Lowrance Elite 5 Ice

[tommygun23]

Been tooling around the idea of getting the Ice pack for the Lowrance elite 5 as I got 2 both with the navionics chip. For those of you guys running a graph what do you see as advantages and disadvantages. I currently have a Marcum showdown and Lx3tci. In your opinion's do you see the graph replacing the flasher and what do you now prefer if used both. I started with the showdown and don't ever see myself getting rid of it, but not completely sold on the flasher as the showdown is so much easier. Thought about the Lx-7 but that leaves no spare cash in the beer fund.

 

[tinker]

i love mine...but i think its hard to beat the flashers with zoom. and the lowance doesnt seem to be as accurate when fishing by a vex.

 

[Hawgeye]

I have never owned a flasher and respect everyone that prefers them over the graph. I agree that the target separation on the bottom is more precise (Maybe a few inches at most) and you can see fish better hugging to the bottom with that properly adjusted flasher. That being said, I probably will never own a flasher, as other than those fish tight to the bottom, if you are good with your graph and can set your color-line and sensitivity per the depth and water column you are fishing, I am confident you will meet or possibly exceed many that run a flasher. I have learned to see fish outside of the cone angle when they come in by noticing the fish show an echo "below" the bottom line. This is by having my color-line set just right. Not all bottoms I can do this but for sure on softer bottoms.

I have the Elite 5 Ice pack and honestly am very pleased. I have it set up to mount on my snowmobile with a Ram mount and find the graph with maps extremely valuable for getting to the right spot. I can use my transducer off the sled as well when fishing outside. I can disconnect the bracket and have connected in my icepack for the portable house in literally 30 seconds. If you are a flasher guy, you will need to play with it to get used to it. Some love it and others simply prefer their flashers....I get it. The last and most important thing for me is seeing the history of fish if you look away to rig or eat etc...I prefer not to glare at my fish-finder continuously and with the history a graph provides, you can see several seconds of time lapse letting you know there is a fish nearby.

For you, you can have the best of both worlds....have the flasher available as a backup or the graph as your backup....added the value of a mapped GPS for returning to a spot or finding a new spot on a strategic contour of the lake....good luck!

 

[luvcatchingbass]

I tried an Elite 5 last year of my buddies and it was ok. I don't know how to use it very well but I tried to get the settings 'just right' to see what I needed for 5-10min and never got it, good thing I had a bobber for the crappie. Switched back to my flasher and in 3 seconds had my settings and found fish outside of the cone angle, just give the transducer a quick swing. That being said.
Sounds like you have plenty of gear to choose from so converting one to an ice pack would be fairly inexpensive and you still have your showdown

 

[tommygun23]

Have any of you ever had experience with the showdown? I've noticed that not many people use them or talk about them, is there a reason for this because I absolutely love mine. I can tell when there is fish hugging the the bottom very well, only down side is if your in zoom mode you cant see the rest of the water column but usually fish are only suspended 10ft up and thats all you need with the showdown. It is also very responsive as there's no lag and has the internal heater so no worries about it freezing.

 

[wildeyes]

i started ice fishing with a lowrance 67c ice machine, then i bought a vex 28 the difference between the two is like night and day. the vex is by far more accurate then the lcd. I like the lcd when it comes to reading it. the vex shoots though ice better then lcd. I have never had a problem shooting though ice up to 3 ft with it. one of the main things with the vex is intraferance when you have different ice machines around you the vex can fix this were most lcd can not and that sucks trying to read your screen. i have a elite 5 chirp that i can buy the ice pack for but to tell you the true why?

 

[luvcatchingbass]

I used to hear about them quite a bit but not lately and I don't know anyone with one so have never ran it side by side.

 

[hogslayer]

I use an HDS 5 for ice fishing but used to use an elite. The flasher is simpler and probably easier to dial in than a graph but I would take a graph any day over an annoying noisy flasher. I know how to adjust my graph and there is no lag time and the target separation is just as good. Having a chartplotter with a lake map right in the graph is probably the best feature. Ya you can use a smart phone or tablet with the navionics app which I also have but I prefer to just use my charplotter on my graph. I much prefer a graph display with the vertical amplitude scope too. I have A.D.D. a lot of times when ice fishing and I'm not always staring at my screen. If a fish darts in and out of the cone with a flasher you will miss it if you are not staring at the annoying blinky lights right at that moment. With a graph you have the history scrolling across the screen. Many times I have missed the fish when it came through but seen it in the history and was able to bring it back in. Any sonar is better than no sonar but I would take a graph any day over a flasher. Modern technology vs 1950's technology. The new flashers are nice and I've fished with them and they work well but I think it really just comes down to personal preference and I prefer the lcd screen of my lowrance over a flasher. Any sonar is better than no sonar though.

 

[Vollmer]

Are the HDS and the Elite basically equal on ice?

 

[tommygun23]

I really like the idea of being able to have the graph along with a map. I guess I won't be out too much if I can get the ice pack on eBay for $118. Anyone know if Scheels will price match any internet prices?