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Posts: 29
| howdy all,
some of these garmin and humminbird portable fish finders are around $160. i don't get out on the ice much but that is pretty cheap and can obviously make a difference in pinning those sumgood guyes.
has anyone tried these entry level devices and how are they?
fyi i bought a fish camera a few years back and i found i never use it as it didn't do me much good.
thanks! |
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Posts: 2325
Location: Chisholm, MN | Minimum I would recommend is a vexilar fl8. The other cheap ones aren’t very good and will just frustrate you. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | See if you can find a used Humminbird Helix 5 and get an ice 'ducer, easy to set up as an ice unit in a plastic box. |
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Posts: 29
| thanks! the vexilars are a dark art to me! i know people swear by them. i just need to take some time to understand how to use them. |
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Posts: 1209
| agree minimum vexilar fl8se. I can see when the fish is turning on or loosing attention via the flicker of the return. Now I have livescope in the boat I can see the same information. Only difference is the amount of water each sees. |
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Posts: 29
| thanks for the advice steve! i'll look around on the world wide web. |
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Posts: 1036
| Check out Vexilar's website. They have refurbished units on there, on sale, and with full warranty.
I got two a few years ago. F18's. They work flawlessly. And you really only need that model if you are going to be fishing deep water. As suggested, the 8 is a fine unit, too. They are super easy to use and understand. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I'll see if I can find a couple of the videos from last year. I have a Vexilar, a Humminbird flasher, a Helix 5 and a Helix 7. Like the 5 the best.
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Posts: 29
| thanks, fellas! great info. steve has all the gear! hope you get a pro deal. i'll take a look at the suggestions. my family, friends and i can all catch covid together staring at the screen.  or 
vegas mentions vex are good for deep water. i'm mostly fishing local ponds in the chicago burbs. they good for shallow too, i assume?
i have an attention span of goldfish lately so learning anything new is a challenge. |
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Posts: 2325
Location: Chisholm, MN | FL 8s work in just about any depth. The problem is that you can’t zoom, so fishing deeper, you lose detail. FL18s zoom which is very nice. But still, the 8 will do you fine I’m sure. Really, any brand from Bird, Vexilar, Marcum, are all great. I just would avoid those mini cheap ones. Also, color is a big deal. I wouldn’t go black and white. |
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Posts: 29
| good recap. thanks, kirby! |
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