What Is The Difference Between Garmin Echomap And Humminbird Helix Fish Finder Series?

UPDATED 13 FEBRUARY 2023

by Robert Ceran

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The Garmin Echomap and Humminbird Helix series are among the most popular fish finders in their size class on the market.

Both series are designed as mid-size fish finders with advanced sonar as well as some mapping/chartplotting capabilities, and have a lot of features in common.

But if you’re thinking about getting either and Echomap or a Helix fish finder, it’s important to understand their differences, as well as the pros and cons of each.

In this article we’ll compare the Garmin Echomap vs Humminbird Helix series side by side, to help you decide which one is right for your purposes.

Garmin Echomap vs Humminbird Helix series compared side by side

Model	Image	Price	Display size	Touchscreen	Preloaded maps	MicroSD	WiFi	CHIRP	GPS
Garmin Echomap UHD 74SV			7"	Yes	LakeVu or BlueChart G3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Humminbird Helix 7 CHIRP MSI GPS G3N			7"	No	Humminbird basemap	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Garmin Echomap UHD 94sv			9"	Yes	LakeVu or BlueChart G3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Humminbird Helix 9 CHIRP Mega SI+ GPS G4N			9"	No	Humminbird basemap	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

The table above compares the key specs of the most popular Garmin Echomap UHD units with Humminbird Helix units of comparable size and with similar features.

Before we discuss their differences, let’s start by going over what they have in common. Both series come with an impressive array of sonar capabilities, including CHIRP 2D sonar, down imaging, and side imaging. 

In addition, both series have built-in GPS, WiFi/Bluetooth functionality, a MicroSD card slot, and both come with preloaded maps (though their maps are of different quality – see below).

Bottom line: Both the Garmin Echomap and Humminbird Helix series come with very similar high end sonar imaging capabilities, as well as GPS, networking, and mapping capabilities.

Now let’s take a look at the key differences between Garmin Echomap vs Humminbird Helix units:

Touchscreen functionality: While the Echomap UHD series has touchscreen functionality, the Helix series does not.

The Echomap units have both touchscreen functionality as well as menu keys, which can be used effectively in combination with each other. This makes it easier to customize the screen display, as well as zoom in on specific areas. 

Bottom line: If touchscreen functionality is an important feature for you, then a Garmin Echomap unit is the right choice for you.

Preloaded maps: While Garmin Echomap units come with either LakeVu (inland) or BlueChart (coastal) maps preloaded, Humminbird Helix units come with the Humminbird basemap, which has much lower resolution.

LakeVu and BlueChart maps are built with Navionics data, and come with contour lines with up to 1’ resolution. In contrast to this, the Humminbird basemap only has contour lines with 10’ to 20’ resolution. 

This is a huge difference between the Echomap and Helix series, and reflects the fact that Garmin designed the Echomap UHD series to be used as chartplotters with sonar capabilities, while Humminbird designed the Helix series to be used as fish finder sonars with mapping capabilities.

Bottom line: If mapping is important to you, then the Garmin Echomap units come with much better preloaded maps than the Helix units.

With that being said, keep in mind that all units in both series come with a MicroSD port, which means you can readily add LakeMaster or SmartStrike premium maps to your Helix unit after purchase.

Pricing: In general, smaller Humminbird Helix units of comparable size and with a similar set of features tend to be slightly cheaper than their Garmin Echomap counterparts.

However, this is reversed for the larger units, where Humminbird Helix units are usually more expensive than similarly sized Garmin Echomap units.

Garmin UHD vs Humminbird MEGA

Garmin Echomap UHD units come with UHD (or ultra high definition) sonar, which is an improved version of Garmin’s clearvu and sidevu sonar that generates even better target resolution, resulting in incredibly clear sonar images. 

Similarly, Humminbird Helix units come with MEGA imaging, which is an improved version of Humminbird down and side imaging sonar technology, generating very high resolution images. 

Garmin UHD and Humminbird MEGA are very similar to each in terms of the image quality they produce, and so this is not a feature that should make a huge difference to your purchasing decision.

If you’re specifically interested in the side imaging capabilities of these fish finders, check out our article on Humminbird side imaging vs Garmin SideVu compared.

Now let’s take a closer look at each of the units listed in the chart above.

Garmin Echomap UHD 74sv review

The Garmin Echomap UHD 74sv combines three different powerful sonar technologies: CHIRP 2D sonar, UHD clearvu, and UHD sidevu.

In addition to this, it comes with high resolution preloaded maps, and a display with split screen functionality that allows you to view a combination of sonar and mapping data side by side. 

Finally, Quickdraw Contours also allows you to create your own custom maps, which is a great feature if your location is not covered in with a lot of detail in existing maps. 

Features:

• 800 x 400 pixels screen resolution
• IPX7 waterproof rating
• WVGA display

Humminbird Helix 7 CHIRP Mega SI GPS G3 review

The Humminbird Helix 7 CHIRP Mega SI comes with very similar sonar capabilities to the Echomap UHD 74sv, including traditional CHIRP, MEGA down imaging, and MEGA side imaging.

The latter two are enhanced with Humminbird Mega imaging technology, which produces incredibly detailed sonar images. 

And while the preloaded maps of the Helix 7 don’t have high resolution, you can easily upgrade them with LakeMaster or SmartStrike maps, which are among the best available on the market. 

Features:

• 800 x 480 pixels screen resolution
• Dual spectrum CHIRP
• Keypad control

Garmin Echomap UHD 94sv review

With a 9 inch display, the Garmin Echomap UHD 94sv comes with a more generous display size, which helps a lot if you want to use split screen functionality to view several sonar read outs (such as sidevu and downvu) as well as mapping data side by side.

Another great thing about the Echomap UHD 94sv is that it is compatible with the Garmin Panoptix LiveScope System, which means you can easily add live sonar to it later on.

In fact, if you buy this unit without a transducer, it makes a great slave unit that can be used just to view LiveScope sonar data.

Features:

• 800 x 400 pixels screen resolution
• Quickdraw Contours
• Can network with compatible Garmin devices, including Garmin Force trolling motor

Humminbird Helix 9 CHIRP Mega SI+ GPS G4N review

The Humminbird Helix 9 CHIRP Mega SI+ comes with a generous 9 inch display size that enables you to take full advantage of its advanced sonar capabilities.

It’s also compatible with MEGA 360 imaging, which you can add to it later on.

In addition to its impressive set of features, it can also network with Minn Kota trolling motors, as well as Talon or Raptor shallow water anchors, which means you can network all of your boat electronics if you stick with these brands. 

Features:

• 1024 x 600 pixels resolution
• Dual spectrum CHIRP, MEGA down imaging, MEGA side imaging
• Can create custom maps with AutoChart Live

Final remarks

This concludes our review comparing Garmin Echomap vs Humminbird Helix series side by side.

Hopefully it will help you choose the right model for your purposes. Tight lines and see you on the water!