Cheap Depthfinder for ice fishing and canoe fishing...Eagle® Cuda 300?

[Gunflint Guy]

Anyone ever use a Eagle® Cuda 300 Portable Sonar Unit for ice fishing? Does it show your jig? In deep water? Is there a delay?

[riverview]

I would just look for a used fl8 I have seen a few for under 175

[Northlander]

Check the for sale ads here. I have a Zercom Color Point Im selling CHEAP!

[Norm1980]

I wouldn't suggest using anytype of flasher thats in black/white for ice fishing. If you want something portable that you can use in a canoe (in summer) and ice fishing i would suggest spending a little more and getting a humminbird 345c portable

check out this thread for details:

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubb...use#Post2180153

If you don't want to spend over $300 i would just look for a used fl8 for around $200 or less for ice fishing and due with out while in the canoe.

[Gunflint Guy]

all of the units you guys are talking about use way too much battery power to be useful on a weeklong canoe trip. I'm colorblind anyway, so the red-green units don't mean squat to me. 8% percent of males are red-green colorblind, but they still insist on using red and green on depthfinders and battery chargers. Oh well. Keep the ideas coming...

[brrrr]

I use an old Cuda 128 in the canoe, it works quite well, however the unit is far from the latest tehcnology and is nowhere as good as my unit mounted in my lund. it is portable and gives good depth reading and fish hits, not the greatest for structure such as weeds and such. Battery life is great in the summer, easily 3-4 days of hard fishing, It runs on AA batts, I think the newer ones use D's. I have taken it for ice fishing a few times recently, it is great for getting a quick depth reading and ok for structure in the winter. I can se my jig ok but there is a small time lapse. the few times I have used it this year I have been fishing shallow <10 feet and I havent quite got all the settings worked out to get it working to its full advantage. personally I would recommend a flasher for the ice versus the cuda, but it great in the canoe and semi useful on the ice.

[Norm1980]

If you cant see the color screen then it sounds like a no brainer to get the black/white model. One of my best friends is color blind so i under stand the whole green/blue/red issue. As for battery power most if not all vexilars/birds should last the weekend. I usually make a couple ice fishing trips up north each winter and a single battery lasts me the whole weekend and thats using it 12+ hours a day for 2 days and sunday morning.

[JSK76]

Showdown, because it's a great sonar and is the best priced flasher and has the longest battery life. Also will work great with the auto depth reading so your not clicking the depth range up and down while fishing in a canoe. You should be able to shoot the transducer through the bottom of the canoe and the black and white LCD will be easy to see in sunlight. Just make sure to get the new 5.6 version if you can find one.

[riverview]

I use my vex in my canoe and 14 foot with the ice ducer. great for depths and vertical jigging. the color blind thing make i tough to get a ice fishing flasher.

[Ed Carlson]

all of the units you guys are talking about use way too much battery power to be useful on a weeklong canoe trip. I'm colorblind anyway, so the red-green units don't mean squat to me. 8% percent of males are red-green colorblind, but they still insist on using red and green on depth finders and battery chargers. Oh well. Keep the ideas coming...

Vexilar offers a Cool Blue Conversion for individuals whom live with color blindness, it changes the colors in the unit to blue, purple, and red so it is easier to read and the contrast is highly significant. I have 2 of the Cool Blue units myself, huge difference to a CB person as I can attest to that being CB myself. It will cost you about $90 to do, and they will also clean and tune up the Vexilar FL unit at the same time.

Any Vexilar can be Cool Blue converted, new or old. They make a excellent portable unit for all season use.

Since Color Blindness has many variations, each individual effected must judge for themselves it it is indeed a significant improvement to them personally. For me it was, for the next guy it may not be the correct configuration to serve them best.

[Acemac]

I just got a showdown and love it. 26 hours of bat life is also really nice!

[JSK76]

with a Showdown and an 7 amp hour batter fully charged it would run 68 hours with no back light on and sensitivity set at 6 or 45 hours with the light on.

375 ma draw with light and screen heater on #6

173 ma draw with light and #6 sensitivity

103 ma draw no light #6 sensitivity

from #6 sensitivity to the max 25 it's only 22 ma more.

[JSK76]

I need to correct my post, as the battery gets lower in voltage from use the amps would drop so the time would less then I posted, but I'm not sure how to figure that out, anyone know?