Need some fishfinder expertise

[john from md]

I just upgraded to a Humminbird Helix 5 DI GPS 2. This is my first DI and I expected to see shapes like you see on the simulation or on views posted by other users. I tried both 455 and 800 and, if I turn up the sensitivity, then I can get yellow marks across the screen. Other than that, the screen stays dark.

I get good views and fish marks on the other non DI sonar and all views work great. Can this be because I am shooting through the hull? I even drifted around the old railroad bridge and just south were they are making oyster piles and they showed up fine on the regular sonar but again, just dark DI.

Help!

[brianisoutside]

A screen shot or picture of the FF screen would help.
My DI will show harder substrate/objects but I've personally never gotten it to look as great as the demo mode.


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[john from md]

The screen shot would be black, the only small dark yellow dots you can barely see with your eye is when I turn the contrast and sensitivity all the way up. I think it is just noise.

I wrote to Hummingbird and they gave me the canned response of we will fix it if you send it to us (paid by me). I decided I would notify Amazon that it is defective and just send it back to them.

[Yak Fish]

Did you try the transducer in a non thru hull mount? I've had several Humminbirds and I always hand the transducer over the side. I get really good images, especially on the mega imaging unit.

[brianisoutside]

Is your zoom set to say the top ten feet of water and your not actually showing the bottom on screen?


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[john from md]

I have always had my transducers mounted inside the yaks. Both Lowrance and Humminbird always worked inside. I use the duct seal with a water well method and it works great.

I tried adjusting depth, noise, sensitivity etc. to no avail. I have since seen several posts dating back to 2013 where people had black DI or SI screens and the fix was replacing the unit. I will probably send it back to amazon this week.

[PigPen]

I'm also pretty happy with my through hull install. I used an old butter container withe the transducer zipped to the lid and filled with water. It needs filled up every once in a while but the picture is nice and no extra drag.

[john from md]

I packed up the unit and it is going back to Amazon. I will get another, hopefully a better one.