Hds for ice fishing

[King Slammin]

Anybody use there hds on the ice? Just looking for some feedback before I spend the $$ on all the parts

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[lakerchaser]

Use my hds 5 and it works beautifully. Can see jig at 150 feet and lakers coming off the bottom. Just need transducer with blue connector and power cord. Enclosed pict.

[Sk8man]

There is an ice fishing kit from Lowrance specifically  for the HDS unit but it will also work with the Mark 5 Pro unit as well. When I bought an Elite7 unit I decided to use my Mark5 for deep water ice fishing jigging for lakers. The icefishing kit comes with its own ice transducer so I left my old transducer and speed impeller and wiring hookup for it on the boat as a potential "backup" for the Elite.  I use my Vexilar for all the shallower water ice fishing as it is a faster "real time" display as contrasted with the LCD units which are somewhat slower displaying and the zoom is instantaneous in detecting  versus waiting for the display to emerge from right to left. The LCD units seem better for deep water application though as you can see the jig, the fish coming up or down to it and the way the jig is moving visually with less "interpretation".. Each type unit has its strengths and weaknesses. The bottom line however is that I have a usable (and useful) LCD unit rather than selling it etc. for about $100 for the ice fishing kit and I still have it as a potential backup for my Elite as well on the boat by a direct switch without re-installing anything. The LCD units can be noticeably "sluggish" in the extreme cold

Edited November 13, 2015 by Sk8man

[King Slammin]

There is an ice fishing kit from Lowrance specifically for the HDS unit but it will also work with the Mark 5 Pro unit as well. When I bought an Elite7 unit I decided to use my Mark5 for deep water ice fishing jigging for lakers. The icefishing kit comes with its own ice transducer so I left my old transducer and speed impeller and wiring hookup for it on the boat as a potential "backup" for the Elite. I use my Vexilar for all the shallower water ice fishing as it is a faster "real time" display as contrasted with the LCD units which are somewhat slower displaying and the zoom is instantaneous in detecting versus waiting for the display to emerge from right to left. The LCD units seem better for deep water application though as you can see the jig, the fish coming up or down to it and the way the jig is moving visually with less "interpretation".. Each type unit has its strengths and weaknesses. The bottom line however is that I have a usable (and useful) LCD unit rather than selling it etc. for about $100 for the ice fishing kit and I still have it as a potential backup for my Elite as well on the boat by a direct switch without re-installing anything. The LCD units can be noticeably "sluggish" in the extreme cold

I have an hds 7 so the ice pack is out. How is the interference and usefulness in say 15-30 FOW? It's going to cost me about $250-$300 to set it all up in a gear bag with ram mount so I can mount on four wheeler for GPS on the way out. I think we fish the same waters a lot (honeoye, silver, Oneida)

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[Sk8man]

I use mine without any vehicle etc. so the electrical interference of that type is unknown. I haven't had any difficulty with other units interfering with it out on the ice though. If it were me I would be sticking with my flasher (I think l I recall you have a Marcum?) for the shallow stuff and I use my hand held Lowrance H2O GPS ($120?) for that function or even my Bushnell Backtrack GPS ($90). Hard to beat the flasher zoom for perch and walleye in shallow water and the immediate reading in real time rather than waiting for the screen rewrites.....just my opinion though and I'm "old school"

[King Slammin]

That's what I was looking for. Thanks sk8

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[Sk8man]

You're very welcome. Hopefully this season we can meet up in person out there to chat

[King Slammin]

I plan on hitting Oneida pretty hard this year. I had a blast there last year. Honeoye was rough to me last year but I'm sure I'll be back for more punishment. Just need some ice!!

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[ElectronICE]

Can't wait for the next season to start. Just bought the brand new model MarCum LX-6s, all ready to go.