Panoptix

Hey guys. Kindve curious on what all your guys thoughts are on the panoptix. is the ice ducer way to bulky to use in an ice castle or is it still doable and is the price worth it. I have a helix 5 planned on going to the 7 but if im spending the money I figured I would go big or go home haha. thanks in advance

The tech is still in the early stages, so it’s bulky, uses alot of power and is expensive. I’m personally waiting 1-2 years to see how the tech gets better, smaller and cheaper..

Just look at the difference between Panoptix and Livescope…

Brother has one, used it a handful of times on the ice, once with Bearcat. Our consensus was it’s for sure neat, but not at all necessary or all that beneficial unless you are chasing suspended crappies on a basin or gills in weeds. Slow reaction speeds and target separation is horrendous. But it does work, just don’t see the value in it for the price tag it carries…

Works great on the boat.

Panoptix is fantastic but has its limitations as all pieces of tech do.
Target separation in down view is as good as my LX-6 so no issues there.
Is it necessary? Of course not but it is extremely valuable in minimizing the learning curve on new lakes especially in the winter where movement is not always as easy.

What it is not good at..
Finding walleyes or bottom hugging fish in forward view. It can be done and becomes easier in deep water but it is still not great.

If you are a primary walleye guy livescope seems to be the best option as it is easier to see bottom movement but it does come with draw backs for hard water fishing as the unit likes power. Most guys get around this by running two 10ah lithium batteries or one 20ah. If you run the 20ah you have to modify your carry case slightly to hold the battery in.

If you have more questions on panoptix feel free to ask and I will answer as many as I can.