NorCross HawkEye F33P Fish Finder

I live in the NE part of SD and bought this in late Nov/12 primarily for ice fishing. I put in new lithium batteries and went out for the first time with it yesterday (January/13). I first used it in 11 feet of water, and it did not work at all, I only got for depth was "--". I spent almost 15 minutes trying to get it to work, messing with the plug making sure it was securely snapped in as suggested by hint 5 of the directions, tried adjusting the output strength, adjusting the float away from the sensor, tried a variety of depths, but it still would not work. I then moved to deeper water and thought I would give it another try but this time when I went to use it again in 16 feet of water, it would not turn on at all, it was a nice day out too, it was in the upper 20's but remembering some of the reviews stating that it wont work in the cold I thought I would give it a chance to warm up by putting under my jacket but after an hour, it still would not power on. I then took one of the batteries out and put it back in, it finally did turn on. I was certain it would work now but I still got the dreaded "--" for depth. By this time I was convinced I had a defective product and I was beyond my 30 day return with Amazon, I was upset with myself for not trying it out sooner.I was ready to put this thing away when I pulled the sensor back up onto the ice and to my amazement, I saw a reading of 1.5 on it. I then realized it was finally working, was it actually reading the depth of the ice? I'm not sure but it was reading something so I started messing with it again. I put it back into the water, past the ice and again "--" nothing. I now started to concentrate on getting this to work and was no longer fishing. I put the sonar back into the water (about 3ft) and slowly raised it out of the water and when it reached the top of the hole, it quickly flashed 16 feet and then back to "--". When I placed it back on top of the ice, it would read 1.5 feet again but nothing past the ice (it was not black ice). I realized then, it may not be working because the lake has a muddy/silt bottom. Unfortunately most of the lakes I fish have this type of bottom and I usually fish between 10 to 20 ft of water so in the end, this will not work in the lakes I fish, very disappointed. I did not buy this to measure the ice thickness and while that might come in handy for some, it was not what I was looking for in this fish finder.I plan on updating this when I try another lake that is deeper and has more structure with a rocky bottom. I also noticed the bad reviews have been recent so I'm wondering if they have changed or redesigned something for the worse because most of the good reviews are two years old. If you plan on purchasing this, be sure to try it during your 30 day return policy.Disclaimer: I DID NOT receive this item at a discounted rate, I paid the full going price at the time of purchase and my review was NOT influenced in anyway (feel I should make this disclaimer these days).

I bought this Hawkeye for a recent fly-in fishing trip to Canada, for it's light weight and size. For the money, I didn't expect much out of it, but I was pleasantly surprised by it's performance. I used the broom handle feature and a clamp to attach it to the rear of the boat. The 20 - 25 ft. cord is plenty long enough, and comes with a built-in velcro strap to secure the unused cord. This unit gave consistent readings of depth and detected fish better than I thought it would. It worked well at trolling speed, but went WACKO at higher speeds - Not a big deal........ The features all worked very well. The audio beep, the backlight, the bottom detection, Etc. The AAA batteries lasted for the entire week, two/three fishing sessions each day, each session lasting 3 - 4 hours. Doing the math, I had this unit turned on for a minimum of 35 hours, maybe as much as 45 hours, and the batteries are still working. Take an extra set, just in case, but don't over-do it. The ONLY problem that I had with it, was that it quit working for a short period of time. I had it laying on the boat seat in direct sunlight in the middle of a very hot day, and the display would not read any depth or mark fish. I listened to the transducer and heard the faint "clicking" sound, indicating that the unit was working. I picked it up and it was VERY HOT to the touch. I turned it off, covered it with a towel and let it cool down. I turned it on for the evening session, and it came on and worked fine for the rest of the trip, making a mental note to keep it out of the direct sunlight in the middle of the day. Kind of a pain, but for the money, what more can you expect. The case is made of black plastic which absorbs heat. If Norcross were to use a lighter color of plastic, this probably would not have been a problem. Because of this, I give it 4 stars instead of 5. Very happy with this unit otherh wise.

This has been great this summer - fishing from my Kayak. Finds depth, cover, and fish well enough for my needs. First time out on the lake I was in about 8 ft of water, set the alarm to "audible", and started trolling along. Kept beeping away as there were fish all around me (under) me. Stopped paddling as the alarm went off again, reeled in and let the spinner sink and jigged it up an down a couple of times....WHAMM! fight was on - landed the biggest walleye I've ever caught! Was a good start. Later on at a different lake I was able to do the same, landing 16 Northern in a few hours time - what a party.Greatest thing I like is noticing depths and structure I had no idea of previous to using. Spots I would have sworn were at least a hundred feet deep are come to find out only around 30. Plus, I can see the drop-offs and structural covers that otherwise I'd never know.My sit-in kayak allows for use right through the bottom, so I can paddle with freedom without problem. Only thing that gets on my nerves is the LONG CORD. I don't think I'll ever use the 30' cord so it's just there, bound up in a heavy lump on the bottom of the yak. No big deal until I want to get in or out, then it's in the way. Once I'm settled into the ship, no big deal.I also put one of my cell phone screen savers on the screen. It's plastic and doesn't take much to scratch when wiping water drops off. Again, no big deal, just picky like that.

I bought my unit from Amazon.ca last February 9 and I had the opportunity to use it today when we went fishing. I followed all instructions including pressing the sonar sensor into a hard surface when inserting it into the the display housing but the depth reading remained "---". We were approximately in 15 feet of water and the water was calm. Also, when pressing (with a lot of pressure), I did not notice a click sound although the plug was firmly inserted into the socket.I checked the unit itself and it makes an audible click sound albeit faint.I am very disappointed with my purchase. I would either like to get a refund or a replacement ASAP.

It works great for my useage and being portable can't wait to take it ice fishing......My old NorCross bit the dust and the company has a trade up program but they suggested I purchase a new one because the cost difference is insignificant

Nice product. Great, friendly customer service. Thanks!