Portable Fish Finder

[Sheets81]

Hey all,
I am new to ice fishing and am looking for a portable fish finder. I really want a vex, but I cant afford that just yet. Has anyone tried the Norcom hawkeye? Would it be alright for depth/contour and a fish if I am lucky? Its only 50 bucks, so I know its not great. Any suggestions would be great, thanks
Scott

[jr1318]

try hsolist i bought a new clearwater pro for 70.00 it works great, not color like vex but a couple hundred cheaper do a search for zercom i think the place i got it from was excees technoligy, sweet unit for 70.00

[Colorado-Ice-Man]

I bought the Hawkeye FF3300P and I am less than impressed.

1) I bought it at the end of last season and it only worked ONE trip. It stopped showing readings within 1 hour on the ice.

2) I e-mailed the manufacturer and they told me it had "bugs" in the firmware. They told me to send it in torwards later this year for an upgrade.

3) I sent it in and they returned it unchanged, claiming it "tested out as perfect."

4) E-mailed them back, got the worst customer service experience ever.

I am trashing mine (I couldn't sell it to someone else in good conscience) and am thinking about trying a Marcum LX-I. It can see through the ice, give you depth AND has an audible fish alarm. All this in a "flashlight style" package which is smaller and more manageable package than the transducer/cord based system.

Anyone out there have any real life experience with the Marcum?

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Colorado Ice Man

[behmer]

I got the Sharper Image version of the LX-1, good for the 35.00 I paid, gave an accurate reading thru the ice using a freezer bag with water in it, you have to place the transducer in water to make it work, it has a fish alarm also but not audible. Works on a 9 volt battery and so far so good. I use it mostly for depth readings to eliminate drilling excess holes to locate depth.

Hope this helps

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FISH OR GO HOME

[fisheye]

That Sharper Image hand held - how much ice have you used it with? 12 inches? More? Less?

Does it work pretty good?

[Gus]

Can you post a link to where you bought the Sharper image unit or tell me where?

Thanks

[fisheye]

Still wondering about the Sharper Image hand held - anybody have any experience with it? Ice thickness? Ease of use?

[pkevinb]

fisheye,

Got one today and will try it out on the ice tomorrow. I'll post the results here.

[pkevinb]

It works. Tried it out this morning. I was only shooting through 3"-4" of ice though.
I had a bottle of water with me and just squeezed some onto the ice and it gave me a reading. Seems to be quite accurate, I will find out more later today when I head out fishing and can compare it to my fish finder.

I will be more interested to see how it does on thicker ice.

Hope this helps.