Panoptix setup for ice fishing – Help

A buddy has ask me to figure out the whole panoptix technology for a ice fishing setup. I have no idea where to start. Please help me get up to speed. What all is needed to get it fully setup for optimal ice fishing use ? I see lots of retailers have ice fishing bundles. I see several different models listed. What are the differences in the various model’s. My buddy also wants to use the unit on his boat in the summer. What all is needed to make the switch to the boat for summer use? I’m going to try and watch a few YouTube videos tonight to see if that helps me some.

You can get the garmin ice bundle if you find a head unit that suits his needs. For boat use as well, 9” screen minimum. You can piece it together, buy head unit, black box and transducer, summit shuttle and pole system.

The bundles are pretty fool proof. Go into Garmins site and they list all the parts. Might be cheaper to buy separately with some retailer specials I doubt it.

You need the unit (93) is likely your best bet. The ducer and black box come together. A pole setup, battery and carrying case.

You can also call Garmin. I called their customer service today with a question and they answered first ring and the experience was great.

If you buy a ice kit and it has a sv model I will sell you a brand new unopened sv uhd transducer for half price. I have 1 on the boat and 2 in the closet.
At this point I would spend the extra and buy live scope and not panoptics. I wasn’t impressed with panoptics when fishing below it. But it was nice for finding suspended fish. It seemed to have a real bad lag time when jigging. The live scope doesn’t.
I think most ice bundles come with the cv which is down scan and not side scan.
You can buy the 93 sv summer kit for 599 right now and then I just bought a ice kit for 179 on a black Friday kit.
Still cheaper then the new vex. I will run either my 73 or 93 unit on it. And paired with the marcum brute for 50 bucks im under 800 for both summer and winter. With out live scope obviously. Im waiting for the right deal to jump and ill buy that next.
Maybe Santa and I can throw down on it and his elves can make me one ?

Whatever you decide to buy the most important critical piece to upgrade is the battery. All of the kits come with the weak and heavy SLA battery, replace that with a lithium replacement from (Dakota Lithium/Amped Outdoors/Marcum) The Amp Hour model depends on how long you ice fish in a single sitting… The 10AH battery typically powers a Livescope system for 6-8 hours depending on screen brightness, most guys go with the 18AH model as it’s only $20-$30 more and almost doubles the runtime…

The battery and transducer poles are always replaced by those who buy the kit, so if you piece the kits together yourself, you can avoid these junk stock pieces from the get go…

I own a Panoptix bundle with a 10AH Dakota Lithium battery and Summit transducer pole…the whole system only weighs about 12 lbs…

As one who has been in your shoes, before making your purchase I would recommend a phone call to someone at Reed’s or Russel Marine or some of the other reputable dealers(Not Cabela’s). There are many great deals out there right now, but it’s important to make the right purchase the first time. There are so many variables to your question that they can cover.
I’ve been using Garmin for several years and have built the best unit for both with my purposes. I can transfer to the boat by just hooking a couple cables and ready to go. My unit may not work for what you are attempting to do. If you were near Duluth, MN I would be happy to help you.
This video might help you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2P9QkCPNGM

Cheapest place I’ve found them – https://www.marinegeneral.com/product/garmin-echomap-uhd-93sv-panoptix-livescope-all-seasons-bundle/
Comes with an 18AH lithium battery

The only thing second guessing my decision to upgrade to Livescope this year is that Garmin is most likely coming out with a new version in 2021. In my opinion it makes sense to wait and see what they come out with when paying top dollar for fish technology, just my opinion…I’ve had the Livescope system loaded up in my online cart several times, can’t pull the trigger…

The jump from Panoptix to Livescope was pretty dramatic, what will the jump from Livescope Gen1 to Livescope Gen2 look like and will you be kicking yourself for not waiting and then eat a big $$ loss upgrading. If new tech does come out and doesn’t impress you, cheap Gen 1 Livescope systems will flood the used market as current owners upgrade.

For those who use the Livescope for open water fishing what are your thoughts? I can clearly see the advantages of it for ice fishing. Just not sure if its the best choice for open water. How good of a job does it do in reading weededges ( seeing small inside and outside turns and points ) and locating rocks. I’ve fished with someone who had a Hummingbird with sidescan and 360 and it would be hard to beat that unit for reading weededges and finding rocks.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Joe – That always seems the case with electronics no matter when you buy. How soon do you think they will release their new units for 2021? My buddy really wants one for this Ice season. He will most likely be ready to buy real soon.

Most likely will be released in March.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>

Joe – That always seems the case with electronics no matter when you buy. How soon do you think they will release their new units for 2021? My buddy really wants one for this Ice season. He will most likely be ready to buy real soon.

I somewhat agree except it depends on when you buy in the product’s life cycle…this is the 3rd year of the existing Livescope version, the Marine companies typically use a 3 year life cycle for their generations of products, so it’s due for an upgrade. If you were to buy something newly released now you know you’ll have the newest technology for at least 3 years..I would expect any big announcements to happen at iCast 2021 in Vegas (June or July I can’t remember) COVID could throw that off though so it’s a guessing game this year. I’m convinced had COVID not happened Garmin would have released their new tech for this season.

I think it all comes down to your comfort level spending $3k on marine electronics with the possibility of something new coming out 6 months later that is a huge technology jump and then you’ll eat a huge loss if you want to upgrade to it…

fishthumper wrote:

For those who use the Livescope for open water fishing what are your thoughts? I can clearly see the advantages of it for ice fishing. Just not sure if its the best choice for open water. How good of a job does it do in reading weededges ( seeing small inside and outside turns and points ) and locating rocks. I’ve fished with someone who had a Hummingbird with sidescan and 360 and it would be hard to beat that unit for reading weededges and finding rocks.

Aaron Weibe (uncut Angling) has some excellent videos of using Livescope in open water, from what i’ve seen it works best with the boat anchored, but when Garmin expands on Perspective mode that could change…