fish Finder

I purchased this unit mainly for the Chartplotter, but I wanted to have an idea of depth. I mounted the transducer internally to in the bow of the boat. Eventually, I need to get an InHull Transducer, but for now this works well. I can't say much about the fish finder or contour ability, but for what I needed and the Chartplotter it was perfect. I used the base map and had exactly what I needed for my Inner coastal and ocean voyage.

Great product. Big screen and full of extras...mapping, fish locator, depth, boat speed, water temp, etc. Easy installation. Had a smaller Humminbird unit and most of the wiring was interchangeable, but changed it anyway for warranty compliance.

I bought this to be a dual purpose finder for me, on both my kayak and primarily for ice fishing season. I have the transducer that comes with it mounted on my kayak, and did not have a lot of success with it in warm waters. I fish mostly lakes and ponds, which are semi-shallow so that could be why. However the few times I had it on one of the Great Lakes, I did not have much luck either. It is mostly a depth finder for me on the kayak. However, I recently picked up the XI 9 1521 ice fishing transducer and that is where it really shines. The flasher mode is extremely responsive, with lots of different screen options. My first trip out it helped me sight a nice largemouth under the ice. Brought my jig right to him and he nailed it. Definitely recommend this model with the XI 9 1521 transducer for ice fishing.

Feels solidly built and easy to install. Going to have to take the manual with me the first few times I take the boat out to make use of and get used to all of the features. The down imaging feature looks like something I'm definitely going to like. Just poking around in the menu the first time out without the manual with me I couldn't quite find/use all of the features so it's not purely intuitive. But I guess that's why it comes with a manual.

Best bang for your buck fish finder I’ve ever used! The Helix 5 Chirp G2 has exceeded my expectations in all ways, screen is visible without a sunshade on bright days and it’s very user friendly. Sometimes if you run over kelp or any other debris the system will take 5-10 extra seconds to catch back up but that’s all fish finders if you’re in a kayak. If installing in a kayak, highly recommend getting through hull plugs to clean up the wires. Great all around!

I bought and used this some at the end of last season in Maine. It has some nice features and is easy to read and use, though in the first several outings you might want to take the operations manual along with with you. With practice, however, it becomes clear and intuitive fairly quickly. Installation is a bit tricky for a first timer like me, but was manageable with some careful attention to the instructions before and during the installation process.

Got this to replace a cheaper unit. It works Great. I use it for Kayak Fishing In Guam. I can get targets down to about 400 feet, and pickup the bottom well beyond that. The base maps work great for what I need. Overall No issues with it.

I purchased a Helix 5 G2 GPS fish finder. Love the functionality of the unit but am not satisfied with the Hummingbird customer support. Unfortunately, my unit shuts off intermittently during use and then I cannot turn it back on for about an hour when that happens. Seems to me like an overheating issue but Hummingbird disagrees. Apparently they get this type of complaint somewhat frequently (try google search and read the fishing forums) and their response to me was that the problem must be caused by my boat's electrical system (even though my previous fish finder worked just fine on that circuit. Okay, per their recommendation I then ran a dedicated 14 ga wire circuit straight to the battery and fused it with a 3 amp fuse. Took the boat out again - same result with three shutdowns, however it did not fail when I had it shielded from the sun with cardboard. Good news though, I did determine that if I performed a power reset (unplug unit for 10 secs) then it could turn on again and I would have the depth sounder information which is very important. Sent email to Hummingbird but have not heard back from them yet. I will update this review when I do. I should have returned this unit via Amazon but because the transducer cable is sealed thru the transom I did not choose to do that. Believe me, working with the manufacturer is far more difficult that dealing with Amazon. Unfortunately now that 30 day return period has passed. Sigh...

Great product. As advertised. Works great. I really like this unit and can't beat the price.

Many have said that they can't find fish with this unit. Well, I had the same problem so I read the manual and discovered that if you check the menus available on the unit plus activated the advanced interface you have all the setup features you need to fine tune this unit to find fish, structures and see your GPS coords and battery level and lake temperature. Granted, it doesn't find fish as the default (hummingbird!!!) but if you look through the menus you will be more than happy with all the info you can activate as well as finding fish. Good luck and I hope you days fishing are awesome.

Really nice fish finder for the price. Has all the features of the newer models just a smaller screen.

Nice unit Easy to install, set up and use !

Works great. Installation was straightforward. Shipping was fast.