Which sonar do you prefer?

[herefishyfishyfishy]

I would recommend the Humminbird Helix 7. Hands down the best investment for ice fishing. My catch rate double or tripled just by using that unit. You can purchase the boat unit and then pick up an ice transducer. Make sure you get one with chirp. GPS is a plus too. I ended up with a couple. I bought the ice helix 7 GPS from hodges marine for 499 2 years ago. They have increased in price recently.  I also picked up a Helix 5 GPS CHIRP for my kids. Got it off KSL for $200 picked up the chirp ice kit for 200$. Add an Amped outdoors LiFePO4 battery for 90$ and you have a mean ice fishing machine. Amped has 15% off if use promo code AMPED15. Only downside to the Helix 7 is the battery life. That screen is big and uses some power. I purchased the 18AH Amped battery for it and when you turn your brightness to night mode and maybe around level 5 you can get 3 full days of solid fishing on it. The sealed lead acid battery that comes with them will last one day on night mode. only 3-4 hours if you use the full brightness. Turn your chart speed up to "ultra" it is super fast and basically live.

I bought one of the garmin striker 4 plus with GPS ice units a year ago for my kids. I figured for 200$ it could be great for them. The chart speed is so slow it is very frustrating. You would jig and then like 2 seconds later you could see it move on the graph. I took it to Pineview and you could see the perch in about 27' of water. I also took it to the gorge and in 100' of water I couldn't see my jig at all. I returned it as soon as I got back. The Garmin striker 4 has 1600 watts and does not advertise the target separation. The Helix 7 has 3/4" target separation and is 4000 watts. I think the Marcum has like 1/4" and 4800 watts. 

Personally I would splurge for a helix 5 or 7. It is a complete game changer.