I don't write reviews often, but I felt compelled to do so after seeing the negative reviews for this depth finder. It's actually a phenomenal product. I received this depth finder as a Christmas gift and immediately put it to use on my swimming pool. To much of my dismay, it didn't read depth, so I reached out to the manufacturer. I received a response within minutes stating that it would not work in a swimming pool along with a link to a knowledge base article explaining why.
So, the next day I took it on the ice and was quickly thrilled by its effectiveness if I followed the instructions regarding clearing snow away and using water. I was able to obtain readings directly through the ice so that I could tell the depth before I drilled my hole. I did notice however that it had difficulties reading in white ice (more about that later). I drilled several holes and tried it out again in the holes. I did notice that it works great where the ice was not too thick (1.5ft or so), but had difficulties where the ice was really thick (3 ft or so). When I got home I contacted their support again and once again received a quick response with explanations and links to knowledge base articles. Turns out the "white" ice is air trapped in the ice which they said it would not shoot through. More web research indicated that they were telling the truth and not making excuses. Sonar does not travel through the air. Just water. So if the ice is "black", you are good to go. As far as the unit not working in the holes I drilled where the ice was very thick, it was explained to me that the sonar signal gets blocked from returning to the top of the hole when the ice is thick. Makes sense as I have the same issue with my flasher. That is why I have to adjust my transducers on my flasher (made by another company) so that it sits below the ice.
I recently took the product on vacation to the Florida Keys. We rented a boat so I took the depth sounder with me. It worked great everywhere I tried it (you have to hold the unit verticle to the water). I even took it snorkeling and loved being able to see how far the bottom was away or how far the surface was. I even aimed it at a bridge piling and it told me how far away it was.
In summary, don't be turned off by the poor reviews. It's a great product, but it has limitations all of which are explained in the manual (which I finally got around to reading during my trip to Florida last month.
