Ice Electronics

I know this has been discussed in the past but I was wondering what depth finders are preferred to use thru the ice, advantages & disadvantages of the preferred units.

Flashers are very nice to use as you can lower your jig down to the depth the crappies are at [you can see your jig being lowered down] and you know you are at the depth the fish are at which greatly increases your chance of catching fish. I have used Eagle and Hummingbird flashers but everyone says the Vexilar flashers are the way to go. So last winter I bought a Vexilar FL8SE Pro Pack flasher. Its the combo for ice fishing that comes with transducer, battery, battery statis indicater, battery charger, and carrying case. Everything you need is included. I have heard tons of people say that the Vexilar is the the way to go. Vexilar also makes a FL18SE Combo that has a couple nice features but money wise I went with the FL8SE as I also updated all my ice fishing equipement including a Fishtrap Scout pullover ice house too. I also bought a transducer outfit for this unit so I can mount the extra transducer to my trolling motor and can use this combo for open water too. Being able to see where the fish are and seeinmg your jig being lowered down to where the fish are at in open water fishing too is really nice.
Thanks, Bill

There are a few choices on the market today. I have been using the Vexilar flasher for years. The Vexilar units use a high sensitive reciever with low power output. This creates less noise in the water and saves on battery consumption. Vexilar also has unsurpassed customer service.

my self as well as several of my buddies own the marcum
lx-3. what an awesome unit. the adjustable zoom is very helpfull when trying to see those bottom hugging fish. the clarity and crispness of the display are unsurpassed. I too had to research this topic a couple of years ago and went with the marcum as apposed to the brand. both are great units and i have fished with both. the transducer does have a noticeble snap to it, I think it may even attract some fish at times. I personnaly like the adjustable arm on the lx-3 as apposed to the float method that the vex has I tend to lose less fish around the transducer. either way i don’t think you can go wrong. electronics have made ice fishing a little more interactive.

My question is why do they cost so much!!?? I have an Eagle Ultra Classic that I take off the boat and use it in flasher mode. And this unit does it all and was only about $200. So why is this not as good as a vex. or is it???

Thanks.

The reason they cost so much? Because they can It is some real good marketing going on there. We fisherpersons(PC ), are a gullible lot. If there is something that is proven, and some not so proven, that looks good we will buy them. If they set the price at $300 and people buy them up, well the marketing did its job. I am of course one of the gullible ones , and have the vex. If I don’t have it with me, I almost forget how to fish .

See if you can find a Clearwater Classic. I dont know if they still sell or make them but they work excellent ice fishing. They dont have all the color but show fish approaching still. I believe the Zercom flashers also do the same. DONT NEED COLOR TO SHOW A FISH COMING UP OR INTO YOUR BAIT. been using mine for 10 years now ,. FISHINFOOL

Color really helps to translate signal strength when trying to determine if your reading hard to soft bottom or game fish to bait fish. I used the Zerom CC when it first came out and it seem to work best in deep water over say 30 feet during the day in lakes that didnt support much plankton. Otherwise I felt the CC was a little too sensitive making it hard to tell your bait from bait fish. With color, there is no guess work. Color also applies to LCD units for open water. It can be hard to determine targets on some units that use too much power.