I currently have one of the hawkeye portable fish finders. It's really only good as a depth finder... sometimes.
I would like one that is easy to use, accurate, sensitive enough that I it will show my jig on the screen, and most importantly $150 or less.
Does such a product exist?
I'm really new to the whole fish-finder business.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
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You might check out the Humminbird 500 series. They changed all the numbers but they look pretty much the same as my brother's and mine. Cabelas has the 550 on sale right now. I love my 575 and my brothers 565 is just a nice.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Humminbir...humminbird
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Thank you. I was looking at that one along with the Lawrence Mark 5-X even though it's slightly out of the price range I had limited myself to.
The fact that the humminbird one is on sale had me leaning towards it being as they looked like they were similar in features and original price.
Next Question: Is there like a DIY thread for the best way to set these types of non portable sonars up for ice fishing? Maybe a TubeDude type writeup? I've tried to search but the search function on this site seems to be getting the better of me.
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[cool][#0000ff]I have been using the Humminbird 565 for a couple of years and made some modifications on the ice setup last January. I posted up some pics [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=554542#554542"]AT THIS LINK[/url][/#0000ff]
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good looking setup TD. That helps a lot. One question though, the first picture of the transducer setup looks to be the most stable IMO. Whats the reason you went away from that design?
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[cool][#0000ff]The first one is more stable. I just removed the transducer shaft from my float tube install and put some foam on it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, the second hangs straighter in the water for a more true downward beam. Mainly, I was just experimenting. Both work. A matter of preference.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I know of other installs that use a piece of wood that shoves straight down in the hole. If it works and you are comfortable with it then it's all good.[/#0000ff]
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That's the reply I was expecting. The one you say hangs straighter just doesn't look like it would hang straighter than the first one. I guess I've got some experimenting to do once the ice gets here.
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You will find you have to adjust it once you get on the ice. Some days it seems to be perfect and pick up you jig nothing flat. Other days might take some tinkering. Mine has side sonar so the transducer is twice the size and a real pain some days on the ice. Last year I think I finally found what works for mine. Just tinker with it until you find what works for you.
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Thanks for all the help guys. I got the Humminbird 550 for christmas and got everything together and set up yesterday. Now I just need to get out on the ice and test her out. I took a significant amount of my inspiration from tube dude for my transducer (aka, I copied him). I'll attach some pics of what I ended up with.
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