Ice Fishing Fish Finder Suggestions

[DrCro]

Alright guys my ice fishing fish finder Hook 3x Lowrance has decided to not work anymore, well it's fixable but I don't want to keep fixing it.  Any recommendations for a ice fishing fish finder. Not into flashers so will not be buying one.

Anyone have a preference between, garmin, marcum, lowrance or humming bird?

I'm thinking either this one: https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/lowrance-hook2-4x-bullet-gps-plotter-fishfinder-with-all-season-pack?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions&affcode_c=&gclid=CjwKCAiAlO7uBRANEiwA_vXQ-5M5jvmKRCOcLObdyNXFZKXiXb_G_3Ulm20nf6kjHJ2qessC8FuafxoCqCUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

or

This one: https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/garmin-striker-plus-5cv-portable-ice-fishing-fishfinder-bundle

Any thoughts?

[fishslap]

I like my marcum lx5.  Don’t buy an lx7 with lithium shuttle.  Not worth the price and the battery is junk.  Getting ready to fight with marcum a second time.  Depending on how things go, my next flasher will most likely not be marcum.

[Crazy Tom]

Flasher for me guess I'm  old and not willing to change. I Just don't get the benefit of looking at some weird hook on a lcd or the argument of viewing history of what was around a min prior, who cares its not there now  Flasher does the same thing but in real time no delays. Delays = missed fish
Let the battlebegin whats better.

[Hookerhooker]

I like my marcum lx5.  Don’t buy an lx7 with lithium shuttle.  Not worth the price and the battery is junk.  Getting ready to fight with marcum a second time.  Depending on how things go, my next flasher will most likely not be marcum.

I have two lx5, one has been bullet proof,  one I had to send in, they fixed it free,  even after warranty.
Hope they take care of you

[DrCro]

Flasher for me guess I'm  old and not willing to change. I Just don't get the benefit of looking at some weird hook on a lcd or the argument of viewing history of what was around a min prior, who cares its not there now  Flasher does the same thing but in real time no delays. Delays = missed fish
Let the battlebegin whats better.

That is a great reason to favor flashers more for sure. As far as real time-delay. Not experienced such a thing here with normal fish finders. Even my cheap hook2x lowrance never gave me that issue.

[filetandrelease]

 The delay is so slight the human eye can’t pick it out , this subject comes up every year ,
 

[Figure ate]

The delay is so slight the human eye can’t pick it out , this subject comes up every year ,
 

Flasher guys have to try and justify spending more money on an obsolete product. The flasher doesn't indicate when a fish bites anyway, your rod tip does.

[filetandrelease]

Flasher guys have to try and justify spending more money on an obsolete product. The flasher doesn't indicate when a fish bites anyway, your rod tip does.

Lol , they all get the job done it’s just a preference thing , I used flasher for years
 But I like graph mode , think I started with graphs around 2008 for ice fishing

[Bigassbassman]

I agree the advantages of fish finders can be the integrated GPS and maps, but if you get into using a good flasher, you’ll see a difference in real-time. And you can get a separate dedicated GPS unit if you don’t already have one.  But if you’re set on a new fish finder, I’d check the equipment forum for advice.  A lot of marcum guys here on the Colorado board, including me.

[SLAYERFISH]

Ive tried friends graph type units and it was just a bunch of nonsense to me. For sure the maps/ GPS is a great benefit. but for just hunting fish like perch on the deep flats you can't beat my 10 year old LX-5.
 You graph guys certainly won't out fish me-

[DR.SPECKLER]

Yup id go against panoptix guys with my vexilar.yeah id have to drill more holes but look at the money im saving.lol

[3300]

my thought on the lowrance is you say you don't want to keep fixing your lowrance, so why buy another lowrance? been there, done that with humminbird. spend that fix it money on better tech.

haven't used garmin, altho i think they are good products and i have used my ice-55 top of the line humminbird and it is a lemon and old tech flasher only, which leaves marcum and i do like their digital series. the lithium shuttle maybe expensive and the battery maybe expensive to replace, but you don't have to buy it. if you don't want the features it offers then buy an amped outdoors 12 amp battery for 110$ and call it a day. it fits the stock shuttle and you save 2/3 the weight of the sla battery.
their rt-9v2 is a nice deal if you want gps.

watching garmin's livescope to get ironed out to where they get the bulk and weight down. prices are falling on their head units as they continue to upgrade to better tech. makes it tempting to jump in, but the weight and bulk keeps pushing me away even tho you can get a 93sv echo map for 600$.
this will probably be my next sonar and i am tempted to buy one now with these holiday prices driving costs down atm. with the 30amp amped outdoors battery and all the other weights, they seem to be weighing in at nearly 20 pounds. to me it would make a great sonar for those who don't move at all or hardly ever move like a friend of mine does. their newest head unit does not need the black box for side scanning, so they are continuing to improve upon their tech.

for now my lx-9 with their lithium shuttle all works well so i will keep using it. you could add a lithium battery externally if your built-in battery goes bad. just plug it into the charge port or hardwire it. there is room for one behind the head unit where you normally find the battery on an ice fishing shuttle. a couple of vlecro straps and your set as far as mounting it to the shuttle.
the graph is great to have and helps you understand by having live data in with the history what the movement of the fish is.

it's also good for when you take your eyes off the sonar and look back at what is going on to know if you have a fish slowly leaving and can jig to bring it back. this is also good for eye strain not having to stare into the sonar so as to not miss any movement.
if i had to pick having graph or just use the lines from traditional display, i'd pick graph style. having both is the ticket for myself with 4 charts running at the same time. the camera is also a nice feature on the lx-9 and being able to upgrade your lx-7 into the lx-9 is well thought out. the camera can be full screen or half and half screen or a living wall paper screen. if using the later you can still have up to 4 charts overlayed on top of the camera.
personally, my style of fishing is such that i hardly ever use it as i move way to much to drop it down and the sonar can tell me the information i am looking for and faster and at a larger angle of view. when catching fish the camera is different because you try to watch he mouth of the fish bite your hook instead of watching your line/rod tip. so you tend to set early.

here is a pic of a fish feeding in heavy plankton that you can tune much of that out with a lx-9 so you can still see your jig and fish and you can see a fish that was above my jig that i was dead sticking come in and i caught it. this is all noticeable on the graph. to those who doubt the value of the graph, this is a prime example how well they work.  the far right chart is zoom of the center chart. the center chart is a straight version of what a flasher displays. having normal view and zoomed view of the water column is yet another reason i like marcum digital sonar.



the sonar engine also differs when shopping sonar. some units can not see thru plankton well at all. a friends showdown can do this at all and he would just leave when they showed up on screen and just keep fishing for hours. he finally bought the lx-7 because he saw the difference sonar engine make. until you see the difference, you just don't what they are. not sure how well other units do in this situation, but it is important for me. night time fishing is a blast and that's when plankton come out. i don't want to have to fish blind because of them.
 

[da_teacher]

I have an LX5i and a Bird Helix 5. The digital marcums are junk IMO. Between my brothers and I, we picked up two LX6's and an LX9. Can't stand the LX6's. I have also owned a Lowrance -- hated that the most.

[SLAYERFISH]

My LX-5 sees fish perfectly thru weeds. It never lies.  My buddy with a Vex thought I was pulling his leg because he couldn't see anything but weeds.  but the catching proved otherwise.

I have seen crayfish at 52 ft. deep and I know this because I caught them!  For my type of fishing it's the Bomb.

if the LX-5 dies some day then Ill have a decision to make!

[Crazy Tom]

My LX-5 sees fish perfectly thru weeds. It never lies.  My buddy with a Vex thought I was pulling his leg because he couldn't see anything but weeds.  but the catching proved otherwise.

I have seen crayfish at 52 ft. deep and I know this because I caught them!  For my type of fishing it's the Bomb.

if the LX-5 dies some day then Ill have a decision to make!

Pretty sure I’m that buddy and if so I don’t know what your talking about.
Does the LX 5 work fine sure but when you tell me  you’re  seeing fish in weeds at 60’ and your not in zoom mode I just chalk it  up to 420 lol

[PikeKing23]

Ha ha. Love it! 

[SLAYERFISH]

Pretty sure I’m that buddy and if so I don’t know what your talking about.
Does the LX 5 work fine sure but when you tell me  you’re  seeing fish in weeds at 60’ and your not in zoom mode I just chalk it  up to 420 lol

You don't know!

[DrCro]

Man I ignored everyone’s suggestions including my own went with the Helix 5!

[glenwyo]

Man I ignored everyone’s suggestions including my own went with the Helix 5!

I bought the Helix 5 a few years ago and then bought a Helix 7 a couple of years after that. I wanted a bigger screen as I also use it on my boat. However, I am now using the Helix 7 for ice fishing. I think you'll like your Helix 5. I have enjoyed using mine and find is easy to operate. One tip. Last season was the first time I was using the Helix 7 on the ice and I was having trouble seeing my jig from around 8 foot down to just below the ice. I thought my transducer was messed up so I called Humminbird. The guy told me to adjust my "surface clutter" setting. That solved my problem as I could now pick up my jig on the screen as soon as it started to sink. I always thought the "surface clutter" setting was simply to remove "clutter" or "noise" from the surface! Lol. I also got rid of the foam float for the transducer and installed an "arm" to support the transducer. My portable case had a place to mount the arm. I do lots of hole hopping and never liked the float system.

[Bigassbassman]

Man I ignored everyone’s suggestions including my own went with the Helix 5!

Awesome, Christmas came early for you!  Enjoy it! 

[da_teacher]

I have an LX5i and a Bird Helix 5. The digital marcums are junk IMO. Between my brothers and I, we picked up two LX6's and an LX9. Can't stand the LX6's. I have also owned a Lowrance -- hated that the most.

I suggested Helix 5...kinda sorta.  I love that things. Once you have it dialed in, it's money!!!!

[Unclegillhunter]

Man I ignored everyone’s suggestions including my own went with the Helix 5!

Good buy! Got one last season, the ice package like you have pictured. I was a flasher guy decided to try something new. Just couldn’t get the hang of the graph. Main reason for the purchase was to have a unit for all seasons. So bought a TM transducer so I could use it on my little boat. Determined to figure out the graph I spent several frustrating trips with little success. So I gave up and brought up the split screen gave me some really good insight. I am dialed into the flasher been using for years. So looking at the graph and comparing that to what was on the flasher really helped! As for the old school new school argument who cares! I don’t care what kind of pickup you drive either! Bring on the ice!
Keep it safe! JDL

[Gunflint]

Good buy! Got one last season, the ice package like you have pictured. I was a flasher guy decided to try something new. Just couldn’t get the hang of the graph. Main reason for the purchase was to have a unit for all seasons. So bought a TM transducer so I could use it on my little boat. Determined to figure out the graph I spent several frustrating trips with little success. So I gave up and brought up the split screen gave me some really good insight. I am dialed into the flasher been using for years. So looking at the graph and comparing that to what was on the flasher really helped! As for the old school new school argument who cares! I don’t care what kind of pickup you drive either! Bring on the ice!
Keep it safe! JDL

I have one and the map and GPS are great features as well.

[Lakenater]

I have two lx5, one has been bullet proof,  one I had to send in, they fixed it free,  even after warranty.
Hope they take care of you

Lets not forget the artical by Nathan Zelinsky that Marcum's scare big fish!

[lostbrit]

to the OP,how much did you pay for it?

[Ranger619]

I like my marcum lx5.  Don’t buy an lx7 with lithium shuttle.  Not worth the price and the battery is junk.  Getting ready to fight with marcum a second time.  Depending on how things go, my next flasher will most likely not be marcum.

Fish trap I had a similar deal with my shuttle. It was just over a year old and when setting the shuttle on the ice all day it wouldn’t last. So I made my own shuttle out of a Vexilar Pro Pack with a Dakota Lithium battery. Greatest thing I ever did and a hell of a lot cheaper !! Don’t get me wrong I liked the shuttle when it worked and I love my Marcums but at least design it different or let us buy a battery when it craps out !!

[SLAYERFISH]

Lets not forget the artical by Nathan Zelinsky that Marcum's scare big fish!

He's just a whiner-

[HWeber]

Lets not forget the artical by Nathan Zelinsky that Marcum's scare big fish!

Brand loyalty at its finest.  Thanks for the laugh hadn't seen that article.

[Bigassbassman]

Lets not forget the artical by Nathan Zelinsky that Marcum's scare big fish!

My Marcum didn’t scare these!  :

[Gunflint]

My Marcum didn’t scare these!  :

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

You would have probably caught those without your Marcum....