how are the new humminbirds working

[bigred1974]

used mine last night for the first time fishing, boy oh boy what a awesome piece of equipment! this thing picks up everything! I could see plain as day the seperation between my jig and sinker, and this thing really shows the fish. I am totally impressed with this, I found the flasher I intend to stay with. Mine is the 55 by the way

[Rockin Rod]

Just picked up a 55 and I'm not going to use the support cable. But is there any reason to use the float? Why not just hang the 'ducer down the hole? It should be level doing that, right?

[katoguy]

It depends how you hang it. If you hang it straight down the hole with the float or an arm of some type, then it will hang straight. If it hangs against the side of the hole without an arm or float, then it may not be shooting straight.

I really like my ICE 55 so far, but only have been out with it twice. My FL18 may be going up for sale. (I really don't need two flashers, and all of my fishing buddies own flashers.)

[Ferny]

Question for you Humminbird guys:

Can you see a single Eurolarvae sink down to the bottom?

I have looked at several demo models and they can barely read a hard floor in air. None of them would read my foot moving up and down. Both Marcum and Vexilar units have no problem with my quick test.

Thanks,

Ferny.

[Eddie@Humminbird]

Ferny,

Never heard of that test. But considering the density of air vs water etc. I can't say anything about how accurate of a test that is.

If the unit couldn't see your foot something was wrong. I would suspect the transducer wasn't truly horizontal. I just went and tested a 55 and a Vexilar. Both showed my foot.

I have used small lures that are the same size as maggots and see them fine on the units.

[bigred1974]

mine was reading the knot on my line after I took the bobber off with the gain set on 4, so I think it reads pretty well

[Lane]

I just bought the 45, and I absolutely love it. I had it out last weekend, and outfished my buddies 4 to 1. The only thing more fun then catching a lot of fish, is catching more fish then your buddies!

[JeffB]

I thing all the new flashers are plenty sensitive and are quite amazing in what they pick up. I think the biggest issue is how user freiendy they are. I just move from a vex. to the humminbird and love the new bird for some of the new features. But if my 10yr old vex. wouldn't have died I may still be using it.

[shamrock7]

Have not seen much info here on interference. I have 2 Marcums, son has a Vex and thinking of a k-Bird. It can be an issue getting the interference in check with the Marcums and Vex working together. Once we throw in k-Bird, will we be pulling our hair out?

[793bob]

how is the battery life on these units.

[Huey]

Question for you Humminbird guys:

Can you see a single Eurolarvae sink down to the bottom?

quote]

Yes, you can. I used my Ice-35 for the first time this afternoon and that was the first thing that I tried (read your post earlier today). I was in 14' of water and it was no problem.

Overall, the 35 seems great. I'm still figuring it out though. It was noisy at times so I going contact Humminbird about that.

I definitely put the hurt on the 6" sunnies!

[jigginlow]

WITH THE 9 DEGREE CONE, COULD ONE EXPECT TO SEE MULTIPLE JIGS IN 20 FEET OF WATER IN A CLAM VOYAGER PORTABLE, AS AN EXAMPLE? WITH THE RELATIVE EASE OF VIEWING THE DISPLAY AS DESCRIBED WHEN AT AN ANGLE, I WOULD SUSPECT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD SELLING POINT....IS THIS THE CASE?

[Ferny]

Thanks for the info guys. I use the floor and foot test in air as a quick confidence test. My real on the water test is with a Eurolarvae (soft target) I figure if it can see a larvae all th way down there's no way you'll miss any fish.

Eddie can you do me a favor please? Could you please measure the current draw of your 55. I would like to compare it to my FL-18. I can measure it again but I thought it is about 300ma - 350ma @ 12.3Volts on the shallowest range. Also can you explain your "fiber optic display" claim to me? Is it not spinning LED's in your display? Thirdly have you ever been ice fishing? I'd take you out if your ever in MN! Marcum is doing on ice shootouts do you plan any on ice promo's?

I really like that they are 240Khz so they won't interfere with other brands and the digital display. Not a big fan of the extra ducer cable but I understand the patent constraints.

In my opinion Humminbird has really upped the anty with side scan and now viable color flashers...you've come a long way...I'm impressed. What brought on the change in the company?

Thanks,

Ferny.

[augernaut]

The 'wave your hand under the ducer' test is useless. Transducers are designed to function within the density arena of water - not air. If you are going to use this 'test' make sure you have a hard - like ceramic tile - floor underneath you, and have the ducer no more than 3-4 feet off the floor. Otherwise, your odds of picking up any kind of return from your hand waving underneath it are slim to none.

[PerchJerker]

Have not seen much info here on interference. I have 2 Marcums, son has a Vex and thinking of a H-Bird. It can be an issue getting the interference in check with the Marcums and Vex working together. Once we throw in H-Bird, will we be pulling our hair out?

The Humminbirds operate on different frequencies than Marcum and Vex, so there should be no interference issues from them. Humminbird Ice Flashers.

Jigginlow - the ability to use wide or narrow beams is a great feature. with my flasher I usually use the narrow beam because I typically only want to mark the bait I'm working under the transducer, I don't want to mark my 2nd line or the other guy's lines. If I decide I want to mark those other baits, I switch to the wide angle. It's very handy and flexible, it really lets you fine-tune its function to what you want when you're fishing.

[793bob]

anyone have any reports on these units this weekend

[Eddie@Humminbird]

It all depends on how many lights are on etc but about 300ma - 350ma @ 12.3Volts is correct.

We use a brushless, stationary LED in the center of the display. This has a fiber optic cable that feeds the lights on the display.

I have been ice fishing but obviously not a whole lot based on my geographic location. I do test the flasher a lot on the water to ensure you can see the small jigs etc. We get our best feedback from our pro staff and users like you. And, thanks for the invite.

I don't know of any on the ice promos but that doesn't mean there aren't any planned.

Lastly, I think we saw a need for some new technology and have heard what customers really want in a ice flasher.

[gman2002]

wondering what type of charging systems are on these units

[Ferny]

Thanks for the info Eddie. I like the fiber optic idea with no spinning electronics!

Ferny.

[harvey lee]

The charging unit is a small unit that plugs into the socket. It has a green light which tells one the unit is charged. The yellow light states the battery is still charging.

It is very easy to access tha battery in the back of the Ice 55. Unzip the back cover and connect the two charging wires and let it charge until the grren light comes on.

It also has a red light which tells one that there is a short or reverse hook up.

Very nice unit.

[Eddie@Humminbird]

I just wanted to add a little to what Harvey said. We had a few people think that the red light was on when it wasn't. They were mistaking the yellow/amber light for the red one.

The yellow/amber light almost appears orange and under some lights it almost appears Red.

Just an FYI.

[Eddie@Humminbird]

Our customer service dept. service number. 1-800-633-1468

[harvey lee]

Thanks Eddie. I got a Ice55 all ready for this week and it looks to be loaded with nice features.

[eyenut17]

is anyone else having trouble getting a snug fit with the plugin "for color depth fish"

[Wyomingbob]

I just got an ice 45 and finished putting it together and was wondering what the middle socket on the back is used for