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Posts: 320
| I’m thinking of upgrading my electronics this year and since my home lake isn’t available on any mapping system, I’m thinking about getting a Humminbird graph with the autochart feature. I’d like some feedback from current users on building a new map.
How fast do you drive the boat while mapping?
While making a grid, how tight are your passes? 20ft? 30ft? 50ft? I assume the tighter the grid the more detail but what distance between passes are you making?
What are your likes/dislike about this feature?
Thanks in advance for the feedback!
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Posts: 639
Location: Duluth | I've found it works quite well, how wide your passes need to be depends on the transducer. I haven't tried to map a whole lake though, just certain features that don't exactly correspond with Lakemaster. Only issues I could see with mapping a whole lake is storage of the data. Others can speak more authoritatively on that topic I imagine. |
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Posts: 1267
Location: E. Tenn | You can store eight hours of mapping on the unit itself. The Autochart card will save more data then you'll ever be able to map. You cannot save data on a plain SD card. Either way, a visible plot shows up on the screen, so you can gauge how close together your passes need to be.
The owner's manual says the best speed for charting is "0-8 mph." If I'm just mapping, I run 6 mph, otherwise I just keep it on while casting or trolling.
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Posts: 51
| Greetings,
I purchased a Helix 9 unit several years ago to map a lake that I fish in Ontario. The depth contour maps allowed me to take my fishing to an altogether new level. These maps allow me to understand WHY my historically good fishing spots were just that: GOOD. With this information in hand, I have been able to locate many new fishing spots that are also good.
Making depth contour maps is akin to watching paint dry. I readily admit that it is not for everyone. When I start the Autochart function, I get a blank screen on my Helix unit. I just drive around to paint the depth contour map onto the screen. I will get blank spots on the screen if my passes are too wide.
As someone already mentioned, the manual suggests driving around at 0-8 mph or so. Most of my mapping is around 3-5 mph. I try to make my passes so that the boat is moving perpendicular to the depth contour lines, rather than driving the boat in the same direction as the depth contour line.
The software is building the depth contour map in real time as I am driving the boat. The depth contour lines look like a pile of live night crawlers when I start making the map. However, the depth contour lines settle down when sufficient data is accumulated. I spend "extra" time with the boat over points of interest that I identify, such as inside/outside turn on a rock hump. I tend to skip over flat, featureless sections of bottom.
There is no way that I could map an entire lake in a single outing on the lake. Rather, I take bites at the lake. For example, I might map a rock hump or a defined section of a shoreline. One thing that I quickly learned is that it is rare to find a stand-alone piece of structure. Most of the time, a point of interest is connected to something else, which in turn is connected to yet another piece of structure. It's often difficult to take a small bite.
I purchased the Autochart software for my laptop. The data for the maps are stored on the Zerolines card, so that the Helix unit mathematically creates and displays the map as I drive the boat. The depth contour maps just "pop up" as I move around the lake. The software on my laptop allows me to make depth contour maps that I can store on my laptop and separate SD cards. This works well in terms of sharing maps with friends and being able to look at my lake maps during the winter.
Depth contour maps can be made in two ways. One way is standard Autocharting, as I discussed above. This way is very straightforward as I just turn the feature on and off. The other way of making maps is to make sonar recordings. This way is slightly more involved and collects a lot more data. I can use these Sonar Recordings to make maps of bottom hardness, weeds and the like. I have friends that do the more involved maps, whereas I am content with the standard Autocharting maps.
Good luck in your endeavor. I'm very glad that I have the depth contour maps!!!
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Posts: 88
Location: Des Plaines, IL | I've now used the mapping feature with all three major brands (Humminbird, Lowrance and Garmin) and found that all are solid. If this is the one feature you're looking for, you won't really go wrong any way you choose.
Personally, I just made the switch to entirely Garmin and couldn't be happier. I think that if you are looking for quality sonar but want the newest in the live sonar, there is no better choice. If you don't care about seeing the live image, then my opinion is Hummingbird MEGA side is the way to go.
If you like to troll, I really suggest fishing with someone who has the Panoptix LiveScope so you can see how that can improve your trolling technique. You can get accurate depths of the baits by pointing the transducer at them. It will also show you following fish. Amazing stuff. |
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Posts: 90
| Have you updated the software to the latest version? I found the newest update made a huge improvement to the double bottom issue. I used to have the issue in <10ft on hard bottom, I have not had the issue since updating even in <2ft of water over rock. |
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Posts: 17
| If your not looking for bottom hardness or weed mapping to be accurate you can map as fast as your graph can read. I have mapped at 40mph |
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Posts: 133
Location: WV | ive always wanted this feature, I have the 1199's (I think). before auto chart came out. Ive been waiting on a upgrade to the mapping and plan to buy when they do. not sure if thats needed or not just my plan because when using my buddies a few times I just thought it was complicated and kinda screwy around major structure like big rocks and big drops. I really think this technology will get dialed in soon but not sure how much longer I can wait. |
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