Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

my new tritoon is on order, won't arrive for another 5 weeks, it is 38* on beautiful Lake Murray, going to a high of 46*, wind NE @14mph.

Winter sucks and I'm sick of it....!!!

Any questions....???

Well....... so what did you order? Details, please

It will be in the 70s on Wednesday. At least it was sunny today. X2 on details of your new ride.

the details are..........

2015 Crest 220, 22' Tritoon with Merc 150 4 stroke. am/fm Bluetooth. No trailer.
will add various accessories.
have been reading up on underwater, under deck, floor and cup holder lighting.
stainless prop....(Merc Enertia 14 x 15)
Humminbird Helix 5 DI-GPS

will be kept on a lift.
Just got back from dealer, should have it 1st wk of April.

This will be my 2nd toon.....I had a Harris 280, back in the 80's.

Looking forward to it.. ..it will be a nice addition to the boat family.
Wife hates the Triton, so this will be her boat.

yeah...................76* on Wednesday.....a teaser.

today was nice.....a little airish.

Sounds like a great ride!

I can't wait for some warmer weather too. I'm in the process of refurbing my boat. Hopefully have it done in time for summer. We boat on the Gilbert side of lake Murray too.

That is funny. That is where I am also.

Well,,,where I'm at the lakes depend on the winters snow to fill them in the spring,,, can
t have one with out the other,,,,,,,, congrats on the new bote !!!

Grouser,

I understand......

we have had a very wet winter here. We could use some drying out.

our 5 day forecast....

http://www.weather.com/weather/5day/l/USSC0129:1:US

Spring can't get here quick enough.

Hopefully the winter cold will be gone in The South after next weekend. They're forecasting much warmer weather after a cold, rainy upcoming work week.

Another member got a Hummingbird Helix 5 fish finder. What made you choose that model? I just started looking for one for our new toon. While at the boat dealer, I noticed a Hummingbird on the shelf. At the time, I was not too interested with the brand. Now with 2 members adding it to their boats, I want to learn why.

well......
I began with Lowrance. I have 2 Lowrance units on my bassboat. They are older models tho (b&w) no gps, and they are anhhhh.......ok.
I really don't use them for finding fish.....mostly just depth. They are several years old.

I have a close friend that has high $$$ Humminbirds on his bassboat, and he loves them.....no problems.

I spoke with a local dealer, and his response was that Humminbird had taken the market for the past few years......due mostly to customer service. Other reasons were difficulty in using units.

Right or wrong, I began looking.

I knew I wanted color, and gps, and I wanted to be in the $300 range. Then I began looking at reviews of the unit, Amazon is a great place to read reviews, but they only showed 2 reviews for the Helix. So I Googled reviews for the unit. I found some other favorable reviews (don't remember where).

Now....the unit I will buy is the Helix 5 DI w/ GPS. The GPS has an internal antenna and the DI stands for "Down Imaging". This, as I understand it, will show fish within a structure.
Now I probably will not fish from our new tritoon boat, but, with GPS, if I happen to find somewhere that I would like to fish....I can GPS it, save it to the card, and revisit when I have the bassboat in the water.

I began looking at BassPro for pricing, but it appears Amazon has a little better price. If you don't want or need the "DI" function, it is cheaper. If you don't want or need the GPS....it is cheaper still.

That was my rational, price range, ease of use, color, gps, will work with lake map software, has 5" viewing screen.

A problem that I will encounter is.....where to put it. I could install as an in dash unit (which I would like), but the steering wheel will make it difficult to see.... ......so.....now I am checking out "Ram" mounts to get it up higher....but....I would have to remove the unit after each use to be able to put the cover on boat.

I have never owned one, but, I understand that the Garmin units are good units, easy to learn to use, and hold up.

Hope this helps.....pb

Thank you for the indepth explanation. My husband and I are over our heads when it comes to fish finders. The Lowrance we have wasn't used to full capacity because we didn't really understand all the features so basically it was just used to keep us out of the danger zones on the lake. With the new one for the pontoon, it has to be user friendly because I am electronically challenged. lol.

LadyGT,

narrow your search. I have always heard that Garmin were user friendly, but I have never owned one. I am sure that you would be happy w/ Garmin or Humminbird.

The lower priced ones are usually easier to use.....just depends what features you would like to have.

Let me know if I can help.
pb