I’ve been thinking about buying a humminbird, and I was wondering is there REALLY a difference between the humminbird helix mega down imaging or side imaging on the 9 vs the 10 inch screen and does the one inch bigger make that much of a difference?

I own both, a g2 10 and a g3 9. I will say that there is a noticeable difference between g2 and g3 in terms of brightness and clarity. The biggest visual difference in the screen size is when using a split three screen view (sidescan on the right 50% and 2d and downscan on the left, each at 1/4 screen) there is a slight difference in size but the clarity makes up for it for me. When using a as a single screen (or even as a 50/50 split) I don't notice much difference.

Call humminbird or try and do the research if its easy to find....but im pretty sure the 9 and above uses the same transducer where the stuff smaller than 9 uses a different ducer. So as long as its using the same ducer, it all boils down to size and your budget/what you want to spend.

bigger is always better. i have a Helix 12 and never really planned to go this big due to cost....so when I got it I felt like a bigshot whod never want any other graph.....then I saw a giant [censored] 15 inch!!! Sounds dumb...but it did make my 12 feel small! LOL if the dollar amount isnt a biggie for you, go with the bigger one...aside from graph envy I do feel like more screen real estate makes things easier....especially if you split your display (SI and map, or SI, DI and map all on one screen)

I may be wrong on this and the Great One, Wayne P, can answer or confirm, but I believe the 10 has a greater pixel density and a clearer more concise picture than the 9.

Tech is the same between the 9 and the 10. I have 2 10's and that size hit the sweet spot for me. The 12's of course would be awesome, but the price point was too big a jump. I got my 10SI g3N when it was latest tech end of 2019 for $1450 nib and my 10 DI g3n for $1250. Got a steal on the SI as list was $1999. The DI I bought from a normal place so warranty was good from date of purchase. SI as NIB but bought on ebay so warranty will be from date of manufacture so I knew I might be giving up some warranty but it was worth the risk at that price. Both units have worked fine the 18 months I've had them.

the area of the 9" is 34.2, the area of the 10" is 42.63 or 24.6% larger so it's a decent amount larger. You can use this to compare http://screen-size.info/. If you want to do 3 way split screen you really need the 10 minimum imho. At a minimum I'd do 10SI at console and 9DI at bow. But I rarely tournament fish so take that for what's it's worth. If I were super serious I I'd probably feel 12" was the min.

bigger is better! At least that's what the ladies say when looking at my bird!

A first generation and G2N Helix 9 and 10 have the same size cabinet.

A G3N/G4N Helix 9 and 10 have different size cabinets. The Helix 8 and 9 have the same size cabinet.

A G3N/G4N Helix 9 and Helix 10 have the same display pixel count===1024 X 600.
The 9 will have sharper images since it has the same amount of pixels in a smaller space==higher pixel density==more HD.
Physical size may determine which works best for your boat, you can get the measurements on the Humminbird website with the Installation Instructions

Viewing distance at the bow would favor the Helix 10 with stuff being displayed larger. AND as Greg stated, multi-views are better with the larger display.
Also for SI, display width is the most important since subject size is based on the SI Range setting--2D and DI is based on the depth.

That gives you several things to consider.

have you heard any rumblings on the release date for the live imaging yet? They just keep tacking 1-2 months onto the time once the delivery date passes. Trying to talk myself into getting one! LOL

Thanks for all the info! Budget kind of matters but I was thinking about running dual nines in the back or just run a big 12 just don’t yet.

Im sure someone like Wayne can answer better...but for me id take the 2 9s over a single 12. i run split screen on my unit becauase I like having the mapping up. I think id rather have a dedicated map or map/DI, Map/2d combo on 1 screen and then having a dedicated screen for Side Imaging.

Good answer. I have a Helix 9 G3N on my Phoenix at the console. It does a good job, I'd like a 10 for graphing along with it, but the budget ain't there right now!!

One other thing to note, it uses Micro SD cards. Of course I had none when I got it!!

Well, I got out my guide for Common Core math and determined the minimum difference between a HB 9 and HB 10 is.....drum roll.......ONE!