What Sonar do you have?

[wax_worm]

I have no problem with either of my Vex's (fl18 and 20) fishing in water under 10 ft.  I just use the low power mode and can detect fish from bottom to right under the ice.  I assume the marcums also have a low power mode, but can't confirm.

[firefighter04]

My LX9 has 25 different sensitivity settings. No need to change the power of the unit just run you dynamic depth and start at the lowest sensitivity and work up till you get a good lock on the bottom and your off to the races. The selectable cone angle 8 or 20 degrees makes a big difference aswell. I think it's the vex's that have a tri beam option and I can see that being an asset in shallow water.

[FISHFORPIKE]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but I'm in the same boat as Zktaylor. Now I've read every post and the only question i have (which i think only one person kinda commented on) is which one would be most suitable for shallow waters? Less than 10 fow, ie: Willow Slough. I know vexilar sell a cable to reduce the power for this situation but haven't seen a whole lot about the Marcums. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Marcum doesn't use "power settings" for adjusting to shallow water and/or weeds.  THey do it with cone angle and sensitivity.  Never had any problem fishing in weeds and/or in 7 FOW with my LX5 or 7.

[sbrown8020]

Thanks for feedback from post on 10/25.

I still had my lowrance ice fishing pack (soft pack, ice transducer, battery, etc.) and found a refurbished HDS-5 unit with Lake Insight on sale for 350 from cabelas and happened to have $50 of gift cert on hand.   I figured this unit will do well and will put the money I save on my auger and other gear. 

[mjmeyer]

I am looking at a Marcum  Lx-6, lx-7,  Humminbird ICE 597ci HD Combo, or an hds 5 ice machine.

Curious on your thoughts regarding:
1.  Any experience with any of these units?
2.  Any experience with interference on the ice machine style units?
3.  How valuable is a gps unit for fishing the local lakes?
4.   Thoughts on relative sensitivity of these units?

Thanks for your help!!

1. I own a Humminbird 385ci, the baby brother to your 597ciHD and not HD. That being said I love it.  I use the graph exclusively because it's what I'm used to. Like Showdown users say "why wrap the vertical picture into a circle".
2. I know nothing of interference as my buddies aren't using anything.
3. The GPS allows you to pinpoint subtle structures (where there's fish)and walk there without searching. It's like paddling your canoe out, leaving a floating "X" on the water, then walking there in the winter and drilling a hole on the "X".
4. I have no problem adjusting the sensitivity to see my smallest jig and then seeing a fish come into the picture and hit (or ignore my offering ). You can fine tune your presentation to encourage them to hit.

Hope this helps,
Mike