Good point on the pricing

There is also the ‘bulk’ / weight of the “traditional” units that the “alternative” provide an alternative to

Will be interesting to see where this all is in 5 years

Maybe the good old vexilar will do many just fine for awhile longer / keeps a lot of money in my pocket and probably catch just as many fish

The videos I have seen make it look like you are supposed to lay the piece in question up on the ice at edge of hole. I am not sure how that stops the cord from spinning, however.

I would think that how does this not spin would be on top of everyone’s mind and they have seemed to do poor job of explaining

Between this and eagle eye 9, seems there is an awareness of market potential for those who do not want to spend 3 grand plus and are willing to accept limitations – but maybe have rushed release and not done good job of anticipating / answering questions

Tom – I thought I had posted a reply but looks like I messed up somehow.

The guy at Scheels claimed the beam was up to 40 degrees as did not have stitching that eats up some view in traditional unit. Of course, this depends on depth for down view and other factors, and he said this more out of opinion than fact.

Although this discussion has drifted a bit from original question, I do think this is great discussion for us all to gain information to consider.

I do think a key point to consider is that not all use FFS equally. This will not be a unit if you are a very avid angler and want to be able to cast to specific fish in the open water in forward mode and really be precise or have a ‘full’ scan of the water.

But if you are a couple times a month guy that would like to have some forward-facing capabilities to help locate a school of fish in conjunction with other traditional electronics you may already have – just to know where they are so that can cast into the area, this seems like a great unit – plus has the mapping, traditional sonar, and down facing.

For ice fishing, seems like more of a slam dunk for the price — with a bit more moving and maneuvering, can still scout the water in forward and have a good reasonably wide view in down.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out and if it does work well for those it is designed for, will be interesting to see how quickly others follow – am guessing others have something in the stable that they are working on and will be interesting to see if Vexilar every comes to this party.

All great discussion. – no right and no wrong and looking forward to more videos of people actually using.

I think part of the discussion is how you want use ffs. On open water, are you looking to be able to drop a lure on nose of a fish? – if so, not for you? Or, are you a couple times a month guy who would use it to help locate a school of fish – in addition to ‘regular’ other electronics that may be on boat? If so, seems this could be for you.

For ice, as mention above, seems like will assist in scouting the water – maybe just not as refined or efficient.

I have to keep myself from trying to directly compare the capabilities to true ffs units. This is not that, but as all seem to agree, does have a place for right person if they fish a certain way.

Spent a good half hour with a great young salesperson at Scheels last night and went very in depth on the Eagle Eye 9. Yes, has limits vs. other units but seems like a great unit for ice fishing.

While I get that it is not an apples-to-apples comparison, the beam in down mode is wider than a traditional flasher and does get a live view with a reasonable field of view.

In forward, can still search the ice, just will be a smaller and a bit different section of water that you are viewing but can still cover the areas you want – can still scan a wide area by rotating pole / maybe having to punch a few more holes.

Of course, was just in demo mode but clarity was great and seems simple to use and cannot imagine these are not going to be a big hit.

The original question mentioned not interested in a unit for a boat, but for those that are, I think yet another reason to consider. I have been considering some type of electronics for front of boat to have mapping and some sonar capabilities when fishing from font of boat and running bow mounted trolling motor. Seems this unit will more than serve that purpose – either with transducer mounted on trolling motor or just keep it set up on a Genz box or a shuttle and drop a pole.

In summary, the salesperson (and I get he was trying to make sale) was very informative and had nothing but great things to say about the unit. He and the rest of the Scheels team have tested in their fish tank – for what that is worth or not but will be good to see some more ‘real’ on the water (and eventually on the ice) reviews.

Here we go with the name calling — ha…

I think this is second or third year for north metro. Is a bit early and agree – wash out any savings with price of admission but if nothing else to do, is fun to walk through and see what’s out there and start the wish list and scheming of how to cobble together $ go pay for the “must haves.”

Was at EP Scheels last night and they had a unit set up on a Genz Box, higher end pole (think it was composite), and I believe 8-amp hour lithium battery for $1200ish.

Seemed like a very manageable unit for the ice.

Screen navigation was logical and while of course in display mode, the screens were readable, showed the width / depth of the view area at different settings, etc.

I would imagine the Lowrance guys are going to be busy at the ice shows as am guessing many will be interested in unit and have a lot of questions.

At Scheels last night and the 30’s are on sale for $498

Not to suggest anyone cares about what I did or didn’t do, but I ended up picking up the Clam X100 Pro Thermal at the Thorne ice show and have some initial thoughts for anyone considering this house.

Of course have not fished out of it but first impressions are great — was easy to put together and have been ‘playing fishing’ in the garage and am very satisfied.

Probably not a true flip and go as think will have to collapse the one u-frame pole that is extendable so that do not risk damaging the tent material dragging in the snow. With the beefed up conduit, I do not see this being an issue and will add about 15 seconds to my moves.

I did pull the trigger and am having Canvas Craft add a rear door so dog will not have to step over everything so is admittedly a lot of money wrapped up in a one man house but am confident will get a lot of use out of house and is one more extra expense in the long list of expenses.

As I understand it, the Thorne show is at Adrenalin Sports Center in Ramsey – saturday and sunday

To each his own and not looking to start an argument but Fish 30-40 times per year and would hope would last 10 years so that’s 90 bucks a year / 3 bucks per use. I spend more dumb money than that each year and would rather have a setup that meets my needs than buy one that does not and replace it two years later with the next best idea.

Plenty of folks spend a grand plus on bigger house or 10 grand on a wheel house and go out 5 times a year.

I have narrowed down my choices to purchasing another Legend and deal with the poles or purchasing the Clam X 100 and have a local canvas shop install a zippered back door which they estimated will cost $150 to $200.

I welcome any additional feedback on the X 100 or thoughts on adding a zipper to it.

The more I look at houses, the more I am sure a second door is needed for my situation – it was great having the rear door on my previous Legend so that the pooch could get in and out without creating chaos exiting the front of the house and stepping over everything.

Did look pretty hard at Otter Cottage but just do not like its dimensions – not a lot of room out in front and not very tall.

Thanks for comments so far — I did add some contact to my original post regarding where had pooch in the Legend (worked great) and where I was thinking in the units I am looking at.

Had not thought about the cottage but probably worth a look.

I appreciate any additional thoughts / comments

If need to put atv under pop up — pop it up, pick it up, an set down over atv. Reverse processes when ATV is ready to start.

Chisago was a slush disaster last night. Need big truck, close eyes and drive like hell.

One man — but….
how many prostitutes

My buddy was lost down the hole when he was a teenager. He was with his dad and somehow fell in a shallow spearing hole. We have encouraged him to get a metal plate in his noggin so that if it ever happens again, we can fish him out with a magnet.

Money making idea for all of us — a oil/gas mixture candle. We could do a pull starter campaign to raise funds to get it off the ground.

The biggest challenges might be figuring out how to have candle induce a headache if burn it too long and how to keep the wax liquid enough to spill in your truck when not burning it – but there are a lot of smart people out there to figure this out.

Not at all looking for debate as not sure if my version is older or newer but the version I have does not have fabric in tubes — just plastic tube that has protected rods including noodles for me. The pockets on the side have held up well to put jig boxes in and I carry an assortment of stuff in the center storage area – it works great for carrying the small round buddy heater.

Again, just my experience….

I have used Striker case for several years after trying many others. Can carry 5 rods in protected sleeves, has good amount of storage, and like you can can carry like back pack or store away the straps — great case with great protection and light weight vs hard side

Overall, I prefer Clam. I like having the back door and light bar built in. For one man, I think Clam has more comfortable seat. But as others have said, hard to go wrong with products that are on market these days

I looked at both at hardwater expo and ended up going with Otter as did buddy. Otter seemed to be a bit better constructed (but maybe the Otter rep did a better job of selling vs. the Clan rep.)

Being vertically challenged, the fact the Otter was shorter did not matter to me but the doors are smaller which I did not like as well but if I lost a few (quite a few) pounds, probably would not even notice.

I did like that is was shorter in terms of saving a little space on smitty sled or wherever transporting – but minor issue.

Would never even consider using a floor – but that is just me. I would think that these would turn into a slip and slide and get totally trashed by ice cleats and would be just one more thing to f with in the cold – just my two cents.

At a macro level, Scheels seems to be the only bigger box retailer that you can depend on to have hunting, fishing, camping, etc. supplies in stock during the main season. When others shelves are bare, Scheels will most likely have it – maybe not at fringe end of season but in main part on pre-season, they can be counted on.

I was in EP several weeks ago as only place that had decoy weights I was looking for and low and behold they had ice augers out – something that was on my list for the year – and I snapped it up.

I am guessing they have figured out that they can make more $ on putting stuff out early for those that are itching for the upcoming season vs. keeping stuff out at end of season for the couple of hard cores that are out there.

They must be doing something right as people seem to love their stores vs. others that have been mentioned in this thread that seem to often run out of basic merchandise early – stuff will typically not be out of.

The amount of people out there. Lakes are overrun. Especially with rookie type anglers.

Ice fishing isn’t what it used to be. Hard to be on fish by yourself anymore. Not as much fun for me IMO.

**I am guessing old timers said the same about all of us when we started to fish — we were clueless rookies overrunning THEIR lakes.

I am happy to report that Clam did step up and reach out to me. On one hand, I do want to give them a bit of a break as I could have continued to go ‘up the chain’ to get this resolved before posting this rant – but on the other, that should not be needed and Clam could have done then what they are doing now or told me to give them a couple of weeks to track down some parts.

I am going there tonight to get the 4 parts I think I need. I may need another pole or two after and they have those available as needed.

To clam’s credit, it did reach out – and as mentioned, did not blow my off the first go around but also did not put any extra effort into resolving (at least from my point of view which is of course bias).

I will post if this was able to get resolved. I do fully realize that they have much bigger fish to fry (no pun intended) than me, but I do hope this is able to get resolved. Not Clam’s fault that the poles bent- that is not the issue – but should be able to resolve (at my cost).

Anyway, for those interested, stay tuned.

Thanks to all that have replied. I did start with Clam’s website — the part was available on the site, only issue is that they do not sell that part so web is not up to date. I called Clam and even went to the warehouse — nice guys but they really did no more than look around the office for a spare part — no real effort to try to find solution. It is a bit more than just bending conduit as have a square notch in pole that catches to the other half the operation when house extended.

To me, Clam is a marketing company — really not a manufacutrer of anything or would seem could get hands on some spare parts

May try to call back one more time and try to go up the ladder – more than just the warehouse crew.