Hand held problems

[TV BOY]

I got a vex handheld for christmas and it doesn't seem to work onless I use it over an open hole. Is it the bad ice we have with the sluch or did I get a bad unit? even if I srape the slush off to the ice it still won't read.

[Northlander]

How much ice is there? Good possability that the poor ice is causing the problem. Pour some water on the ice 1st and try it. If that doesnt do it and it works in a open hole Im betting its poor ice quality.

[TV BOY]

I tried water, and also the very wet slush. 4-6" of solid ice. Even when I used a chisle to scrape away the slush/crust and get to the "good" ice with water I couldn't get a reading unless I used a hole.

That was the reason I wanted the hand held. I didn't have time to fish today but, tomorrow I'll try my vex FL8 and see If that shoots through the ice and compare.

[P.DONA]

Do you have fresh batteries? Is there water underneath the ice? just kidding.. I know it won't work at a hockey rink

[TV BOY]

New- out of the package, came with a battery- I guess I could try a new one and see if it works or else I have the receipt and it's going back to the store!

My vex worked just fine, which makes me wonder is another piece of equipment worth it. Or should I return it and get something else.

[PierBridge]

I'm not going to sugar coat it.....IMO they are Garbage take it back.....I went through 2 of each manufacturers....Not worth it, take it back and get store credit and get something you can use.

[stick]

Where I use mine mostly is in open holes when I am approaching structure and drilling and checking as I go. I typically can re-direct my hole pattern quickly if I start going deeper when I want to go shallower and vica-versa. Otherwise, I'm drilling numerous holes, then carrying the auger back to the house and grabbing the flasher and making the same loop. Now with the handheld, I can do it all in one loop. I'm a big fan. When able to shoot through good ice, that's just another nice feature, but in my opinion if I can shoot through the ice, the flasher works fine. The other nice thing is that I have the handheld in my pocket, and don't need to dig into the Otter for the flasher when I get to the spot.