New fishfinder – what to buy??

Looking for your guy’s input on a new fish finder that I am thinking about purchasing. I currently have a Marcum Showdown and like it, but I would like to have something with color, GPS, and potentially be able to use in open water scenarios in a boat.

I really like the Lx7 (RT9 is out of my price range) and I also like the Ice Helix 7 at first glance. I dont know much about the Lowrance Ice units but they also look nice.

I’m open to all brands and suggestions – what do you guys think?

I’d recommend finding a Lowrance HDS7 Gen 2 (non-touch). They are discontinued but you may be able to find one used or the occasional new on in box.

Unfortunately it’s not going to be quite as versatile on the ice as a dedicated ice machine. There is a very slight lag that you can get used to and is more difficult to adjust settings for a clear picture.

I go back and forth between this and my FLX-28 on ice.

I have the 7 and love it because of all the features.

for what you want, bite the bullet and pony up the coin for an RT9. Yes it will sting at first, but that sting fades fast as you enjoy the features, and benefits of a machine that meets all your needs for years to come. If you buy yourself short, every time you use your unit and it either can’t or won’t deliver what you really want you will regret it for the entire time you own it…and that could be for years.

buy a Lowrance Elite-5 Ice Machine, you can find them used for around $400

I think it boils down to how much you want to spend. Personally if you are wanting to use it in open water AND want charting capabilities it is tough to go away from a Lowrance Elite/HDS or one of the Hummingbird units. I have used my HDS units on the ice, one is mounted to my ATV for navigation (HDS 7) while I have used my HDS 5 in the fish house.
I don’t feel there is any lag. I increase the scroll and ping speed and leave it in the traditional sonar graph mode and really like it. The one thing you get with the graph mode is history. I will see if a fish came in while you were reaching for a beer. Unfortunately you cannot turn the GPS off so these units chug batteries pretty good. I bought a 12 AMP battery which allows me to fish for a day without issue, but this makes it clunky to carry around.

Drew,

Don’t shy away from the Vexilar product. I have the Fl-20 and I have had no problems.

Thanks for all the info….i’m leaning towards a hummingbird but i need to keep researching

I just purchased the Helix 5 ICE setup, brought it to Red for the first weekend and it worked really good. Had a Marcum Showdown, FL-28, and a FL-12 in the house and I didn’t have any problems with interference after some quick setting adjustments.

I’ve only had it out one weekend but so far I love it!

Just a thought…..what kind of fishing do you do? Are you pulling a portable behind a wheeler or sled…maybe even long distances?

Or are you a walk out/drive the truck out ice fisherman?

Do you hole hop a lot or more find a spot and put the house up?

I bought a new Marcum Lx5i last year for me and my Lx3 went to my son. I really thought long and hard about an LX6 or LX7 but I like to do the sled portable kind of fishing so I was concerned how the LED screen would hold up to riding in a portable.
I also like to hole hop and the LED units seemed a little front heavy and felt like the unit wanted to tip out of the case…here again…if you don’t hole hop much or at all….not a consideration to worry about.

The LX3 is a durable unit that has proven itself over and over….I have two of them that have seen hundreds of miles in the portable behind the sled and they are still going strong so I opted to go for the LX5i which is the same flasher style as the LX3.

I also LOVE the case style on the Lx3 and Lx5, Great handle for carrying when hole hopping and the flip down cover velcros nicely to keep everything secure inside while in transport.

Not saying the LED units can’t handle a ride in a portable fish house behind a sled or wheeler….I just know the LX3s can so that helped me make my decision.

So it might be good consider how you like to fish and take that at least in to consideration as part of your decision.

I’m a Vexilar man. For GPS, I use Navionics on my phone. Works for me.