Hand held sonars

[pipesmoker]

Starting to get the itch for ice fishing and told myself last winter I was going to buy a hand held sonar for this winter. Which one do you guys recommend and why???? I know you can use the vex or marcum (I have both)to check but just want something to do quick checks when looking for THE SPOT.

Thanks,

Steve R

[bigbad401]

I have a Hawk Eye hand held sonar from Norcross. It works great for what you want it to do. I sometimes use it for that. It also has a temp read out, which means nothing but is still interesting. I got mine (and father-in-laws) off of HSO-Classifieds a couple years back and it both of us like them. I have a flasher so I don't use mine as much but he doesn't and uses it much more.

[trapperdirk]

Actually Marcum and I believe vex did both have handhelds on the market to go along with their other portable line . The Marcum unit is the LXi.

TD

[hoggs222]

I've had the Vex stick for years and never had a problem with it.

[PerchJerker]

I've used several different handheld sonars, they all worked fine as long as there was clear ice to shoot through.

My favorite is the Marcum, because it's the easiest to view with the numbers on the end of it instead of on the side.

Hand Held Sonar Units

[S.D. Ice Angular]

The Marcum LXi would be my vote.

I have tried them all and found the LXi to be what I like best.

SD

[NCLaker]

Marcum LXi been working good the last 2 seasons. I only use it for reading depths thru the ice or when drilling lots of holes to find breaklines. Works great, and a lot easier to carry along when drilling (instead of your main flasher).

[Ed Carlson]

The Vexilar LPS-1 hand held sonar is compact, lightweight, and easy to use, side view sonar display is good for quick depth checks but not extended use, a very durable unit, batteries are easy to find at most convenience stores.

The Marcum LX-i hand held unit offers a handy top view display, but the batteries are far more expensive and frequently hard to locate. The battery tray lid is a bit tricky to operate and often the waterproof gasket may malfunction on the door causing complications on reinstalling new batteries..I highly recommend doing so indoors at room temp.

Both are good working units with individual strengths and downfalls.

[Harp]

I just bought a handheld "Koolatron Fish Finder" this summer because I had to pull my big boat out due to low water conditions and I am now using a old 12'er now this thing was only 29.00 + 8.00 shipping and says it can be used through the ice it has a float built in? I use it through the hull now and it works good for now until the regular water conditions return I am fishing out of this tub.

HARP