"SOFT WATER" graphs used for Hard Water

[Big Iron]

I've used an FL-8 VEXILAR my whole adult life with 0 problems (besides swapping batteries periodically). This being said- I am curios about utilizing the graph on my boat as a spare flasher to be used by others I may be fishing with. It's a LOWRANCE hdi 7.
Who here is veering away from the traditional flashers for the new soft water graphs? Is it worth the $150 for an ice kit? Thanks in advance.

 

[jer79]

yep,I did it with a hds 7. I use it as a spare. and I can view contour maps and mark waypoints but, if I had to choose between the graph and my fl-8 flasher I prefer the flasher .

 

[Vollmer]

I did it with an elite 7. I would prefer it over an fl8. Zoom is nice. Travel is nice. Definitely worth the $150.

 

[lunkerslayer]

Humminbrid 998 with a 360 trolling motor ducer would be the ultimate hardwater unit. There is a guy on here that put a humminbird on his red 4 wheeler later in the 2016 year.

 

[Lostlunker]

I use the Elite 4 HDI and made my own ice pack out of a soft sided cooler and a cheap water tight case from Walley World. I think it cost me about 90 bucks total after buying the ice ducer. Does the elite 7 fit in the ice pack bag? It might be too big.

 

[Vollmer]

I use the Elite 4 HDI and made my own ice pack out of a soft sided cooler and a cheap water tight case from Walley World. I think it cost me about 90 bucks total after buying the ice ducer. Does the elite 7 fit in the ice pack bag? It might be too big.

It does fit after you cut away that excess on the bottom.

I have a buddy that just setup the Elite 4. It works really well.

 

[lunkerslayer]

Man I would love to see those screen shots, I am getting goosebumps just thinking about all those secret spots that are holding potential lunkers. V if you can have your buddy take screen shots of graphic porn of sonar pic.

 

[shorthairsrus]

I use a bird and the wife a lowrance. Sold the vex. Vex=1957 technolgy

 

[lunkerslayer]

Here's a few pics of someone using the 360 f or ice fishing

 

[hogslayer]

It would definitely be worth the money. I've used flashers and graphs both and I would take a graph over a noisy ass flasher any day. I use an HDS 5 currently but I used elites before going HDS. If you watch any ice fishing shows at all you will see that the nearly all the pros are running digital displays now and are moving away from flashers. If you know how to adjust them well you will get just as much sensitivity and they usually pick up less interference from other sonars. Plus you also have the added bonus of GPS right in your sonar unit. There are some good videos on Youtube on how to set them up for ice fishing. If I'm hole hopping around I leave it on auto range and auto sensitivity but if I'm sitting at a hole for a while I flip it to manual mode and really dial in the sensitivity.

 

[RustyTackleBox]

I use a lowrance elite 5... rigging my onix 8 to work soon

 

[DirtyMike]

Well if all these professionals are using graphs, I better get rid of my flasher.

 

[Big Iron]

I looked online for ice transducers/ other components to make a poor mans Ice Kit- just about every website had a lead time of several weeks for the materials needed. I caved and bought the Lowrance Ice Pack at Scheels this weekend. I'm in the process of fastening a wood plate to the bottom of the plastic tray to mount the elite 7 graph. If my plan comes together- the soft case will zip shut and the graph will still be somewhat easy to detach. Headed to LOW's this weekend to test it out. Yee Haw.

 

[espringers]

the vexilar stands work fine for mounting them. also, the ice ducers can be found on amazon for about $70 without the need for the cable adapter. this is the one you want. if you order the other one, you need a special adapter that isn't cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002IV6UY4/?tag=nodakangler10-20

make sure you pick the right seller though. only one of them has them available immediately for some reason.

 

[espringers]

i have an older green soft case with the guts still in it for mounting to without all of the clutter that comes with the newer blue soft cases. i would probably part with it if someone wants to make me an offer on it so they don't have to do what big iron did.

here is a good deal on a genz blue box that would work.

https://www.bismanonline.com/williston_nd/vexilar_genz_blue_box_carry_case_bc_100

 

[Vollmer]

I did same as Big Iron, except I cut everything away that was on the bottom, and bolted it to the bottom. Fits in nicely.

 

[Captain Ahab]

I got an HDS 8 mounted to a round vex mount that works pretty well. Picked up an ice ducer on Ebay for about 50 bucks.

 

[Lostlunker]

Ice Ducer - $70
Walmart water tight case - $8
Battery - $12
Soft Sided Cooler - I got free from my old job