which portable hand held depth finder

[Heidi]

I am looking to purchase one of these portable units mainly for ice fishing. I want to be able to quickly shoot thru the ice and find out the depth. Using my vexlar and a little water is very slow. Need opinions on the Marcum, Vexlar and the others. Who has one and likes or dislikes their unit. Thanks for the replies.

[CNY Tim]

Heid - I have the MarCum LXi and it's a sweet little unit. Last year on Honeoye it was invaluable, we were fortunate to have wet ice so I didn't have lug the propane torch or the water bottle with me which was nice. Eventually we found some bluegills and caught some fish. The unit is compact and very portable with a digital LCD readout in tenths also it has an audible fish alarm that displays the depth the fish are located at. It's one of my favorite tools for early ice. I have the perfomance pack.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

I did some extensive research on this last year. I also went with the Marcum LXi unit. SWEET!!!!!!!!

[ice_it_06]

Ditto on the Marcum unit...works great, easy to read and use.

[Northlander]

Go with the Marcum. The read out on the top is a way better option than having to squat down and see the read out on the side.

[Lazy Mike]

Do you know if the Marcum will read thru the bottom of a canoe?

[Heidi]

Marcum it is then. This was my first choice, but now I am more comfortable in the purchase. Thanks fellas.

[schweady]

Quote:

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Do you know if the Marcum will read thru the bottom of a canoe?

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LazyMike - I LOVED using my LX-i in the BWCA last summer to shoot through bottom of an aluminum canoe. Just needs a little water to sit on, either just wet down the hull surface or sit it on a ziploc bag with a little water. I had some problems shooting through our Kevlar canoe, but then realized it was just the foam core that was down the middle. Shooting through over to the side on an angle worked though... just gave slightly deeper readings.

Very nicely bottom-heavy to stay upright. Only annoying things about it were the fish alarm disturbing the peace every so often, and it turning itself off after every few minutes.