Humminbird Ice 55

[GSP4ME]

Thoughts or expierences with it

[leech~~]

Had, one. Lots of battery sucking pretty lights! Run both FL-18 and Bird one weekend up on RED side-by-side in two holes. Bird died in half the time. Never did lose power on the FL-18 after three days and nights of running! Both were fully charged before leaving for the lake.

[DTro]

Stacked against units of comparable price, I think the 55 comes out on top.

 

Do you want a digital depth display?  Do you want choice of display colors?  Do you want an adjustable zoom?   Do you want a voltage display?  Do you want dual beam?  Do you want a nice soft case included?   

 

The current draw of the 55 is about 100 more milliamps then an FL18, so when using the same 9ah battery, you will get about 32hrs with the FL18 and 24hrs with the 55.   I wouldn’t call 24hrs of use a battery drainer by any means. The Marcum LX5 is about the same as the Ice 55 so I guess that one sucks the juice too? The high end digital flashers such as the Marcum LX7 can draw up to 800 milliamps which would be about 11hrs use. Settings can however be dialed back to reduce power consumption on that one.

 

I’m not singling out leech, because I’ve seen it called out several other times elsewhere, but when nobody can really come up with a solid negative on the 55, they revert to saying it’s a battery hog, and if you do the math you can figure out that it really isn’t.   If you ask for a flasher to do more things, then it’s going to require more energy, like the LX6 and 7 do.

 

The best thing I could recommend is to compare what you get for the amount of $ you want to spend.   All I can say is that I loved my 55 and kind of sorry I got rid of it.

 

Good Luck

[bltbowhunter]

I've had mine for 3 or 4 years now, and I like it. I don't love it, but I like it. Mine seems to be at its best when fishing in water over 20 feet. When you start to get into shallower water, the lines that represent your lure, or fish seem really big to me. On my unit, it's sometimes hard to see the separation between the fish and lure because the lines are so big. For this reason, I don't use the zoom feature much because all it does is make the lines even bigger. It probably never would have bothered me hadn't I been fishing next to a buddy with an LX-5. His seems to have crisper and more definite lines. Another problem that I run into with mine is that it won't always pick up my jig when I drop it down. I know sometimes this is because the jig isn't falling straight down and it gets outside of my transducer. However, when fishing a small tungsten jig and letting it down slow in water under 15' when I know it's not outside of my "cone" it will happen as well. (not always, but sometimes) Not really a big deal, but it's kind of annoying when I'm marking fish and I have to wait to see where my jig is. Another thing is the digital depth display will sometimes read way off when I'm hopping around searching for fish. Usually when I wipe the transducer off on my pants, or turn the unit on and off it will come back. Sometimes it may take as many as 5 minutes to come back. You can still read bottom on the screen so you know the depth, but again it's just kind of annoying. I called Humminbird and told them of these problems about a year after I bought it and they sent me a new transducer, however it did not solve my problems. The last thing that bothers me about it, is when I fish with a buddy who has the 35. His unit will cause mine to have a line about 1/2" to 1 1/2" to do circles around the whole flasher screen about every 5 seconds. It drives me crazy. Mine does the same thing to his unit as well, however it doesn't bother him at all. I will fiddle with mine trying to tune it out, but can never seem to get it perfect. However, due to running on a different frequency you can fish in the same hole with a vex or marcum and you won't see any interference. I sometimes fish these big ice tourneys and I can still read my screen when most other people can't simply because there are less birds on the ice compared to the Vex's and Marcums.

I can't go more than a full day on the battery. It doesn't really bother me as I have rarely spend more than a full day fishing at a time without being able to charge it. I do carry a spare battery in my truck, just in case but I hardly ever use it.

I know I listed a lot of negatives, but they all are pretty minor and infrequent problems. I really like the 6 color pallet, the adjustable zoom (in deep water), the digital display, the flat screen display, and the big bright screen. I've thought about getting the LX-5, but I just can't justify it as this one does work great for me most of the time.

~Jeremy

[Lusid]

Just a slight note about batteries..

When it's fully charged up at home and the house temp is chilling around say 70 degrees.. once you go outside in the cold you will get drastically different run times due to the cold.

9amps could really mean 7-8amps in the outdoors.

[Fred_Bear]

It's got tons of features at a good price point, the 55 looks great on paper and really is a nice flasher for a lot of satisfied owners.

BUT, I'll mirror what bltbowhunter said on the read out of the ice-55. I've only used one shallow water (< 20') panfishing, and just like he said, the lure and fish were really "blobish" (cool word, huh). To me, that's the only "feature" that truly matters, Humminbird can have its custom zoom, multiple colors, digital depth, etc., etc, but it's still lacking in the one category that make the biggest difference. Personally, I prefer the readout and fish/lure showing abilities of an FL-8 over the ice-55.

[DTro]

Fair criticisms for sure. Most of my fishing was in water over 20ft.

[walleye44]

Anybody that does not like there HB ice-55, I will trade my Marcum lx3-tc for your bird.

[Iambjm]

What I like about my Bird is I can still use it while charging the batteries. So when I use mine in the wheelhouse if the battery gets low I just plug in the charger and keep fishing.

Like way better than my old Vex FL18, and I don't have to worry about Marcum interference. The Marcums literally made my FL18 useless if I was anywhere near one.

[PFUNK]

Last year was my first season with the Bird 55. Really enjoyed it. Others have already pointed out the few flaws that I have noticed. The only time I was ever actually annoyed with it was when fishing with a bird 35 over hard bottom. I just couldn't get the interferance dialed out. It was fishable, but annoying. Aside from that I am absolutely satisfied with it. Only time I ever found it to be "blobby" was in shallow water and playing with the zoom. I usually run my gain on the low end so I just pick up my lure. I bought mine used and wouldn't hesitate to buy another.

[fish_eat_sleep]

I've owned a Marcum VX-1P, and now a LX-3tc. Two of my buddies i fish with regularly own a HB35 and HB55. They swear by theirs, i swear by mine. However theres a few things we agree on. humminbird is easier on the eyes at night and has larger screen and a backlit depth display (although it hops around a bit in weeds, current or on drop offs). The lx3 has a much more precise image of your lure (especially shallow water). the lines are as crisp as it gets. Being able to see a crappie "charge" and predict a "hit" with a crisp display is more important to me than digital depth. the HB35 had trouble with the power switch at one point too, and can be loud at times..

marcum is quiet and crisp. humminbird has more features (digital depth, dual beam, charging while fishing etc..) but the lines are thick in weedy/shallow areas in side by side comparisons.. on a side note the HB55 survived a fall from the trunk lid of a car.. Never tried that with the marcum.. yet..

if i bought another id pass over the birds but thats just me.

[NoWiser]

My personal opinion is that if you have never used a flasher before and got the Hbird, you would be quite pleased with it. If you have fished with a Vexilar (or Marcum) previously I can't help but think you would be less than satisfied. I've used the Humminbird when my buddy got one and just was not impressed. The display seemed to flicker and jump around, it was a struggle getting the jig to consistently display, and when he did the size of the marks did not seem proportional to what was actually down there. To top it off it quit working after about 6 times on the ice and he had to ship it out of state to get it fixed, which cost him north of $100.00. But, he still swears by the thing. I agree with Fred Bear. If someone had the 55 and FL-8 sitting right next to each other and I could pick either, I'd grab the FL-8 every time.

[Fred_Bear]

NoWiser-

Ever fished lakers with someone using a Bird? Just curious how the interference was around Vex's. I KNOW fishing a Marcum around Vexilars in trout water is not an option, but never fished around someone using a Bird up there.

[B-man715]

I've been a long time Vexilar fan, but last year bought an Ice 45 and retired the Vex to the Missus.

Pretty much functions the same as all of the Vexilars that I have used, but with a more modern look/operation.

The biggest reason I made the switch is because I was sick of getting into "Flasher Wars"........

Now I smile when I see my buddies with Vexilars hit their IR button whenever the other steps out the door I don't have to do that anymore

The Missus and I can now fish side by side with opposite brands and zero interference.

But as mentioned, putting two or three Birds in the same shack is no different than having two or three Vex's together......... Interference will occur to some degree........... sometimes it's miserable.......

[Scott O.]

I've been using the 45 for the last four years. I enjoy its simplicity of operation, its big LED screen and features, and its digital depth, which eliminates the depth guessing found on Vexs and Marcums. Maybe a more trained eye can figure out the depth quickly on the Vexs and Marcums, but I was never very good at it. I've got no complaints on the battery as it lasts at least a day while running all day. The 55 would be a nice addition thanks to its targeting features and 5 color scheme, but for the price, the extra $100 wasn't worth it for me. It's also tough as nails I found out, since last winter it took a free flying course while on my truck's box and I forget to grab it before taking off and taking a right turn and watching it in terror as it flew off and smashed into the ground. Case was slightly damaged, but the unit itself still runs like the day I bought it.

[LindellProStaf]

I have had a 55 for a year now and the more I use it the more I like it. Did have a FL-8 which did me good for many years. It finally got tired so had to upgrade. After reading this I am getting antsy to get back in the shack....