Humminbird Ice Flashers?

[Borch]

I had my ICE 55 at the Brainerd Jaycee ice fishing contest this weekend. For the first time since I started fishing this contest I was able to use my flasher without any interference issues due to all the other units around me. I had several folks come over and give it a look and they couldn't believe I was not having interference issues with all the noise down there with over 10,000 people fishing in a small area and many using Vex's and Marcums.

Unfortunately I wasn't marking much for fish though. Not the flasher's fault though.

[simple1]

Thats good to hear Borch, and is one of the reasons I chose a humminbird. I will be going to Walker, MN for the big festival this year. Lots of people on the ice there.

I just really want to find out the gain settings to determine if mine is working like it should. Some people say there gain is set on 5 or 6 to see thier jig, and other say about 1/3 to see their jig in 18FOW. Mine still has to be set at over 50% and in 21FOW narrow beam is set at about 75%. This does not seem right to me. I am sending Humminbird and email, to find out and I will be taking this unit fishing in about 50FOW this week sometime to test it out. If it will locate my jig I will be happy as I have never fished any deeper. But some of the pro fishers are saying if you have your gain set at 50% or more you probably have a bad ducer, even the humminbird pro staff. But even with the problems, I really like the potential of this unit.

Good Fishing,

simple1

[Maverick]

Simple,

There are no standard gain settings for any unit. As stated above your gain depends on lots of things such as water clarity, depth(of course) and bottom type. I'm sure there are other things, too.

The three Humminbirds all have different power outputs. Humminbird says: "The benefits of increased power output is the ability to detect smaller targets at greater distances, the ability to overcome noise, better high speed performance and enhanced depth capability."

The 35 puts out 800 watts and the 55 puts out 2400 watss. So, my ICE55 in 40 feet of water with a hard bottom and in wide mode with a fathead seems to want to be around 23 on a scale of 50. In 20 feet of water with a soft bottom and a wax worm I am also around 23 gain.

You will have no way of telling if your ICE35 is doing things right unless you have the exact model sitting in a hole right next to you trying to pick up the same size bait and minnow. Logic would tell you that you won't get the same perfomance from an ICE35 as you would a 45 or 55. Real deep water, real soft bottom, small icebait and you might not have enough power to see your bait. No matter what unit you use, there will be limitations to its performance.

One last comment. When you are trying to locate your bait, you want to have the gain turned as low as you can until you can just barely see you bait. That way when fish approach from outside your cone coverage you will get an increasingly stronger signal as they approach your bait. I set mine so low that my bait disappears once in a while.

[fishersofmen]

Gain settings also depend on having a good or bad product. While there are several natural factors that come into account, so does the product itself. It has been clearly determined that there are issues with the transducers on some of these Hummingbirds. Hopefully they can get it worked out.

[corny13]

I bought a 55 two weeks ago. I have a Snobear and my buddies all have Vexilars and one Marcum. My Vex I could never get the interfernce clear enough to fish when 3 or 4 guys jigging is such a small space. The 55 is awesome absolutely clear with 3 other vexilars going inside a Snobear.

[landscaper]

what kind of prices is everyone seeing on the ice 55.

Also if you can remember how good where deals at the ice fishing show in the cities?

[landscaper]

anyone?

[buzbunni]

Reed's has them on sale.

[LOTWSvirgin]

How is the battery life on these things??

[jwmiller33]

used mine for 3 straight days of fishing before i the battery died on my last fishing trip. first 2 days were about 7-8 hrs of fishing and the last day was a half day. this is on my ice 35 unit.... i would say it has pretty good battery life

[Surface Tension]

Battery life is very good with my 55. I can good two full days without a charge.

I first used the 55 in shallow and was very pleased with its performance. I was anxious to see how the Bird performed in deep water fishing lake trout.

Interference from a with Vex or Marcum is zero. I was close to two other Birds in deep water with rocky bottom and finally had some interference. Noise reduction didn't do much to clear it up.

When I switched to narrow beam it cleared right up.

Gain level. As an example I was able to mark my 1/4 oz Go Devil as the weakest color in 55' of water along with marking bait fish at the mid color with no problems at all. Gain level was around 50%.

Borch mentioned hole hopping with the 55. The auto mode really shined there when depth change would put you into another depth scale. Just drop the duce down and fish. Not that manually having to change depth scale is that big of a deal but it is very nice not to have to drop the mits and do that.

Again the display, I really am getting to prefer that large and flat display. It did take some getting used to the tone of the color. They seem soft but on the other hand are very easy on the eyes.

[simple1]

I have an ice 35 used it many times and the battery is not an issue at all.

[magicstix]

My buddy has both a 35 and a LX5 and I have a vex. The bird is a great unit, it has become his go to flasher over the LX5. its easy to see and read and after you figure out all the features you'll love it.

As far as interference with the other brands, sometimes yes but it will go away with the IR. You need to try the IR on each brand running to see which one clears it up the best on all the units, it seems to vary from day to day, lake to lake which one will fix the interfeence. Thats one thing that I don't understand is what truly causes interference, but you can make it go away. Example, 2 outings ago turned on the flashers the most wicked interf. I've ever seen but with in 2 or 3 hits of the IR on bird[i think] all 3 flashers were crystal clear. Crazy.

Running 2 birds side by side they've found one needs to be on wide beam and the other narrow beam and then it goes away.

I have another friend that just bought a 55 and he didn't even know that bird was making flashers till I mentioned it to him to check them out first before buying. He seen it and liked it and loves it even more on the ice.

I know if I was buying a new one I'd probaly look at vex first cause the one I have now has been great but the bird would defineitly be my next choice.

[LOTWSvirgin]

Can you buy a ducer for a boat??

[LOTWSvirgin]

Ok went and got a 55 today pretty stoked!! But I cant get the simulater to work user error maybe and hopefully So whats a guy to do??

[landscaper]

if you dont mind me asking how much and where did you get it?

[silverbulletguy]

Love my Ice-35 I bought last year. Trying to figure out how I can upgrade to the Ice-55 and keep the 35 as a backup or spare for a friend/dad to use without getting in trouble with the wife. That's the only interference problems I've had.

[GatorBait]

Silverbullet,

I wish you the best luck in that hefty task at hand. It would be great if you were able to do that though. Good Luck.

[LOTWSvirgin]

if you dont mind me asking how much and where did you get it?

I got it at Oh Shuck's and paid 499 for it

[Borch]

If you search you will find it for less. About $80 less.

[mole]

Love my 45, used it at 3 tournaments including Brainerd and no problems with interference. Battery life is good, great display, great features. Won a second one at Big Bobber, just missed a 55, would have been interesting to set them side by side and compare.

[landscaper]

Whens the best time/time of year to buy a bird flasher. Kinda looking at getting the ice55. FOund one for $420 i think. Does the ST. Paul ice fish fishing show have that good of deals?? anyone have any info for me.

thanks

[jwmiller33]

st paul ice show has great deals.. if you can get buy without buying a new flasher til next year's show, i would recommend doing that and you will probably save at least 50 off retail.... i got my ice 35 at this years ice show for 250, which was 50 below msrp. with a ice 55, you might be able to get more off as it is a much more expensive unit. you just have to walk around to all the different booths and find the lowest price... my experience is you can kind of barter with the salesman.

[landscaper]

Ya i think i can hold off till then. Like you said you just have to walk around and barter with them. Just didnt know if they have good deals NOW like END OF the Season.

[panfishpounder00]

i bought my 45 last weekend for $370 at a local hardwarwe-sporting goods-grocery store, and absolutely love it! i have been a marcum guy for the last few seasons with an lx-3 at my side, but now i have sold the marcum! thank you hummingbird! battery life is great, no interference, dual beam, auto depth range and the digital depth readout is great. my dad hated flashers cause he could never seem to learn how to figure them out for finding depth, he did the old school way of counting arm lengths, now i can pop holes and he can finally help me out and check for depth!!! as far as finding an ice 55, there was one on craig's list still in box, not even put together yet selling for $400.00. last week, a co-worker actually picked that one up before i could.