Humminbird Helix and night fishing and Lunar Extreme UV light

[bobby b.]

I added this to a recent post but decided to create a new topic so it might get some attention.

I put a Helix 9 on the bow this summer and will replace my Humminbird 997 at the console with the same hopefully in the Spring.  I like the Helix 9 allot but noted an issue at least for me the last few nights.  My 997 has an old Navonics chart in it and I can change the background to Blue or Black which is very helpful to see at night particular for driving.  I can't see the boat position very well at night with the white screen even if I dim the light.  The Helix only offer White or Black background but the Black does not work if you have a chart in the unit (I have a new Lake Master card in the Helix).  I talked to Humminbird about this yesterday and she tested several old and new units with different cards and in fact this is how the new products work.

I asked her to submit a "safety issue" concern to the engineers and she said she would.  The white light on the bow also makes it harder for your eyes to adjust at night.  So you guys with new Humminbird products that fish at night and feel the same about the white light could call Humminbird as well and ask for a software change.  Maybe they will do it if they get a few calls.

Also I got a Lunar Extreme (see pic) and it works 10 times better than the UV tube lights - still don't like the bugs, particularly when they stick to the boat and need to be cleaned out. (Thanks Bo for the recommendation on the light). 

[JRay]

Bobby,

 

Have you tried the Navionics chip in that unit?  I run my HBird at night with the Navi chip and the screen on black and light at "dim" or "1" and I really like it for driving at night.  I do have my unit mounted on a Ram mount to the side of the console instead of in-dash.  Same unit up front and same setting.

[bobby b.]

6 hours ago, JRay said:

Bobby,

 

Have you tried the Navionics chip in that unit?  I run my HBird at night with the Navi chip and the screen on black and light at "dim" or "1" and I really like it for driving at night.  I do have my unit mounted on a Ram mount to the side of the console instead of in-dash.  Same unit up front and same setting.

Yes the 10 year old Navionics card works on the Black background in the new Helix but Humminbird said that the newer chips of both makes will only show white.  The other thing I've noticed is that there are differences in the map data, i.e. a point I fish has a 27 foot hump on the Nav card but the new Lake Master shows a sharp drop off at that location and no hump yet I know there is one there.