IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Canada => Ice Fishing Ontario => Topic started by: Land Shark on Jan 04, 2017, 08:09 PM
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I was going to pick up a flasher but came across the garmin Striker 4 with a flasher screen feature. Does anyone know if the response time on this unit would be as good as a real flasher like an Ice 35?
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I likely won't be exactly real time like a flasher, but I have the Humminbird Helix 5 rigged up for ice fishing and you can dial up the chart speed to ultra and that makes it pretty darn close to real time. You could look at specs and details for chart speed on the unit youre talking about, most new ones are getting darn close to real time.
Sorry I do not have experience with the garmin unit tho
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Elijah - can you detail your specs for your setup?
Radioworld had a good deal for the Helix 5 Sonar + GPS + Nav maps. I ran that setup for my work this summer and really enjoyed the features and the usage. It does have the flasher screen on it so I figured I would try it out and ordered a unit a couple weeks ago. Now I have to see if the regular boat transducer would work given that I have the Sonar model. I've since spoken to a few retailers and they're trying to push having the specific ice fishing transducer and I understand why, but given my model and the fact that they all tried to push purchasing Navionics maps (separately) than finding the right model with maps included... I have increased reservations.
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Land-Shark,
Not sure what specs you need but I can get more when I'm home later but here is what I know...
I purchased the whole package Helix 5 Ice machine and bought a separate open water transducer for summer use.
So if you look up the specs of the Helix 5 ice machine that'll give you exactly what I have. I have always had the ice fishing transducer so I cant comment on using open water transducer for ice.
But I can give you some comparison to the ICE 35 if that is helpful because that is what I had before.
I love the ice 35, always reliable readings, but sometimes hard to differentiate marks... i.e. it would always show the fish there, but i wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a small perch and a pike unless it was a big pike... most cases anyways, still loved the unit.
The reason I love the Helix setup is the graph mode that it lets you have. Having a graph in front of you is best as you can see history, like if you're fishing trout or something fast, if you look away from your flasher screen and miss a fish that ran through you're clueless, the graph allows you to see it if you blink lol. And the Helix dials up to pretty near real time like the flasher, theres still a tiny delay between the action and what shows up on the screen, but it's darn close.
I have never had maps rigged up on my unit, the lodge I guided at in the summer had no data anyways so we just followed routes on a white background lol
I do use the GPS down here tho, ill hit mark on a spot that we've seen good traffic through if I want to be on that spot again later on.
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Thanks for the reply and info Elijah.
I am going to try and see what the boat transducer will do. It would be neat to see what your ICEHelix model shows in comparison to the Non-ICE models or simply all other models non-ice fishing transducer. i.e. difference in capabilities and/or variabilities.
Let me know if you're interested when there is good ice!
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deft...
from what I understand, the helix5 unit is the same across all platforms. It just deviates based on the accessories that come with it when you buy it. So there shouldn't be any differences between our units except for the transducer...
from what i understand anyways haha
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Thanks for the information. Took a look at a few flashers and also the helix, but the garmin was a fraction of the price and will have to do for now.
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i've heard really good things about the garmin actually, for the price it sounds like a effin deal
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My striker 4 on flasher mode is spot on and fast.
I generally use split screen mode I find its much easier on the eyes.
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I fish a Helix 5.
My buddy uses the striker 4 with the chirp ice transducer.
His unit is great... I would not hesitate to get one.
Oh and to add to the feedback... He does not use it in flasher mode. I have tried his in flasher mode and it works fine, but the graph mode just gives so much more information and at least with his chirp transducer, the target separation is fantastic so it is easy to see multiple fish and your lure.
I like my Helix 5... but for that price of the Garmin, I would get it over the helix if it would have been available when I got my helix.