Best flasher 275 or less

[Kevin23]

    Can you elaborate on which hummingbird models?  I'm new to this whole electronics thing myself as well.  Right now I have an old hummingbird 100sx that I'm rigging for the ice so that I can get some idea of what I'm doing and what I should or would want in an electronics for the ice.   Thanks

Ice-35

[matt12]

Cant remember what i paid for my marcum vx1pro but it was around 300 if not less. Comes with a case, has the swing out arm that hold your ducer.

Cheap and catches me plenty of fish.

Only thing i miss from when i had my HB 385 was having GPS. GPS is super super useful. I ended up getting navionics on my smartphone so no real need to have gps anymore on my flasher.

BTW, one thing to look for when looking at flashers is how they work around other flashers. Interference can be a real bummer when fishing around a group.

[FishGut]

College student on a budget, eh? What do you do when it's not ice season?

Pretty much every LCD unit built in the last 20 years can display as a round flasher graph if that's what you want. Uncouple the one from any boat you use and buy a battery and some extra cables. You don't even need a special ice transducer.

My partner has a high end vex. My old black and white Lowrance unit off of Yakky Doodle puts us on the spots I marked during open water season during the last five or six years.

[johnb340]

They all work well and it sounded like you answered your own question with your list.

[tdannhauser30]

College student on a budget, eh? What do you do when it's not ice season?

Pretty much every LCD unit built in the last 20 years can display as a round flasher graph if that's what you want. Uncouple the one from any boat you use and buy a battery and some extra cables. You don't even need a special ice transducer.

My partner has a high end vex. My old black and white Lowrance unit off of Yakky Doodle puts us on the spots I marked during open water season during the last five or six years.

 No boat as of right now so don't own any electronics to be converted for ice fishing. You can find me crawling around the rocks through the Lower Niagara any free time I have throughout the year. I am super tempted to pull the trigger on one of these cheap Garmin Tracker 4 units, GPS sounds nice. But could always just use my phone.  IF not that its the Hummingbird 35 thats the main option I think. Thank you for everyone's input!

[TIBS]

I own a H-bird ICE35.  It works.  Nothing spectacular about it other than the screen is the largest (& easiest on the eye) available.  If I were looking today, I’d probably go for the Marcum M1, runs near the same price and comes with a soft case, and it has a 5’ bottom lock zoom, which I prefer over Humminbird’s zoom, which really isn’t zoom, more like 2x magnify. 

Unless you’re gonna use a kayak or canoe in the summer, the Garmin LCD’s aren’t much of a bargain, you’re gonna pay just as much for a Striker 4 ice kit as you are for the H-bird ICE35 or Marcum M1.  And the Strikers only mark gps waypoints & tracks, they have no mapping capabilities.

[Kevin23]

I own a H-bird ICE35.  It works.  Nothing spectacular about it other than the screen is the largest (& easiest on the eye) available.  If I were looking today, I’d probably go for the Marcum M1, runs near the same price and comes with a soft case, and it has a 5’ bottom lock zoom, which I prefer over Humminbird’s zoom, which really isn’t zoom, more like 2x magnify. 

Unless you’re gonna use a kayak or canoe in the summer, the Garmin LCD’s aren’t much of a bargain, you’re gonna pay just as much for a Striker 4 ice kit as you are for the H-bird ICE35 or Marcum M1.  And the Strikers only mark gps waypoints & tracks, they have no mapping capabilities.

Nothing spectacular other than dual beam, movable zoom, giant display, runs on a different frequency so no interference with marcum/vex/lowrance, and battery level. All features i take advantage of every trip. Marcum vx1 cannot compete, had one.

[LSHD69]

Have had no issues with my Ice 35. Like it a lot.

[jscrawdad]

If you roam around craigslist and facebook long enough, you should be able to find a Marcum Vx-1p for less than $250. Only other feature it has is 5' bottom lock zoom, but that's all you'll need for most fishing situations.

[TimK]

Two best options in your price range, VEX FL8 or Humminbird ICE 35

The vex is a durable unit thatll take a beating but doesnt have a zoom.

THE ICE35 has a zoom and nicer display but dont drop it off the tailgate of a truck.

If you like to fish with other people dont get a marcum, theyll send you at least 100 yards away due to interference from the marcum units.

The showdown platform is junk, cheap alternative to a flasher style sonar.

[TIBS]

Nothing spectacular other than dual beam, movable zoom, giant display, runs on a different frequency so no interference with marcum/vex/lowrance, and battery level. All features i take advantage of every trip. Marcum vx1 cannot compete, had one.

IMO, the large display is the only real selling point on the birds.  Their zoom system isn’t really zoom, it’s just magnifying the same return 2x, it’s really not that good.  I’ve had plenty of interference on mine before, although I don’t know from which units.  I’ve never used the battery meter, never had a need to.  The dual beam is a joke, I can’t get mine to see a jig on wide beam, even with jacking the gain up, I always run it in narrow beam.  It was definitely a step up from an FL8 I had previously though.

[Light liner]

Always comes down to 2.
The vex or the bird.............
Im still running an 8 year old 45 no issues.
And a FL 18.
Love them both, but once you learn a Vex theres nothing like it.

[Raptortrapper]

Looking for the best flasher under $275??

There was a GREAT one down at 3rd and Main for $20, but I can't remember her name!

Sorry... Couldn't help myself....

[bearnoob]

I want  best for approx 300, not best in general. Money super tight, graduate w my degree next year, thennn maybe Ill start looking for the best of the best lol.

Thanks for everyone's input I cannot believe how many people chimed in. New to the forum and really appreciate the help. Seems like the most votes go to the ice 35 or FL8se..  Just worried about the shallow water issue  I hear about with the vex but then some say they have no problems so who knows..  Vex comes with a case though which is nice.

Vex also has a lot of add ons that you must pay extra for but come standard on the 35 (battery level indicator, multiple cone angles). Check out vexilars own video that acknowledges the shallow water issues and offers a patch cable for additional purchase to solve the issue:

[eyeflyer]

If you roam around craigslist and facebook long enough, you should be able to find a Marcum Vx-1p for less than $250. Only other feature it has is 5' bottom lock zoom, but that's all you'll need for most fishing situations.

I agree this unit with bottom zoom has been the best bang for your buck unit since it hit the market.  I have one and most of my fishing is in 30' of water or less, but I have marked a 2oz. 4" jig in 118 ft of water for lakers, but the gain had to be cranked pretty good to get the reading.

[Yellowstoner]

I own a H-bird ICE35.  It works.  Nothing spectacular about it other than the screen is the largest (& easiest on the eye) available.  If I were looking today, I’d probably go for the Marcum M1, runs near the same price and comes with a soft case, and it has a 5’ bottom lock zoom, which I prefer over Humminbird’s zoom, which really isn’t zoom, more like 2x magnify. 

Unless you’re gonna use a kayak or canoe in the summer, the Garmin LCD’s aren’t much of a bargain, you’re gonna pay just as much for a Striker 4 ice kit as you are for the H-bird ICE35 or Marcum M1.  And the Strikers only mark gps waypoints & tracks, they have no mapping capabilities.

Not true on the strikers not mapping.  The updated Strikers have the mapping capability now - I own one and have used it.  Now whether or not it's useful is a completely other topic, especially if you'd rather be fishing than just mulling around a lake in your boat. 

[hole_hopper454]

I recommend Vexilar, they are very reliable. Just bought the FLX 20 myself for $373 plus tax. I was going to get an FLX 12 but glad I went with the 20. I used to own a Humminbird 45 but was having problems with it the past few years and Humminbird wanted $175 plus shipping to send it in for repairs. I opted for a new unit.

[Kevin23]

IMO, the large display is the only real selling point on the birds.  Their zoom system isn’t really zoom, it’s just magnifying the same return 2x, it’s really not that good.  I’ve had plenty of interference on mine before, although I don’t know from which units.  I’ve never used the battery meter, never had a need to.  The dual beam is a joke, I can’t get mine to see a jig on wide beam, even with jacking the gain up, I always run it in narrow beam.  It was definitely a step up from an FL8 I had previously though.

I've never had interference, other than fishing with another ICE unit in 30-40' of water. I use the battery meter all the time, mostly because I'm lazy and I use it to see if I need to charge that night or not (I can go probably 12-15 hours before it gets to 1/4 left.. usually 3 trips). I use the dual beam every time out, and I can see a bare hook in 20' of water on wide beam with very little gain (maybe 6-7 clicks). I think your unit is malfunctioning. I use wide beam most of the time, then put it into narrow when fishing in timber. With narrow you actually need a lot more gain than in wide I have noticed.

All of our marcums and all of my friends with marcums (except for hnd), all are broken now. We all switched to birds and garmins. I absolutely loved my marcum (look back at my old posts, I was a huge fanboy) but I have to say I love the ICE units more. The bottom lock was pretty useless to me on the marcum, I fish crappies 90% of the time, but that I agree was probably its best feature.

[hnd]

i'd buy an ice 35 or a m1.  i personally refer the m1.  i think its display is sharper, prefer an arm, and i think its zoom is better than the ice 35 but i like the dual beam support of he 35 alot as well as the bigger screen. 

I much prefer either over the fl8.  it will work, but if you fish a ton of shallow water, its pretty irritating compared to the 2 above.  That said, it will get the job done 

[hnd]

i have no experience with the striker ice unit by garmin but it looks too tiny for my liking.  I'd stay away from a showdown.  once again, it will do the job kinda, i'm just not impressed with the greyscale display.