I have the Marcum VX-1, the cheapest unit, and was able to pick up a ratzo and a small split shot in 20 feet of water. I think I'd take it back.

the 55 i used had no problem picking up a split shot in 15' I had to turn the gain down because the mark was realy thick.

I want to hear how they are in 30'+. I sold my Marcum finally and bought another Vex.

I don't know if this is your problem or not but not picking up a jig sounds like a problem with your particular unit or your particular transducer. That's just a guess on my part but it sure sounds like something is not working as it should. The advice to contact HB directly and have them help you is the way I think you should go. Good luck getting it resolved and let us know what you find out.

So It could be the way the transducer is hanging in the water? Probabaly worth checking.

I may have fixed the problem. I guess I will find out tonight when I go fishing. I took the advice of you guys and checked out how the transducer was hanging and I spent about an hour with a five gallon pale of water in the bath tub.

I think the transducer was hanging crooked before so it was probably reading off to the side. The unit has two different cords going down to the transducer and the give you some goofy little clamps to keep the chords together, but it all just kinda gets in the way. They pretty much say in the manual that the only reason they have two chords is so they dont get sued for patent infringement.

When the chord and stuff is out of the water the transducer will hang much differently depending on how you hold it. For anyone else that has the unit make sure that the float is on the support cable, which is the opposite of what you would think, but that is what the book shows. Then i checked for level by actually holding the float because that is whats gonna balance it in the water. If you just hold it by the chords up a couple feet it seems to bind and kink it to the side. You will also have to mess with the rubber clips to get it to sit flat.

I will post how it works tonight. If you have problems check the book once more to make sure that u have it hooked correctly .

pike doctor - you picked up on it already, but the word I've heard from multiple industry sources is that the reason for the HB "support cable" is strictly to avoid patent infringement issues with Vex.

On a side note, someone at Vex was on the ball to get a patent for clipping a piece of pipe insulation and a stop to a transducer cable.......

But back to the HB ice flashers - the HB Product Reps I work with say that you don't need to use the support cable. Just transfer the stop and the foam to the transducer cable and don't use the separate support cable. That is how they used them in the demo I was at.

well now that makes even more sense! I am going to try them both ways and see how it works. Thanks for all of your help guys! Now I am really excited to get out this afternoon and try it again, especially since I found a nice little mess of crappies all to myself sunday evening.

I will post findings tonight

The support cable is not needed...at all, if it is, ya best worry about the puck falling off.

Maybe that's the same reason for the metal rod that Lowrance uses to hold the 'ducer on the X67c. I threw that thing away after my first trip

Hopefully thats the problem because that is one good looking piece of equipment.

Well it will be this weekend at the earliest before I get out to try it out, but to be completely honest I was only on 4" of ice and didn't even use the float, so it's very possible that the ducer wasn't level. I'll remove the extra support cable and make sure to use the float and see if it makes a difference. I hope that's all it is, because aside from this problem I really like the unit.

Well as promised I am writing to let all of you know how my flasher situation turned out, and I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!!!

My problems were comming from the extra chord that they send with the unit. That has now found a home in the garbage. Instead of having the gain set on 25 my gain is now set on 4.

I had some time to play with the zoom feature, which is brand new to me and i loved it. I suppose everything is better when you catch 30 crappies in about an hour though.

To those of you who are using one of the new HBs I would just get rid of the extra cable and put the float directly onto the transducer chord.

By the way, I ran the unit for eight hours since Sunday and I am at 85% on the battery. I dont put the night light on though.

For anyone thinking of getting one I say go for it. It is a major upgrade from the old vexilar that I had now that I got everything worked out.

A big thanks to those of you with suggestions!!

Thanks for the report, glad to hear how happy you are with your new flasher.

Did you send in the rebate form for the free soft case for your HB 45?

Congrats on getting it figured out!