Ok so I bought this unit for my boat and i’m wondering if anybody uses it on the ice? I’m selling my flasher( in classifieds) and plan on getting the ice pack for the elite 5 next winter. Any pros and cons?
My partner takes his HDS5 out on the ice with a simple wiring
hookup he made and a battery in the sled…heckuva lot nicer than a flasher… 
Youll really like it man, I have the eagle 642 c df which was basically replaced by the elite 5 so its similar. If you dont have one already you can pick up the ppp-18 kit for it which has the case, transducer, 12v battery and charger, made specifically for the elite-5 for about 120$
I put my Elite 4 on an old blue box this winter and bought the ice ducer for it. I realy love the G.P.S. but my fl-18 has much better seperation so I mostly use the Elite 4 for a backup/extra depthfinder. The Elite 5 should be a little better just due to the larger screen though.
Really like my Elite in the ice pack. Put it in split flasher mode or split zoom and have fun. So easy to read that even my 16 year old daughter can read it and have fun catching fish.
It’s just not very convenient on the ice trying to use the GPS. Looking to pick up a new handheld GPS. Just can’t quiet sit the ice pack on the dash of the truck or on the front of an ATV.
Other than that, the Elite series works well.
I’ve been running one for two seasons, it’s a big change buy you’ll like it if- You mostly fish water shallower than 30′ and most of your fishing is in a house. The target separation gets tough to see at the deeper depths (split zoom does help though). The case it comes in is terrible for hole hopping, when you pick up the handle it tips forward and wants to fall out. I put mine in a Vexilar bag and solved that issue though.
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You mostly fish water shallower than 30′ and most of your fishing is in a house. The target separation gets tough to see at the deeper depths (split zoom does help though).
The case it comes in is terrible for hole hopping, when you pick up the handle it tips forward and wants to fall out. I put mine in a Vexilar bag and solved that issue though.
I would agree with the target separation over 30′. I fished 32′-36′ FOW yesterday and had to zoom in the bottom few feet and really work over the settings to get it to read correctly. Takes some time to get it setup.
The case is kind of a pain. Definitely not going to keep the small boxes in the front when you pick it up. I feel like the graph will fall out everytime. What I’m more mad about is the cheap zipper pulls. First day out one of the pulls broke in half and another broke off on the second trip.
I bought the elite ice machine this year. It is my first winter electronic I have every owned and don’t have anything to compare it to but I love it. I like the GPS feature and as far as target separation the unit has a zoom which helps out. Just has lots of useable features to make it a good fit for me.
I fished with the X67C for many years on the hard stuff. Long before the digital era came to fruition with the likes of Marcum and the Birds. The X67C assisted in putting many fish on the ice over the years. The only issue I had with the X67C was it’s inability to filter out noise generated by other flashers in the immediate area while running in the dial graph mode. I was forced to switch over to the traditional scrolling graph. For some people this may not be an issue at all because they prefer the traditional scrolling graph over the dial. I ran an Elite 5 earlier on this season in a “group” of bucket heads and experienced the same issue. Could not run in the dial graph mode without picking up on the interference. Traditional scrolling graph was not a problem. Virtually the same I have experienced with the X67C. With that said, the Low’s are great units. They will show you what you need to know to lend a helping hand in catching (more) fish. But understand they are limited in given situations. Some of which can be controlled. Some of which can not.
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