Humminbird Ice 55??

[luckydog25]

My wife and I do the whole 12 days of x-mas thing, you know 12 gifts open 1 a day for 12 days. We buy each other 1 big gift with a bunch of small ones. Each night you choose your own wrapped gift. Sounded stupid to me, until last night. I pick a smaller 6x6 inch box, open it up to find a note saying I am the proud owner of a new Hummingbird Ice 55!! My wife rocks!!!

Anyway, the reason for this post...I did a search on this site looking for old posts about what people think of them and didn't find a whole lot. For those that own one, what do you think of the unit? Pros? Cons?? Any tips for running the unit?? Thanks in advance!!!

[student]

It's still 16 days until Christmas.

I have the 45 and love it. Great screen, love the adjustable zoom, good battery life, easy to see in light or dark conditions, and it wrks very nicely with other brands.

[mntim]

I have never heard anyone complain about the Humminbirds. My son is starting to get into ice fishing and I was going to buy him a sonar, but I'm thinking I may buy a 45 and give him my Vex.

[Colt_45]

+1

There were people having trouble with some right when they came out, not sure exactly what the problems were, mine worked great since day one. Just get rid of the support cable, just use the float above the transducer with a stop, the other cable is a waste and something to do with patents on the Vex designed float.

I have the 45 also and I love mine, 2 yrs and no problems. The screen is huge compared to my Vex, my vex just stays home alone now. My buddies all wanna use it and check it out when we fish. It is harder on batteries cause it draws more, but well worth it, it lasts all day but if you go on a trip it is smart to have an extra one charged no matter what you have. Congrats on the bird and wife

[luckydog25]

16 days until xmas, I know. We go north over xmas as that is where our families live, so we finish our xmas here before we go. I will be on Red lake the 21st-24th to try out the new unit.

Thanks for the responses so far!!! Keep em comin!!!

[1900_LE]

I have the 55. No complaints at all. You'll like it.

[simple1]

I have the 35 and after an early issue, that was my fault for not knowing my unit, I love using it. When I get another unit it will be an ice 55.

[bigbad401]

I have the 35 and love it.

[MN BassFisher]

I have the 35 and love it! I have used it 4 times. I was fishing next to 2-3 vex's yesterday and I was picking up some interference. This is my first flasher and I'm not quite sure how to get rid of interference, but that was kind of disheartening since I thought they operated on different frequencies than Vex and Marcum so they "played nice". I've fished next to one vex and been fine, same with one Marcum. But last night I caught some interference.

[Get'n Jiggy]

Sounds like you got 2 "Keepers" The Bird and the wife.

[CJH]

I have had an Ice 55 since they came out and it has been awesome, no problems at all. Best screen/display, easy to use dial zoom feature, auto depth is awesome for hole hopping, and definitely the easiest on my eyes. Never had any problem with interference. Every year I fish out of a perm with three other guys that use a Marcum LX-5, Lowrance Ice Machine, and a Vex. I never have had to adjust mine yet - they do.

Good Luck, you'll love it! One tip I do is to use the auto depth when hole hopping, but if I settle in one spot for a while I switch to the manual depth setting - makes it more stable.

[luckydog25]

Thanks for the advice CJH!! My old unit was a FL-8, had huge problems with interference with 4 guys all fishing in the ice castle.

In your opinion, how does it perform in shallow water?? Any tips for that? I figure the zoom will be really nice. My main lake is Upper Red, I do fish LOW and several others that are deeper quite a bit as well.

[pike doctor]

Let me know if you guys are ever going to get a divorce. I will take her off your hands. At least for one Christmas anyway. Just kidding. I guess the pressure is on. What did you get her?

No, but you will really like the bird. I have the 45. I was one of the first to have one. Like the other guys said, throw the "support cable" and all that junk in the garbage. You dont need it. You will love the big screen while your buddies are squinting to see their dinky vexilar and marcums.

I bet if you and the wife go fishing now you will end up with the old unit, and she will end up with the brand new bird. LOL!! I guess she knew what she was doing. Kinda like the time I tried to buy an ex gf a shotgun that I really wanted for her birthday.

[luckydog25]

Pike, I have been with her for a long time and have NO plans of getting rid of her!! She always gets me great gifts for xmas, smart idea on her part as I would probably buy it anyway . I got her one of the new Nooks with one of the "brand name" covers, and gift cards for books, she loves to read... for her main gift. We both have 11 gifts more to go!!

She does like to fish once in a while (mostly in the summer)...I will be happy to use the old vex when she comes along this winter!! I am goona take a look at the cables now, I seen there were 2 when I opened it and was curious why?

[pike doctor]

As far as I understand it the second cable for the bird comes from patten issues with vexilar. They had to do it to make their unit different from the vexilar. Just throw it and all the piece it comes with back in the box and put it up in the attic. I took the float off mine too. The cone will self level much better without that big bobber on there. And I dont lose as many fish anymore. Your battery will draw down faster using the 55, but that isnt an issue for most people.

You will love it.

[luckydog25]

Well if the battery drawing down fast is the only issue that anyone can come up with, I am freaking pumped!! I have 2 spare batteries for my 8 year old vex and run the honda generator to power the wheelhouse at night anyway.

Pike, thanks for the advise on the cables. That seemed real clumsy, the way it was. Have you tried yours in shallow water?

[pike doctor]

I fish on Red all the time. You will have no problem seeing fish swim in with their bellies on the bottom. Thats were I really like the zoom and big screen. Makes it real easy to see.

And dont worry how high you have to turn the gain up to see your lure. It is on a scale of 1-25. I use lots of small stuff for pannies and sometimes I have it up to 15. The gain is different from the Vexilar and Marcum.

The thing I really like about mine when I am in my house is when all my buddies are whinning to each other about interference I am sitting there fishing without any problems.

[CJH]

Thanks for the advice CJH!! My old unit was a FL-8, had huge problems with interference with 4 guys all fishing in the ice castle.

In your opinion, how does it perform in shallow water?? Any tips for that? I figure the zoom will be really nice. My main lake is Upper Red, I do fish LOW and several others that are deeper quite a bit as well.

No problem, glad to help. I am not a big brand loyalty guy, this just seemed like the nicest unit, with the features I wanted, on the market. Its been exactly what I expected, very happy with it.

It seems fine on shallow water. Haven't used it much real shallow, usually 10 ft is the shallowest I go. Late Ice I might sight fish pannies shallower and to be honest you don't need a flasher for that!

The zoom is awesome, super easy to use - just turn the dial to where you want it and you are done. I have fished Winnie the last two years shallow (10ft) and deep (30ft) and haven't had any problems. I like to use the narrow setting in 30ft of water - just personal preference. I caught some pig perch hugging the bottom in 30ft of water!!! Enough said. I can get an entire day of fishing out of the battery and it still would be around 30-40%, and the screen is the easiest on your eyes IMHO. Haven't had one problem with interference yet.

Gonna give LOW a try this year. Fished Red before I had a flasher and am sure I missed fish without it.