Fish Finder / Battery / Why Couldn't I...?

[Zoob]

Why couldn't I pick up an inexpensive fish finder ($100 or so), and head to Fleet Farm and pick up a gel battery for $30 - and use that (vs. spending $300+ on a Vex or other portable)?

In essense, make my own portable with the gel battery and a cheaper finder. Anyone see why that can't be done?

[shizzy]

leaving the flasher vs. LCD argument aside, the finder is going to come with a high speed transducer and not a puck style. you are going to have to figure out a way to hang the transducer properly in the hole.

Also you are going to need to rig up a box of some sort to hold the whole works.

FYI, I picked up my VX1 pro a year ago for $275 and I belive they are cheaper now. it came with mount, battery and soft case for that price.

[Zoob]

Outside of the "Fishin' Buddy", which looks like a kids toy, I haven't seen any portable for under $300 this year.

[MarkAlm]

Sounds like you want to buy brand new one but cannot afford it! So start looking at a used flasher. It does not matter what brand, they all will last along time. Do not buy a graph they are to slow for ice fishing. Fishin buddy is junk imo, not enough pixels to be worth while.

[looneyducer]

I just saw an X67 go for a little over $100 (needed battery), and I've seen two Fl-8s go for less than $150 in the past 6 months, complete. Trying to adapt a cheap open water unit to make do is not only a dubious project, it just isn't cost effective.

[LipRipper!!]

I agree with looney. You will waste valuable fishing time and bait money in gas trying to piece something together. That is my take... Good luck in whatever you decide!!

[eurolarva]

I fished using my eagle off my boat for 5 years. I agree a flasher is the cats meow but using a graph will give you tons more info then going blind. Get a flasher bat for $18 and an cuda 175 for around 90 bucks. When you point it down the hole you want to achieve minimum depth to verify the ducer is pointing down. When fish are on the bottom you will notice the bottom is changing and depth might change by 0.1 ft. You should be able to see bigger jigs when you jig. I used a portable cooler and tossed a couple of hand warmers in there on real cold days. LCD displays move real slow when they are cold. For 100 bucks you will have a portable that you could use on somebodys boat as well. To use it on a boat you will need a transom mount.

[Zoob]

Thanks for all the good advice, folks. The pop-up stays warm, so not really worried about the LCD speed. I suppose I could be eyeballing hsolist for a used one, too.

I've already spent a couple 5-gal pails worth of cash this season on ice-fishing, been trying to taper it off a bit, as well as look to getting a fish-finder setup that I can also use in the summer on a pontoon.

eurolarva - double thanks to you for the very detailed information.

edit - i said c raigslist - but the site changed it to HSOlist (that's kinda shady, but eh ) . Now it looks like I have two places to look. =)