Humminbird Ice 55

[Craigums]

I am looking for some feedback of experieces with the Ice 55 (or other bird ice flashers). Who has been using them, what are your thoughts. and pros or cons that really stand out to you? I seen them for the first time last year at the ice show and they looked really nice and had some innovative features. But I am always a little apprehensive about 1st year electronics and like to give the company time to work out any little bugs or glitches. Lets try to keep the topic on the humminbird line of flashers though.

Thanks

[harvey lee]

I used one most of last season. Not one issue at all.

The unit does come with a support cable for the transducer. If you use the support cable your transducer may not be perfectly level once in the water. I personally do not use it as it is really not needed.

I love the 6 colors on this flashers and every option seems to work as promosed.I also really like the digital readout.

Happy user indeed.

[DTro]

I got to spend some time with one last year and honestly cannot think of any negative that would warrant not buying one and I really liked the large display with the 6 color scheme and I especially liked the digital depth readout. How many times are you fishing a new body of water and punching a bunch of holes and you ask for a depth and you or someone else is like……um……er……hold on what setting am I at……..ok……16……no wait 32……

None of that here with the 55, drop the ducer in and get a digital reading.

[muc33]

I got to use one enough last year that I have added one to my arsenol. Can't wait to get it on the ice and use it fully.

[PerchJerker]

They're really nice units. A lot of the early complaints with them were due to guys not having the transducer level (as harvey lee said, don't use the support cable as it is not needed and was the source of some problems in getting good readings and good target separation).

The Ice 55 is a "big" flasher, it stands fairly tall and has a big display with really nice color.

You can check out the Ice 55 and other Humminbird Flashers HERE

[CJH]

I picked one up last year, not one problem. The 6 color display with the digital readout in the center is the best out there, the zoom is the easiest to use, and it has more power than you will ever need. Great battery life as well.

Its been great and I have zero regrets. I would recommend it to anyone.

[Scott K]

I got to see a couple of them in action last season, I had to get one for myself this year. I really like the digital readout, and also the large multi colored display. I can hardly wait to get on the ice and use it. If anyone in my area ever wants to see it in action, I have no problem showing it off!

[Surface Tension]

If you do get one read through manual. That will save you time getting familiar with the various functions. If you've used sounders before, while reading the manual you will get ideas when and how to use those new functions together under curtain situations from past experience.

This will be my first ice season using the Ice 55.

The obvious things I want to test are.

How the IR knocks out other signals.

I'll be testing out the zoom of coarse but then I want to see how useful zoom will be when selecting different depths with no concern about the whole water column.

6 color, when to use it and when not to.

I can't wait to use 6 color while fishing lake trout with smelt and ciscos mixed in. I think I can get that dialed into distinguish between bait fish, lure, and lake trout and how that relationship between the time a target enters the cone angle and when it is dead center.

Experimenting with the adjustable Mark as a reference point.

I'd imagine I'll be marking a depth for what ever reason being that is where the schools come or whatever and turning it off, then back on again to get that point of reference.

Reading through weeds.

That is just a few things with lots more to explore with my new Ice 55.

I don't like the extra cable for ducer hanger and I won't be using it. I do like the way the ducer cable is stowed though.

Anyway I'll be giving this flasher the go around this winter along with my LX5 and will give updates.

Bring on the ice.

[bigbad401]

I have the ICE-35 and I have no complaints with it. I do wish I had more money so I could have gotten the ICE-45 with the digital readout, but oh well. I really like the zoom feature and the bigger screen is nice too, which is better than my old flasher.

[Craigums]

Thanks guys, Do they play well with other birds and other brands of flashers?

[JSK76]

Thanks guys, Do they play well with other birds and other brands of flashers?

I did some testing last year against my LX-3, both transducers in the same hole and didn't have to use the IR on either flasher, thanks to different frequency. I think the only time you will need the IR is when fishing with another bird.

[harvey lee]

JSK76 has got it correct. They play well together and better than any other flasher I have seen or used.

[desert_bulls]

The only negative that I have heard about the 55 is the battery life is a lot less then other brands on the market. To all of you that own what, what is you assessment with people saying that, is it true?

Surface Tension - I know this is about the 55's, if you had to choose between the lx-5 and 55, which would you pick and why?

[JSK76]

last year I was looking at getting another flasher to go with my lx-3, I was having a hard time deciding between the LX-5 and the Ice 55. The sales man told me what ever I bought if I didn't like it to bring it back and get the other one. I bought the Ice 55 and took it out the next day on first ice and did some testing against my lx-3 for target separation and the lx-3 was better so I returned it for a LX-5 which I have been very happy with.

The Ice 55 was very nice, I liked it a lot and had a hard time deciding if a bit more target separation was worth loosing some of the other features I liked so much. I have been thinking of selling my lx-3 and getting another 55 some day.

I think most people would be very happy with the Ice 55 it has some nice features, my favorite was the big bright beautiful 6 color display.

[scott b]

I own the 45. Awsome unit for the money. Four color(blue zoom). Correctable interfereance. Very happy customer.

[Surface Tension]

desert_bulls, I haven't used my Ice 55 yet. There are some features that the Ice 55 has that attracted my attention. With any new product(to me)there is a little bit of learning curve to get the basics, then onto getting the most out of the flasher. I really want to see the 55 in action under many different situations and apply those features the 55 has to see what it can really do.

The LX5 IMO has set the bar. I know it well. For me it is the very small suitabilities of information a sounder can tell me that puts them apart from another. That is what I'll be looking at with the Ice 55. I'll try and explain those as I get some time behind the 55. Both the MarCum and Birds are built on new technology. The LX5 is proven, lets see how the Ice 55 does.

[two cups]

I also bought the 55 last year. I replaced a Marcum LX 3 which I liked. I bought the 55 over the 45 because it came with a cover. I love the different color options, you can choose the one you can see the best. No interference from other units so far, have not fished next to another HB yet. The one thing I like the best is when I am outside hole hopping the blowing snow does not cover up my screen, this is a big deal to me. IMO they are all good. Rick

[Scott K]

If you are going to make your assessment off of target seperation, the lx-5 will win. But for me the other options the Ice55 had is what made me choose the bird.

[CJH]

I haven't seen any difference in target separation. I regularly fish next to a guy with an LX-5. We can't tell the difference in target separation. That being said, they both do seem to be better in this respect than my other friends Vex.

As far as battery life, my Ice 55 typically has better battery life than his LX-5. I usually am at 50-70% at the end of a day fishing and he is around 30-40% battery life. Not sure where you heard they had bad battery life.

Sounds like people who haven't used them are throwing out farts in the wind!

[Craigums]

Can someone explain target separation and the benefits of having a smaller target separation. On the Humminbird site they claim it has a 2.5'' target separation, on brands X and Z they claim to have target separations of less than an inch. How benefitial is it?

[PerchJerker]

Target separation is how much space you need between two objects so they look like 2 objects and not 1 object.

One example is how far above the bottom you need your bait to be before your bait shows up as its own target on your display. Another example is how far apart multiple fish need to be for you to identify them as multiple fish instead of one big blob.

In other words, the better the target separation, the more detail you'll see and the better picture you'll have of what's really going on in the water beneath you.

[desert_bulls]

I heard that the battery life wasn't as good as other units from a local sporting good. He told me that was a big reason why people were returning the 55's last year.

[Borch]

I got to see one in action and played a little bit last winter and the display is huge! I picked up a 55 this fall and I'm anxiously awaiting fishable ice. For those who will be fishing long weekends without power to charge batteries the rear compartment in the softpack is large enough to easily swap batteries without totally removing the softpack. The 6 colors is a nice option and the color sceme choices allows for personalizing the unit.

At this point I'm waiting for a chance to put it through it's paces and learn how to utilize all it's features to it's full potential.

More to come...

[KG243]

I heard that the battery life wasn't as good as other units from a local sporting good. He told me that was a big reason why people were returning the 55's last year.

I could get close to 24 hours on my battery.

[harvey lee]

No issues with my Ice 55 battery life.

This is the first I have heard of a battery life issue.