Polar Vison Hand Held Sonar = garbage

So I bought this thing last year with high hopes. It shoots through the ice and the specs say it's rated to work at -22F. Bogus. The thing doesn't work at all when it gets cold and by cold I mean 30 degrees--even with lithium batteries. This makes it more as useful as a paper weight. It does work accurately when it's warm (like on the dash or in my pocket) but after being exposed 1 minute, it totally shuts down. It won't even turn on. StrikeMaster wants $52 to replace it. I don't want to give them anymore money out of principle. But I'm over a barrel here: a new Vexilar hand held would be $140 and I'm still stuck with the Polar Vision I couldn't sell in good conscience.

Maybe just mine is a dud? Anyone else have any good or bad things to say about this product?

meddle

Just a suggestion, craigslist it explaining what it is. Maybe a canoeist or someone would want it for summer use. Then you win over your consience. Or start writing letters to strikemaster and the Consumer Affairs dept.

I have the Vexilar unit that I bought for Scuba diving. Plan was to take it underwater and be able to locate an object that I was looking for (ie a sunken boat). It didn't work all that well for that, but I've used it for ice fishing without any problems. But again, it wasn't sitting outside for a long time in the extreme cold. I'd say try different battery chemistry (lead acid & NiCad's) or even a different brand (higher capacity might help also). Brain is shut down right now, and I can't recall, but some chemistries handle cold better then others. I know my digital camera using Lithium Ion batteries really hates the cold (biggest buck of my life walked right past me two years ago gun season. Freshly charged batteries, camera wouldn't turn on. I had enough time to replace them with another fresh set before he wandered away, same thing). Other then that try to keep it in your pocket until you need to use it. Possibly try some of that high density foam that goes around hot water pipes, put it around the battery compartment. Rick

I think that is the same one my buddy had many years ago . is it blue? his acted the same way when it was very new. i'm not sure if he still has it or not.
i feel your pain.
just my 2 cents , Tracker

Tracker, yeah you're thinking of the same one. That pretty much seals the deal for me--it's just bad engineering of this product and getting a newer model will make no difference. The only difference is StrikeMaster would have $52 more revenue. Ziggy's advice to sell it to someone using it in summer is the best idea.

Meddle , i forgot about one thing we did . we carried a bottle of water and poured it on the ice where we wanted to shoot thru , and as mentioned kept it warm . we had some success , but, ..... ? just thought i would mention it.