which new sonar to buy

[jopes]

needs:
dual beam, perferably 8 and 20 or so
digital depth reeding
needs to see small jigs in 60 plus feet of water

I really like that new humminbird Ice 385CI with the GPS lake maps,  but the cone angles are HUGE for deep water.

Any others out there that would fit the bill.  And it not be a showdown.

[brandbll]

Well if you want a digital depth reading i'd go Humming bird 45 or 55.  Not sure how it does with small jigs in 60 plus feet of water, but i don't think any of the Vexilars or Marcums have digital depth readouts.

[fishermanna82]

go with the vexilar.

[Mudslide]

The Marcum LX-5 has a dual beam 9/20 degree transducer but being a flasher it's open water use is limited to verticle jigging and you don't get the mapping GPS. If you want something for all seasons I'd go with the 385Ci-ice and get a seperate boat transducer for it. The importance of the narrow beam cone angle is a little bit overblown in my opinion. In open water it makes litle to no difference. Where it does make a difference is on a steep slope. Your depth is measured from the highest point of contact so you will get a dead spot below that. A narrower beam makes for slightly less of a dead spot. Again: if you are fishing next to a steep sharp dropoff it will make a difference but then again you can always turn down the sensitivity and that effectively narrows the beam as well. Hope that helps a bit.

[viciouscircle]

X67c is all you need.

[jopes]

Mudslide, yes I do fish steep drop offs.  some places you can be 40-50 feet from shore and over 60 feet of water.    Open water use is not expected from it.

I will have to check out that X67C

[South33]

Hummingbird is my favorite! Check out the ICE 45

[filetandrelease]

X67c is all you need.


 

I have a vex 18 deep ,nice unit but my 67c lowrance does it better ,if i can save up the cash an HD5 would be nice ,you did use the words sonar not flasher

[Mudslide]

For some reason Humminbird uses a non standard  way of measuring their transducer angles The industry standard s to measure the angle when the signal strength is reduced by -3 db. Humminbird uses -10db which gives the appearance of having a much wider cone angle for exactly the same khz. I'm not an expert so I'm not sure if the difference is actual or just a marketing gimmick.
83 kHz / 60° @ -10db

[jopes]

so, with that db reduction thingy, what does it really mean?

the humminbird 35,45,55 are -3db, but the ice 345 and 385 were -10db cones. 

[Mudslide]

All things being equal: the ice 35,45,55, transducers would test out with a MUCH wider cone angle at -10 dbs.
It could be just a marketing gimmick or the base sensitivity of the units might be set at different levels. I'm not sure; but maybe someone with a degree in electrical engineering could splain it to us.

[jopes]

Guess it is time for a new thread.

[rtclaus]

I would definitely go with the Showdown....Marcum knew what they were doing when they bought this company out. It's the future of ice fishing.

[JZ]

I have a humminbird ice 345c, great unit, year round capability, dual beam. As mentioned above the angles are 20 and 60 but the 60 actually gives you the same 1:1 depth to bottom coverage as the wide beam (20) on the ice 35 so don't worry about the cone size.  I worried about the cone size and wondered if I could see a lure deep and all of that stuff too.  What I can tell you is that I was fishing in 50fow the other day and I could pick up a small jigrap on the bottom with either beam and my sensitivity setting was at less than half (I think it was 7 or 8 on a 1-20 range)
I have seen the ice 35 in action and it can also pick up lures deep.  I dont think you would have a problem picking up a jig in 60fow with any entry level flasher or ice lcd.  I also wouldnt get too hung up on the depth display, after you get use to a flasher you would have it dialed in so you could find bottom very quickly.
I like the ice 345 because it gives me the option of flasher (which I use the most) or graph mode and I can use it on my boat in the summer.  I have heard good things about the x67 as well but I went with the HB instead because there was a promo for a free open water transducer along with the iceducer that comes with it.

[74redone]

 I went with the HB ICE 345C as well. They have a awesome display and are very easy to use with out having to do a lot of adjustments. The X67C is a nice unit as well. I went back and fourth on which one to buy. Either way I think you will be happy with the results.
 Good Luck!
  Matt

[South33]

Great Choice! 

[Hesperus]

I have a vex 18 deep ,nice unit but my 67c lowrance does it better ,if i can save up the cash an HD5 would be nice ,you did use the words sonar not flasher

I saw the crew on Babe Winkelman's TV show fishing Devil's Lake ND and using the HDS5.  I was intrigued, but they did not show whether the jig was visible.   Looked like a nice unit.  I'd like to have something like this myself in a HB so I could share with my 1197cSI.

I have the HB Ice 55 and find that it works quite well.  Really like the digital depth.  I haven't played much with shooting through the ice, but I did try it once in the shack and with the little bit of water on top of the ice it gave me accurate bottom readings

[Mr_Jigster]

Dont think i would buy anything but a Vex.  I've had a question before or a minor issue, and their customer service is top notch.  Message board on their website that is monitored by their pro staff and service team.  You cant go wrong.

[FISH2163]

All things being equal: the ice 35,45,55, transducers would test out with a MUCH wider cone angle at -10 dbs.
It could be just a marketing gimmick or the base sensitivity of the units might be set at different levels. I'm not sure; but maybe someone with a degree in electrical engineering could splain it to us.

It's the amount that the output power level has dropped off from the nominal level. It's normalized to a logarithmic scale, 0 db being the base level, so -3 db drop is the 1/2 power level of the signal (at least I think it is, it's been almost twenty years since a class in filters). So the signal at -10db would be just below the 1/8th power level. The output signal from the transducer is conical in shape with it's strongest portion being in the center and the signal strength dropping off as the angle of the cone is increased. A 20 deg transducer measured at -3 db might very well be a 40 deg transducer if measured at the -10 db power level.

I don't really think it means that either one is better than the other; just that they are describing their transducers differently.