# Helix 5 transducer help



## ErieRider (Mar 23, 2010)

Soooo... kind of frustrating but I got 3 different answers from 3 different HB customer service reps. 
Here's the story... bought a Helix 5 Chirp GPS G2 for the dash of the boat but would also like to run this unit for ice as well. 
Researching everything, I come to find out that the transducer that comes with the unit is not chirp... go figure...says chirp on the box... would like a chirp unit for ice. No big deal since HB will do an exchange for a different transducer if it is new. So seeing that my current set up is a shoot thru transducer on the raymarine it's replacing I call to get specs on the shoot thru ducer. They give me a number and said get this one, which is the non chirp, shoot thru, upon further research. So another call to HB. Next rep says... no... get this shoot thru and gives model number which ends with hwt. Great! More research reveals that it is a high wide chirp ducer but has temp probe. So a third call... this time they tell me.. yes it is the hwt ducer and either run the temp probe over the side or coil up the wire in your bilge. Not an option for me since I don't want random wiring laying in the bilge either coiled and secured or not and my I/O is below deck in a bilge. So the next option was ok we have the HW transducer without temp. However, if you use that transducer, you will getting a warning each time you start the unit up saying that a transducer is not connected since the unit recognizes a transducer by temperature!
So since my old unit GPS mapping took a crap here are my options then a few questions for the HB people. 
Options:
1) Use Helix strictly for mapping and raymarine for FF.
2) Use Helix with shoot thru and no temp but deal with warning of no transducer connected
3) Use transducer with temp probe and get false temp reading in bilge
4) Use my HB non chirp transom transducer in hull, which humminbird claims will shoot through hull but still give false reading since the temp is in that transducer as well.
I just am surprised that hb says there was no way to shut off the no transducer warning even if I connect a transducer w/o temp!
So my questions are:
1) is there a work around to getting the warnings to not come up each start up?
2) how dramatic of a difference do you see in shallow water (60 feet or less) with a chirp vs. Non chirp transducer?
3) is it accurate that you will get a warning on an hb unit if you are not using a temp enabled ducer?
4) is there a way to delete temp from your screen, as a constant false reading of temperature would drive me nuts! (I asked this to hb and was told they weren't really sure)
5) if any others have different options for a workable solution, I welcome them.
Last,I probably should have said this prior but with the last raymarine, I just couldn't get a clean reading with a transom mount, no matter the location., so went with a shoot thru that is epoxied to the inside of the fiberglass hull. It picks up perfect and never loses bottom regardless of condition. Something I could never do prior, so I would really like to keep a shoot thru. 
I know it's a long post but want to ensure I'm covering all my bases and only doing this once the most logical way. TIA

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