Want to upgrade fish finder, but has to be ice fishing friendly

[misfish]

Right now I have the Lowrance X4 Elite ice machine. I use it for both hard and soft water. Thing is, NO GPS or MAPPING.

 

I want something that will be close to the same size as the unit I have now or just slightly bigger due to I use it on my toon. A large unit would not be suitable IMO. And it cant be stupid expensive.

 

WHATS OUT THERE THAT WILL WORK FOR ME ?

 

 

Looking at a paper map and trying to figure out where I am, is just not working. My legs are getting tired flipping around trying to find drops and humps. They old saying always come to me. Am I there yet ? LOL

 

All makes are welcome.

 

 

 

I have been looking on line at Radio World. There are some older units that might work for my need. Just want some info before I go and sell the x4 and buy another unit.

 

 

Thanks

 

B

 

[BillM]

Nothing touches this for the price.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Humminbird-788ci-Combo-Fishing-System-/321828875713?hash=item4aee7eedc1

[ecmilley]

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/p9mvdr2ez6tfk38/AAAhG0U910bJheJuvg2elw9Na

This is a vex box I ordered from amazon for 35 with a 100 transducer and a 25 battery

[misfish]

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/p9mvdr2ez6tfk38/AAAhG0U910bJheJuvg2elw9Na

This is a vex box I ordered from amazon for 35 with a 100 transducer and a 25 battery

 

 

Bad link.

[ketchenany]

Angelo Viola was asked once what he used as a fish finder "my brother"! Classic.

[porkpie]

I have a humminbird 385ci that I use for ice fishing and as a portable unit. It's pretty user friendly and as a sonar it's pretty decent. I used it just last week, and while I can definitely tell the difference in returns between it and the higher end unit on my boat, it's still pretty darn good. It's excellent for ice fishing, and has flasher mode as well as graph. I also have a mount rigged for it to put on the front of my atv while driving for the navionics. It's replacement is the 386ci I believe. Don't bother going for the down imaging unit if you look at humminbird as I believe you can only use one frequency on the ice transducer. Another bit bigger unit that's pretty nice is the 597. I had this on my boat previously.

[ecmilley]

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/p9mvdr2ez6tfk38/AAAhG0U910bJheJuvg2elw9Na https://www.dropbox.com/sc/c8yr4nx2gqfuq9m/AADd-oF-b-SSeQCXhmvv0R_5a

[ecmilley]

[ecmilley]

Think I got it

[Bondar]

Check out the Humminbird Helix 5. There's a portable model with GPS and Sonar in a portable case

http://radioworld.ca/helix-sonargps-combo-p-13553.html

[Fisherman]

Nothing touches this for the price.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Humminbird-788ci-Combo-Fishing-System-/321828875713?hash=item4aee7eedc1

He'll need another Toon just to haul that one around...

[Fisherman]

Right now I have the Lowrance X4 Elite ice machine. I use it for both hard and soft water. Thing is, NO GPS or MAPPING.

 

I want something that will be close to the same size as the unit I have now or just slightly bigger due to I use it on my toon. A large unit would not be suitable IMO. And it cant be stupid expensive.

 

WHATS OUT THERE THAT WILL WORK FOR ME ?

 

 

Looking at a paper map and trying to figure out where I am, is just not working. My legs are getting tired flipping around trying to find drops and humps. They old saying always come to me. Am I there yet ? LOL

 

All makes are welcome.

 

 

 

I have been looking on line at Radio World. There are some older units that might work for my need. Just want some info before I go and sell the x4 and buy another unit.

 

 

Thanks

 

B

 

It's unfortunate yours is the 4X, X means no GPS/Map. If you went with this one, it would be all in one. I don't know if it has a flasher mode for ice fishing. http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/Fishfinder-Chartplotter/Elite-4-CHIRP-en-us.aspx

[mike rousseau]

Nothing touches this for the price.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Humminbird-788ci-Combo-Fishing-System-/321828875713?hash=item4aee7eedc1

Yup

 

Great unit and selling cheap nowadays...

 

Got one last year from a buddy and love it... Great winter performance as well as in the boat...

 

I have the Humminbird portable pack and it's perfect

[BillM]

I run my 747c in the HB portable pack, love it!

[misfish]

I don't need a flasher. Never use it anyways.

 

Thanks so far guys.

 

Im hearing mix reviews about the chirp. Some say it,s a gimik, some say is just lick a submarine ping set up. Very accurate. Yes, no, maybe?

 

Guess I should throw out there that if anyone has a taken care of unit for sale, let me know.

[John Bacon]

My friend has the Elite-4. His is an ice fishing model and it has the GPS and Chartplotter (We were able to use the GPS/Chartplotter feature for depth on Lake Ontario when my unit was not working).

 

If you are happy with your current unit. You should be able to get the same unit with GPS and Chartplotter. I think it was $360 at BassPro last time was there.

[misfish]

Thanks John.

 

I was thinking the elite 5 as Im use to using the 4 now. It was a P3TA at the beginning, but like anything else, once you get use to it, it works fine.

[SirCranksalot]

 

Looking at a paper map and trying to figure out where I am, is just not working. My legs are getting tired flipping around trying to find drops and humps. They old saying always come to me. Am I there yet ? LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't count on maps such as Navionics to give you great accuracy on the 'drops and humps'. They are nowhere near as accurate as they would like you to believe---certainly not 1 ft accuracy as might be implied from the 1 ft contour interval. I have observed this quite a few times now e.g. in the spring on Lake Joe there were all sorts of ups and downs of more than 10 ft that showed as nice smooth contours on the Navionics map.

[Fisherman]

Thanks John.

 

I was thinking the elite 5 as Im use to using the 4 now. It was a P3TA at the beginning, but like anything else, once you get use to it, it works fine.

 

I've got the Elite 5 HDI in the boat, works very well and it does have the flasher mode if you're so inclined. They have come down quite a bit in price.

[DRIFTER_016]

You need one of these!!!!

PS. I need one too!!!

 

http://www.lowrance.com/en-CA/Products/Fishfinder-Chartplotter/HDS-12-Gen3-en-ca.aspx

[Dan668]

I use an hds 8 off my boat. Which is overkill but i didnt want to buy a separate finder. Id recommend the helix, pretty cheap. Not sure if its still like this but amazon in canada had them listed at american prices same with a few other marine items. I picked up a point 1, he picked up a helix, nice little unit if you dont need networking. I wouldnt bother with chirp.

[chris.brock]

My sonar died so I'm sort of in the same boat Bri.

 

After much thought, I'm going to get a Helix 5 SI. Sounds like great technology for the price.I'm going to use the stuff from my old HB portable to make the Helix portable.

[Old Ironmaker]

How big is this "Toon" of yours? I saw a guy in the bay around the corner this weekend and it had sonar, rod holders, and an electric trolling motor! Why not just get a tinny and stay dry and the legs won't burn full of lactic acid pulling around all that weight? An electric can't be very safe with the feet not far from that prop, is it? All that was missing was solar panels and a sail.

 

As far as details in the blue zones nothing beats Garmin chips. I have never seen one as accurate. It showed me everything I needed very close to shore here on Erie. There was actually too much info in the shipping channels that made it tough to read in areas.