humminbird ice flasher

[arneb04]

Hey everyone (however many people that is now) I’m looking for some opinions on my flasher unit from a tech/troubleshoot standpoint. I have a humminbird ice-45 that I bought sometime around 2011 or 2012, I don’t remember now. I think they hit the market in like 08/09ish? Anyway, I’m hoping the fact that it was an early one doesn’t hurt me. So this year I have been having quite a bit of trouble with the unit and I’m not sure what’s going on. When I get out fishing, I will turn the unit on, and it might read out just fine. In this scenario, after fishing for a few minutes or just disrupting the unit it will mostly go blank except for a green line at the bottom and the red top line that’s always there. If I crank the gain up to max I will see things a little better, but a small jig will never show up. If I turn on the “Zoom” feature I will then get much more color and clarity and the jig will show up but still only if the gain is maxed out. Sometimes, after a half hour or longer it will start to work again. Other times, it will not it just stays as it is. I’ve taken the plugs out, cleaned them, charged it, the battery is good, everything seems to be fine with the unit. If I start it in demo mode, it looks just fine and the gain returns to a normal readout if I adjust it around. At this point, I want to believe that my troubles are all transducer. The one opportunity I had to try a different transducer (my dads) the unit decided to act perfectly fine for the duration of our fishing trip so it wouldn’t have told me anything. Still sorta mad about that. He’s done fishing for the year and I don’t want to chance $100 that the ducer isn’t the problem. Anyone have any ideas? Ducer, or something else??

Side note of extreme annoyance, from what I have found the only place authorized to work on humminbirds is the humminbird hq in Alabama. They want an ungodly $270 + shipping (to and from) to fix the unit. Basically what that tells me is they won’t stand behind it at all, just buy a new one. That’s a joke. And I won’t, I already picked up a Marcum M5 on sale to bridge the gap. I like the humminbird unit but that type of practice is just wrong.

One Word - HUMMINBIRD
@rdshuntclub

[JT]

You could try fishlectonics in Columbia heights. They have a website also.

[orandausa]

I had issues with a ICE-45. It was the knob though. I bent over and paid the $174.00 flat fee. I have used an ICE-55 for years with no trouble.

If we were closer I would let you hook up my ducer to test.

Good Luck.

Yes, Yes that is a 39" Pike.

[arneb04]

I was actually wrong on the cost. I just looked up the price list again, and it’s actually $290.45 for the ICE-45 model…. that does not include getting it there, or back.

One Word - HUMMINBIRD
@rdshuntclub

[orandausa]

Wow I just had mine in late fall and it was $174.

Yes, Yes that is a 39" Pike.

[snow]

sad deal,I suspect its your ice ducer but why would you purchase such a locator with questionable longevity over the well proven top dog vexilar flasher? for saving a couple bucks? just curious as it sucks having you locator take a shetes on ya.in the 30 years using the vex only issue I had was my fault dropping the ice ducer on a ice skimmed hole and cracked it, to lazy to use a ice scoop

another thought is try scrubbing the built up scum off your ducer,that may help right away.

[arneb04]

Wow, congrats on owning the “top dog”. Everyone has their preference I guess. Should be stated that I purchased my humminbird to replace a Si-Tex FL-5 which still operates fine BTW. I gave it to my brother. Point being, I had the history to determine whether I would buy a vexilar brand product or not. I decided paying for features was more important, many of which vexilar did not offer in any of their flashers at the time and some they still do not. Thanks for the help though.

One Word - HUMMINBIRD
@rdshuntclub

[Feathers]

My guess is it’s the ducer. Just buy another one and go test it. Buy it from a shop and tell them you think your ducer is bad and you’re gonna test it and make sure you can return it if it doesn’t solve your problem. They can send it back to Humminbird with no lost money if it’s new and has the box.

I bought one the year after they came out. Had weird issues right away. Sent it to them twice and it wasn’t fixed. Finally they said they’d send me a ducer and if that didn’t work they were sending me a new unit. The ducer fixed it. This year that ducer cable finally bit the dust after tons of use in the last 10+ years and having electrical tape for a few years. I’m three ducers in and finally got one that works enough but still won’t read small jigs well unless the gain is jacked up which makes size recognition and separation performance worsen. The ducer is definitely the weak spot in ice birds.

As for preference I much prefer birds over other brands when the birds run right and I have fished with vex’s and Marxism a lot. I won’t go in to all the reasons. That said, when people ask for recommendations on flashers I tell them I like birds but your probability of a lemon is fairly high. I suggest an FL-20 is that is a concern for them.

[Feathers]

My guess is it’s the ducer. Just buy another one and go test it. Buy it from a shop and tell them you think your ducer is bad and you’re gonna test it and make sure you can return it if it doesn’t solve your problem. They can send it back to Humminbird with no lost money if it’s new and has the box.

I bought one the year after they came out. Had weird issues right away. Sent it to them twice and it wasn’t fixed. Finally they said they’d send me a ducer and if that didn’t work they were sending me a new unit. The ducer fixed it. This year that ducer cable finally bit the dust after tons of use in the last 10+ years and having electrical tape for a few years to patch the break. I’m three ducers in and finally got one that works enough but still won’t read small jigs well unless the gain is jacked up which makes size recognition and separation performance worsen. The ducer is definitely the weak spot in ice birds.

As for preference I much prefer birds over other brands when the birds run right and I have fished with vex’s and Marxism a lot. I won’t go in to all the reasons. That said, when people ask for recommendations on flashers I tell them I like birds but your probability of a lemon is fairly high. I suggest an FL-20 is that is a concern for them.

[Feathers]

My guess is it’s the ducer. Just buy another one and go test it. Buy it from a shop and tell them you think your ducer is bad and you’re gonna test it and make sure you can return it if it doesn’t solve your problem. They can send it back to Humminbird with no lost money if it’s new and has the box.

I bought one the year after they came out. Had weird issues right away. Sent it to them twice and it wasn’t fixed. Finally they said they’d send me a ducer and if that didn’t work they were sending me a new unit. The ducer fixed it. This year that ducer cable finally bit the dust after tons of use in the last 10+ years and having electrical tape for a few years. I’m three ducers in and finally got one that works enough but still won’t read small jigs well unless the gain is jacked up which makes size recognition and separation performance worsen. The ducer is definitely the weak spot in ice birds.

As for preference I much prefer birds over other brands when the birds run right and I have fished with vex’s and Marxism a lot. I won’t go in to all the reasons. That said, when people ask for recommendations on flashers I tell them I like birds but your probability of a lemon is fairly high. I suggest an FL-20 is that is a concern for them.

[weakside05]

I own a 45 as well and had some similar issues but it always turned out to be the main plug for the ducer wasn’t connecting right for lack of a better term. It was almost as if the male end was too big for the female end (make whatever joke you want here). Solution was just to push it in as hard as I could, and never had problems after that. I do feel like the wires to the battery are a little small as well, have had to replace those.

Sorry you got a bad one but when they are working, I think the Humminbird and the Marcums out perform the vexilar products by a long shot. I feel like Vexilar rested on their laurels and got passed by ong ago.

[JT]

Sorry you got a bad one but when they are working, I think the Humminbird and the Marcums out perform the vexilar products by a long shot. I feel like Vexilar rested on their laurels and got passed by ong ago.

100 percent agreed. I started with vexilar, the went to marcum, then to a hummingbird 55. Haven’t missed the previous flashers at all. The display on the hummingbirds is alot bigger which is just one of the many things I like about it. The only downfall I see is their CustomerService is extremely lacking.

[arneb04]

I do like the marcum unit but man, after looking at that big humminbird screen for so many years it’s really tough to go back. I’m hopeful it’s the ducer, upon closer look at the whole 8′ cable I actually found a kink toward the puck end. The rubber is so soft, wouldn’t surprise me if one of the many times a bluegill has wrapped me up the line did some damage there.

One Word - HUMMINBIRD
@rdshuntclub

[arneb04]

waiting for open water now, I have my dad’s transducer to try out.

Thank you to JT for mentioning Fish-lectronics in Columbia Heights. I was under the impression that they couldn’t work on humminbird equipment at all, but apparently that only may be true if it’s warranty work which this thing is way out of warranty. I actually called them early last week to chat about a si-tex/honda head unit I bought on ebay, and promptly shipped it to them, so I’ll be anxious to see what magic they can work. If my dad’s transducer doesn’t solve my issue their shop will be the next choice. Thanks again!

One Word - HUMMINBIRD
@rdshuntclub

[mnwilly]

For free. Lowrance 2530 and Zercom flashers. Heads only, no transducers. The ram mount is not included and has been removed. I live in Aitken.

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