Sonar fishing in a hub

So, I have noticed a lot of postings on IDO regarding recommendations on Vexlar vs Marcum. I am more concerned/curious about the general functionality of ice sonars. I have yet to make a decision between lx7 or flx28 or even getting one period. My scenario is that I take my 6 year old son and kid at heart father in-law. We fish within my otter xth lodge. We are quite stationary once on the ice. Which brings me to my question: if I have 3 holes, one for each of us, will the sonar detect all 3 lures if I place it in one of the holes and would it cause more confusion compared to not having one? I find it almost essential to have one instead of fishing blind. Are there other people in this situation? I am unable to financially support 3 fishermen each with their own sonar
I understand that you can narrow your transducer cone with some settings, but keep in mind that we are only a couple feet apart from each other. And, since space is limited we only fish with one rod each not two.

I usually fish by myself in a hub with two rods.jigging and bobber.and most of the time I will be picking up both lures,the bobber rod will be a constant on the screen and after using the flasher a bit is very easy to interpet.Fishing slighly different depths will also help you to interpet what you are seeing,using transducers with smaller cone angles and using an outer hole for your transducer will also help.
I am one of those guys who goes home if the flasher goes down,I only live 5 minutes from the lake,but would probly do the same if I lived much farther away.
I use an flx28,but there are many good flashers out there from all manufactures,and pricepoints and I believe one is better than none.They have been a valuable tool in my fishing arsenal for many many years!!

How much you pick up laterally will depend on depth. For example, with a 20 degree cone angle the diameter at the bottom of your cone in 10 FOW will be roughly 3.5′. Go to 20 FOW with the same 20 degree cone angle and you’re at roughly a 7′ diameter. On the LX-7 you can switch your angle/beam down to 8 degrees (I’m sure Vexilar has a similar option) which would give you roughly a 3.25′ bottom diameter at 20′ deep… All that said, if you’re fishing 20′ and under it’s pretty easy to adjust placement of your ducer and cone angle to isolate your hole/jig showing on the screen… as you get deeper and your cone laps underneath your other holes you will see other jigs, however by using your gain/power adjustment you can tune them down and/or out to the point that it’s easy to read which is which.

I’ll second the one is better than none… you won’t regret either decision. For what it’s worth I run the LX-7 because I think it does it’s job the best (I’ll never be brand biased – after all nobody pays me).

Pick up two used FL8’s or FL18’s and you would be set. As Blake stated it will depend on the depth of water and degree of ducer.

I run the FLX28 but I just picked up a FL8 used for $100! I have a few friends that fish with me and none of them have a flasher so now I have a spare for them to use. So there are deals out there if one spends the time to look.

I’ve fished 2 jigs on one sonar and its doable. Maybe confusing for a younger child just learning to read sonar but not sure.

As much as I like my LX7 and all the things it can do, I do think I would look into a couple cheaper marcums or vexilars. Or maybe a lx6 on sale and a used lower end flasher if you can swing it.

I would suggest 3 entry level flashers in stead of 1 top of the line, check out the humminbird ice 35, Marcum vx1, Marcum showdowns, vexilar fl8se, shop used, get more for your money, then upgrade one down the line once you figure out how you personally use it.

In my Otter Cottage, i have 2 holes about 20 inches apart. I am able to see both lures in about 15 FOW. In my Larger hub, the holes are far enough apart that I can’t see what’s going on in the other holes. It would be pretty hard to share one flasher in that situation. However, when I fish in that situation with other people who don’t have flashers, i can tell them when the fish are present in my hole and what depth so they can adjust to it. I agree with previous posters that 2-3 less expensive flashers might be a better bet.

X2.

Marine general has the m1 on sale for $299.99. I have 2 vx-1p and they are super easy to use even for someone who has never used a flasher and the zoom is the most important feature you will use on just about any flasher.

My kids don’t get the flasher until they start getting bored. Teaches the young grasshoppers patience.

some of these other replies are spot on. it will totally depend on how deep you are fishing. the following analysis is based on a pure symetry, but technically, the sonar returns are somewhat asymmetrical, so while my comment is valid in a perfect environment, it may not prove to be completely true in the real world.

let’s say the holes are two feet on either side of the center ducer which is a 20 degree marcum. that’s a 4 foot spread. now in reality, you can’t just see a 4 foot spread of the bottom because you’re generally not jigging the bottom, you’re jigging up higher. so let’s just say you need a 6 foot view of the bottom in order to see 4 feet across 2 feet up off the bottom. you would need to be fishing in a minimum of 17 fow to see all three jigs.

One of the features of the high end flashers is the narrow beam transducer. If you are trying to get 3 lines on the screen, the narrow beam will never be necessary. So you should save the money and just get one or two less expensive (20 degree) transducer flashers. Whether it’s Vex, Marcum, or Hummingbird, all the less expensive models usually come with a 20 degree cone transducer.

Forget the ancient flashers, grab a cheap sonar ice unit. Alot easier to tell a spotty return of a 2nd or 3rd bait when you have the whole screen as past returns. Rather watching for a spotty blip of a color to appear or disappear bc the minnow swam outside the beam.

Flashers are old tech, get with the times!!

I upgraded from a hummingbird ice35 to a marcum LX7 a few years ago. I never sold the bird and it is always in the truck or with a buddy who doesn’t have one. It has saved my bacon more than once, and saved a trip that was a 6 hour drive when the marcum didn’t work. Marcum stood behind the product but that doesn’t save the trip. My recommendation is get a decent flasher to start like an ice45 and then later look high end. If you have a boat for summer then consider a fish finder with an ice pack. In today’s crazy evolving electronics there is probably something that runs off a tablet or phone that would help to justify the cost. I’ve threatened a camera for years but never get around to it. LOL