12-28-2004, 07:36 PM
[size 1]I purchased off of eBay a Raytheon L470 (discontinued) fishfinder (which is an identical unit to the one on my boat). It comes with a feature called "A-scope" which shows raw sonar data directly from the transducer beam (which is the same way a flasher functions). This gives one a "real time" image of fish, my jig, and bottom structure directly below the transducer. It also displays a numeric reading on the bottom of the scope image informing me of the diameter of the sonar beam where it meets the bottom. I don't have three colors (like a Vexilar) but I can clearly see the size of the fish, where it is located in the beam, and the A-scope only takes up 1/3 of my screen, which means if I look away the history of what I missed is displayed on the left side of the screen. Also, I end up with a fishfinder that has zoom (up to x8 magnification) 500 W(rms) (when fishing next to other fishfinders -- the one with the most power wins) and 240 X 128 pixels. I purchased a through-the-hull transducer and mount it through a five-gallon bucket lid. It is a little more work to rig it to use it for ice fishing than a flasher, but in my opinion well worth the effort. Last year on Bear Lake two guys set up their flashers and told me how deep the water was. I hooked up my Raytheon and told them that we were in water three times as deep as they had calculated. I have all of the advantages of a flasher and a screen unit combined. Only thing that I must be careful of is to not leave the screen out in the cold too long and not turned on to keep it warm. Cesar, you will also have to keep your screen from freezing. When using it, unless it is above freezing, turn on the backlight, and when not in use, store it somehow so it doesn't freeze. Those small chemical hand warmers can do the job while you are storing it.[/size]
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