I decided to take my elite 5x off my boat, so I have another flasher for others to use. I was wondering if anyone had experience using it in ice mode and if there are any specific things to know, so I get the best performance from the machine. Thanks.

I have not played with the new Elite models on the ice, but I know there are people who definitely do it. I've used some of the older Lowrance units rigged on Genz Blue Boxes, but I used them mostly for GPS capabilities. There are definitely some ice fishing kits you can buy to transform your Elite 5 into an ice fishing machine...

I have an elite 5 with gps. It works ok for ice fishing, but it takes a while to get the menus straight. I like it for the gps and a back up to my Vexilar f-18. For my money the simplicity of the f-18 just a few dials and settings is more user friendly than dipping into menus. I most the elite for gps and a back up to the vexilar, so i can lend the vex to a newbie at times and use the elite5 and practice the menus a bit more. For pure flasher it is hard to beat a vexilar for ease of use.

Played with it a bit out on the lake (in a boat) and I think it should work really well. I have a vex, but being colorblind I have always had trouble reading the marks. I knew they were fish, but that was about it. I found the screen on the elite was a lot easier for me to read and I was able to mess with the colors so I could actually see a difference. (I know vex does a color upgrade, but I heard they were blue and purple, doesn't help me much.)