Hand Held Sonar??

[Blue]

I'm thinking about buying a hand held sonar??? Does anyone out there use one or know someone who has one? If so what kind and how well do they work. Thanks!

[andy lacis]

I own a Marcum..........works great !........lots of power and good battery life........Make sure your needs for one are real..........you can do much with your vex ..........I like the pocket convinience when scouting bottom on ice.

[Northlander]

Here is a example of a handheld sonar, if this is what you are talking about.
They are called ICE EYES. These particular units seem to work best for walking or riding around a lake, and shooting a beam thru the ice & locating fish before you drill the holes.

I bought the IE300. They are kind of expensive, but seem to work very well. I use it all the time for locating fish before drilling holes. Once I find the fish, I simply drill the holes, and switch back over to my other favorite electronics. In essence, it saves time drilling unnecessary holes. Also works great in the open water as well.

http://www.mantasonar.com/iceeyes.htm --> ICE EYES HANDHELD SONAR

[duckman5]

I have one. I just haven't used it yet. I just got it for christmas, and also an older flasher, so I have just been taking the flasher out. When I take it out, I'll see if I can dig up this post and get back to you.

Oh, its the strike master handheld sonar. http://www.strikemaster.com/polarvision.html

[Northlander]

Duckman,

When you get to use the unit, I was just curious if that can shoot thru the ice with it, without drilling. P.M if you get a chance.

Thanks..

Northlander

[theeyes]

Ive sold a few of the Marcum hand held sonars. The guys really enjoy them, saves alot of time and wondering.

[duckman5]

From the documentation, it can go through ice, aluminum boat hulls, etc. I'll let you know how effective it really is.

[ih772]

You'll be dissappointed trying to shoot through milky or soft ice.

[Lazy K]

I had wanted one for a couple years. Checked them all out. Settled on the Vexlar. You can order a reconditioned unit off the Vexlar web site ($80). I love it. Can't imagine fishing without it. Even when you can't use it through the ice, it's still a huge time/trouble saver. I use mine strictly for scouting water depth for tip-ups and spearing shack locations. You better hurry cause all the guys I fish with are ordering their own right now, lol.

[FISH21]

I bought the Marcum LX-i handheld sonar last year, for the most part it works great. But if the ice is cloudy it doesn't work too well. This year I bought the Marcum LX-3 flasher, you can just use the transducer of that to find the depth, it works just as good. Now I wish I had not spend the $120 on the LX-i last year. But if you don't have a flasher its a great tool to have.

[William H Bonney]

Almost all the flashers will do the same thing,(shoot through ice) as long as you have some sort of liquid on the ice your shooting through. I've yet to find ice that my FL-18 won't shoot through. Its alot easier with clear ice but milky, soft, doesn't matter it still goes through. If I had money to piss away I'd buy the hand-held just to save me the trouble/time of yanking the Vex outta the bucket.