Hummingbird Piranha Max 165 Sonar????

[Jeremy406]

Does anyone else use one of these for ice fishing? Just courious as I seen one on sale and was thinking of pulling the trigger to purchase one. If you do use how does it work out for you. Any positive or negative would help greatly..

[Burtess]

In the past I used a PiranhaMax 160 which is similar.  These units work OK, I could mark a 3" tube jig (and the swivel a few feet above it) at 120ft.  The drawbacks are low resolution (240V X 160H) and greyscale (8 level), and lower power (800W PP).

I upgraded to a Humminbird 570 which has 640V X 320H resolution on a 5" screen and has 12 level greyscale.  More power at 2400W.  Works well and I can see more detail.

Burt

[Jeremy406]

Thanks for the info Burtess.

[Jeremy406]

Anyone use the Garmin Echo 301c or the Lowrance Elite 3x All Season? Was looking at those as well.

[sincityrednek]

I use the Piranhamax 160 and have negligible issues with tiny jigs tipped with spikes. Definitely bumped my crappie catch.

[RapShack]

Anyone use the Garmin Echo 301c or the Lowrance Elite 3x All Season? Was looking at those as well.

I have a P-max 175 and just got an Elite 4x and between the two of those I'm torn over which one I'm going to sell.  I don't think the 3x will cut it as an ice machine, and the 165 with a single beam transducer and low resolution screen wouldn't be great either, but it should work.  If you're looking for something cheap that works see if you can find a 175.  It's got a lot of things I like about it for ice use.

Edit:  I just looked online and the Pmax 197 which is basically a color 175 is down to $90 bucks, I might just sell them both and get that instead.

[Jeremy406]

Thanks for the advice guys and may take a look at that 197 RapShack..

[bucks-n-ducks]

Thanks for the advice guys and may take a look at that 197 RapShack..

Have you used the 175 on the ice? I have one on my kayak and was thinking of using it on the ice but not sure how well it would work

[RapShack]

The 175 works pretty darn good on the ice, just have to get the transducer hanging level.  There are a few different threads around here about how to do that.

[bucks-n-ducks]

Does it pick up the jig or is it more just of a depth finder.

[RapShack]

I've fished tiny ice jigs down to 30ft with no problem picking them up.

[bucks-n-ducks]

Cool good to know. maybe ill just use that for now and  get a flasher later

[matzilla]

175 works great!



I'm upgrading to a HB Helix in a few weeks as they're available but the 175 will stick around for friends to use on the ice....the color version is even better

[Woodsman]

One piece of advice is if using a graph turn off the fish ID.