Humminbird Ice 35/45/55 owners: Do you use the stupid second "support" cable?

[sns2]

I have an Ice 55 and was wondering whether that second "support" cable is really necessary. On their FAQ page the first item addressed is their two cable system.

Question: *Why do the Humminbird ICE Series flashers have two cables on their transducers?

Answer: *Humminbird's transducer assembly contains both a support cable and a signal cable. The support cable hangs the transducer at the proper position in the water, and the signal cable connects the transducer to the control head. Because Johnson Outdoors believes in respecting the intellectual property of others, we specifically designed our assembly such that it would not infringe a specific patent relating to suspending an ice fishing transducer by its signal cable. For that reason, the transducer should be utilized per the instructions in the owner's manual at all times.

I interpret their material as saying, "We couldn't copy Vexilar to a tee, so we added this stupid second cable to avoid a law suit, but it's really not necessary"

Do any of you guys who run Humminbird flashers disregard this "support" cable?

[Bartb]

I had an ice 55, I never used the second cable

[randyvt]

we have a family of 4 birds , nope never put it on

[IveGotWorms]

I took a rod glove and cut it so it goes over the cable.  Then zip tied it to the puck support but not on the cable it self and one at the top.  It adds extra protection and support so the cable is not holding the weight of the ducer puck, the rod glove itself is.  It folds up nicely in pack and is way stronger and more reliable than the googy second cable gizmo.  It also keeps the puck more vertical.

[FishDoc_1]

It's only included to avoid patent issues with Vexilar.

[copperjig]

nope never used it. Just something else for a crazy running fish to get hooked into

[Cases459]

I have a 45, I've always had the "support cable" on mine.  I have found it to be kind of in the way and a pain in the ass, especially when you have a rowdy fish swimming circles as you reel it in.  After reading this thread, I may ditch it.  Thanks for the good info guys!

[Curley]

I went one further and took a Marcum support arm and added it to my case with a standard rubber stop. Works great on my 597.

[NEZ]

I started with an ICE 35 and still have it.  Works like the day I got it about 7 years ago.  Still same battery.  I always use the support cable.  Just saw a guy this year that had issues with the cable being broken in his hummingbird puck from not using it.  Would recommend using per manufacturers recommendation.  I just have the puck cable a little longer and used zip ties instead of the locks they gave me.  Nez

[jakefetch]

Ditched mine the first season.  Pain in the butt.

[Sinnian]

Nope

[RipLipp]

Ditch it, it's about as useful as a vestigial tail.

[AndyJ]

The new-in-the-box Ice35 I picked a few weeks ago doesn't have the extra support cable. One soft highly flexible 3/16" diameter cable only.

[Kevin23]

I do not use the support or the float

[quack]

Used it one season and then guys were telling exactly what everyone is saying in this thread... Been a few years now and no issues, also don't have to deal with the giant block of ice that accumulates on that stupid foam.

[FisherNate]

Nope, been going strong for several years now with no issues.

[KurtHuber]

I use it - the support cable goes through the float and the float has some play to move up and down. The key to making the system work without fuss is to have extra slack in the signal cable, so that it's always "loose" - this isn't well-illustrated in the manual and if you don't have extra slack it's just a hassle. I used a twist tie with some black vinyl electrical tape below it to make sure the two cables stay together, and this keep the float in the right spot. I put some red vinyl electrical tape on the end of the support cord so I can quickly tell which is which, it comes in handy.

I have it set up like this because transducers are expensive and I use this portable setup all year, so I want to mess with the signal cable as little as possible. I also put my transducers into little camera cases to keep them as pristine as possible.

Here's what it looks like (I have a bigger camera case for my SI transducer):

[bee]

Ditch it and the float. Get a stopper from vex and and make an arm or use a eye bolt to hang it from.

[Bass Thumb]

I purchased a 35 for my dad, and we kept 35 support on for a few trips and ditched it. He also just took off the float and prefers that too.

[DakotaElkSlayer]

Nope, no support cable on the ICE55 for YEARS.

Jim

[sns2]

Thanks for the responses guys. Always appreciated.

I ditched that foolish thing. Gonna order a Marcum arm and bubba it to my base.

[Whitefish Slayer]

Un-boxed the wife's new ICE 35 today and it doesn't have the suppport cable

[jethro]

I like the float but not the support cable.

[Spider1]

I used it for a couple years but the cheap plastic clip thing kept coming off at the worst time and the float was in my way. I took it off and never worried about it. Works fine.

[Thorney]

Is it the same useless cable on a Lowrance Ice Machine? My buddy has one, should be chuck the extra cable??

[hamms]

I bought the ice 35 yesterday and it didn't even come with support cable. .. plus the book had instructions to put stop and float on only. No mention of the cable even. To me that says they figured out it was causing ducer to hang funny giving poor signal. I just thought it was cause vex had the pat on float with stop was reason for cable. They found a way around it I guess.

[carcus1]

Got one with the helix 5 didn't use it