IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Canada => Ice Fishing Saskatchewan => Topic started by: EVAN NIM on Apr 21, 2019, 10:21 PM
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So its a bit sad the hard water season is over, im already thinking of next year
Im investing in a flasher and i was looking for opinions preferably personal use of the products
Im looking at the following 3
Helix 7
Garmin striker plus 7
Marcum
So far- the helix is the front runner, except once you get the ice package , your $1000...
the garmin i fear has products becoming discontinued, im not sure if thats something to worry about or not, but its a close 2nd
The marcum lx6/7 was the front runner before doing more research and determining thats its actaully a fairly old equipment
Anyhow
Any input would be great.. i realize its easter.. but hunting and ice fishing are a long way away and its gonna be a long summer..!o
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They're all great units. I have a marcum lx 3 and love it, easy to read and use. Got a Stryker 4 for my son and it is really impressive, love the GPS on it. Vexilar FL 20 looks like a good unit, I played with one a little bit this year while helping some folks out.
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For Garmin I'd be comparing the echomap plus 73 ice fishing bundle to the rest. Unless you've ruled it out. I would think it has more features and it opens you up to upgrading to panoptix if you win the lottery lol
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Hahaha
I didnt realize it was compatible
But likely not ever buying panoptix
Does anyone have or know of new products coming down the line for 2019/20?
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You'd think vexilar and marcum would be due for a new product but it could be darn near ice season again before we find out
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So its a bit sad the hard water season is over, im already thinking of next year
Im investing in a flasher and i was looking for opinions preferably personal use of the products
Im looking at the following 3
Helix 7
Garmin striker plus 7
Marcum
So far- the helix is the front runner, except once you get the ice package , your $1000...
the garmin i fear has products becoming discontinued, im not sure if thats something to worry about or not, but its a close 2nd
The marcum lx6/7 was the front runner before doing more research and determining thats its actaully a fairly old equipment
Anyhow
Any input would be great.. i realize its easter.. but hunting and ice fishing are a long way away and its gonna be a long summer..!o
Well, sonar is sonar. What we pay for is display type (mechanical/digital) power output, and general features (cone angle, zoom, gps, graph etc.). And sonar isn’t new tech by a long shot. I’d take the feature set I’m for and try to match that with my budget then make an educated decision based on those factors.
From being on this forum for a few years I believe that you would be satisfied with either option. I know I would (I currently own a Marcum VX-1i, the updated version being the M1). As an angler that really enjoys gear, I can bet that no matter which one you choose that you will still wonder how the other two would have performed in comparison to your choice. I tend to be a brand loyal consumer so I would probably go with the Marcum. Being “old” tech doesn’t concern me if the product works as advertised. It’s when a company isn’t diligent with firmware updates that most modern tech becomes “old” and from what I understand, Marcum isn’t the most diligent company when it comes to firmware updates. However, every company has their own isolated issues to deal with. If future proofing your gear is a concern (which it should be since it’s 2019, we all want longevity out of our electronics), I may look past Marcum and see what other brands offer on the terms of firmware support.
Regardless though, 3 nice machines to choose from.
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If you don't want simple sonar then at least look at the Garmin Panoptix with the live view or live scope or whatever it is.
From what I understand it's a game changer.
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The panoptix will allow a fishing experience closer to ice fishing on the open water too. It makes things better all year. You get way more info than simple 2d.
I did hear that Marcum has something new in the works, but it might also be Nov 2020, so probably too late to save them.
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I ended up getting the helix 7 si
Just need to find a shuttle and ice fishing cone