Reply by: Bullyhunter      Posted: 11/3/2009 8:12:57 PM     Points: 2927    

Uh-oh..........those fish are in trouble now.Marks going hi-tech! I have been trying to talk this guy from craigslist down on his Vex. He posted it last year and wouldnt budge now its there again, maybe he will give a little.I am curious to see the responses because I need a flasher too! Im willing to trade my underwater camera as part of the deal!

 Reply by: nano      Posted: 11/3/2009 9:09:39 PM     Points: 30    

Mark, I bought an ICE 45 this summer and I am trying hard to patiently wait for ice to go out and use it. I'm hoping that it will tell me the amazing things I had no idea about before. I have read a lot about these units and the reviews are a little mixed, some guys seem to love them while others swear by the Vex and Marcum units. I have a feeling that I'll be very happy with mine at least until I have something else to compare it to. I'll try to remember to post my impressions of it when I get some time with it in the hole.

 Reply by: brookieflyfisher      Posted: 11/3/2009 9:51:51 PM     Points: 3186    

I'm telling you guys, if you want a all-season sonar that will work through the ice and on the boat, buy a Lowrance X67C Ice machine package from Cabelas. It is essentially the FL8 in a liquid-crystal package, along with open-water features, like color screen, high brightness, temperature, and speed.

But if I had to choose between the two, I would buy a Humminbird. Same features, lower price. Since I'm cheap, I would also buy the ICE35 rather than the 45, but that's just me.

 Reply by: WYO      Posted: 11/4/2009 7:34:04 AM     Points: 387    

I've always wondered: Is there any advantage to having a flasher if you fish primarily in less than 20' of water where you can visually observe your jig the whole time? Am I right in thinking that flashers are more advantageous for fishing in deeper water where you can see niether jig nor fish? This is coming from a guy who has never had a flasher, nor who has even been around one at all.

 Reply by: ducati      Posted: 11/4/2009 7:52:32 AM     Points: 1077    

I have a vexilar fl8 that I brought 4 years ago and love it. If I were to buy another one it would have to be the humminbird ice 35, $299.00 with a case, zoom and dual beam transducer, thats hard to beat.

 Reply by: Covidiencowboy      Posted: 11/4/2009 8:12:34 AM     Points: 1027    

I've used a lot of units here and in Minnesota and I agree with Nat that the Marcum has too much power and fish sense it. It is an excellent unit tho and it does exactly what you want it to do. My choice tho is my Vexilar FL-18. I love it and have caught 1000's of fish thru the ice with it. Before I bought it, I didn't do very well. All the guys I fished with had Vex's and did great. In open water I held my own with them catching as many fish as they did. I then bought a Vex FL-18 and all of a sudden I was kicking butt ice fishing. I've used it in minus 40 degree weather and it still worked great. My choice even today would still be a VEX FL-18. It was money well spent!!!!!!!

 Reply by: BCIII      Posted: 11/4/2009 8:17:52 AM     Points: 1782    

All right guys........ Help me understand this since I have never used a vex. This unit actually produces flashes of light?

 Reply by: FishermanFrank      Posted: 11/4/2009 8:22:40 AM     Points: 583    

I bought the Vexilar FL12 last year, and I LOVE it.
Even in shallow water, unless you have the self control to sit right over the hole and stare at your jig every minute, all day long, it's a great tool.
I'd say that I tripled my catch rate last year.
It's really handy when the fish are just picking at the lure, you can tell when they are getting ready to slurp it in.
It also lets you know if you are in an area with fish, so you can move on to find them.
It also helps quickly find the right bottom depth. You can read right through the ice without drilling a hole.
I haven't seen the other ice sonars in action yet.
I decided not to pay the extra money for the FL20, it's advantage would be for really deep water. (over 100')

 Reply by: Covidiencowboy      Posted: 11/4/2009 8:26:36 AM     Points: 1027    

BC go to the Vex web site, I'm sure they still have Video's showing you how it works and how to use it. Basically you can watch your lure drop down to the bottom or wherever you want it in the water column. You can see the bottom and when a fish moves towards your bait the color will change to red. The bigger the fish the redder it gets. You can see fish come off the bottom towards your lure. It's very simple really once you do it a couple of times.

 Reply by: fyraxe      Posted: 11/4/2009 9:49:50 AM     Points: 10    

Not to change the subject but has anyone used the showdown finder, it seems easier to use and is quite a bit cheaper.

 Reply by: FishForAll      Posted: 11/4/2009 9:58:49 AM     Points: 3013    

I've had my Vex FL-8 for over 10 + years now and has never failed me. Very good unit, love the product. I would go with the Vex unit.

Jeff

 Reply by: Ankrum      Posted: 11/4/2009 10:41:06 AM     Points: 602    

I have a Vex Fl-18 and Fl-20 and love them both. I like the 20 because of the flat screen display, it is easy to ready and don't have to worry about snow getting in it when the weather gets bad. Both the 18 and 20 have bottom zooms, the 20 just has both a 6 and 12' bottom zoom which isn't really relevent, the 6' foot zoom is the only one I really ever use. To be honest, I would spend the extra money to get the 20 just because of the display and the added options, but if not, the 18 is awesome too. You can go to ebay and usually get pretty good deals on them, I picked up my 20 last year brand new for $450 free shipping!

 Reply by: Mark403      Posted: 11/4/2009 12:38:08 PM     Points: 4802    

Thanks for the replies!

I have a feeling the Humminbirds are too new for too many people to have actually used them.

 Reply by: kevtater      Posted: 11/4/2009 8:41:25 PM     Points: 294    

Mark,
I'm also in the market for a flasher. I've used friends' vexilars for years and I love them. I would have a hard time buying anything other than a Vex because it's so tried and true.

kt

 Reply by: Fishinbud      Posted: 11/4/2009 9:03:27 PM     Points: 848    

Imo, they are both decent units but I favor the Vex FL-18, the gold standard in sonar, especially for ice fishing.

 Reply by: kevtater      Posted: 11/5/2009 1:30:09 AM     Points: 294    

Here is a good article on Vexlar vs Marcum. The conclusion was more power does not equal more fish. More power actually seemed to affect the fishing negatively. Stick with the 400 watt vexilar.

LINK

 Reply by: Mark403      Posted: 11/5/2009 7:50:12 AM     Points: 4802    

Yeah, I saw that article. Thanks for all the advice!

 Reply by: Good Sam      Posted: 11/5/2009 7:50:36 PM     Points: 923    

I second the Lowrance x67c. The ability to use the unit year-round became very important to me when I got my boat this spring. I know that you already have a fish finder in your boat, but next spring you could set up another one on the bow.
Call me.

Steve

 Reply by: Covidiencowboy      Posted: 11/5/2009 7:53:51 PM     Points: 1027    

You can use a Vex in open water also, works great!

 Reply by: jigger      Posted: 11/6/2009 3:58:11 PM     Points: 232    

I have the vex fl-20 and would not buy anything else as mentioned before the flat screen seds the snow which is very nice and the dual beam transducer works great in either shallow or deep water my favorite thing to do is if Im fishing two rods close together I drill my holes in a triangle shape with the two rods in the lower holes then i put my vex down the top hole then you can see both of your jigs on the screen at the same time using different lures like a kasty and then a trout magnet tiped with a mealy

 Reply by: Mark403      Posted: 11/28/2009 12:51:15 PM     Points: 4802    

UPDATE:

I ended up buying the Humminbird ICE 45 and got to use it yesterday at Tarryall. It works great and I have no regrets. It would be great to fish next to someone with a Vexilar and compare them side by side.

 Reply by: JED      Posted: 11/28/2009 2:48:27 PM     Points: 4191    

I dont know much about either, but Mark has his new fancy Hummingbird, and I am plain and simple JEALOUS!!! But I am ordering mine next week or so.... It seems to work real well
Johnny JED

 Reply by: littlemac      Posted: 11/28/2009 5:07:28 PM     Points: 747    

brookieflyfisher
can you get the ice transducer and use it with the m68c. im looking to upgrade to a fishfinder gps system and this seems like one i could afford. just havent seen anything about using it on ice.

 Reply by: brookieflyfisher      Posted: 11/28/2009 6:05:40 PM     Points: 3186    

littlemac,

Cablea's sells the m68c in the "ice package" deal, too, so I'm sure they have the "ice ducer" for the m68c as well.

 Reply by: Longhorn      Posted: 11/28/2009 6:49:57 PM     Points: 48    

I picked up a Vex fl-18 last week at Bass Pro for only 289.00!!!! I used it yesterday and am very happy with it. My buddy has owned an fl-20 for a few years and I love it as well. Go with the Vex!!!!!!!

 Reply by: Ankrum      Posted: 11/28/2009 7:13:50 PM     Points: 602    

Good Mark I'm glad you like it!! Hope it helps you catch a lot of fish this year. Oh and Vex vs. other issue, I'm a Vex guy but as long as Mark loves his unit that's all that really matters!! Maybe I'll see you up somewhere ths year Mark and you can show me how it's working for you!

 Reply by: ducati      Posted: 11/28/2009 7:36:12 PM     Points: 1077    

Wow Longhorn that is a steal on a fl-18, was it just during black friday or do they have anymore at that price?

 Reply by: fyraxe      Posted: 11/28/2009 7:47:09 PM     Points: 10    

Does anyone use the showdown ?

 Reply by: ducati      Posted: 11/28/2009 8:01:56 PM     Points: 1077    

I was at Tarryall and we had a good fishing hole, we invited a couple of guys over that were'nt having any luck and one of them had the showdown, he let me try it out and it worked great I really like the layout and the zoom, the only problem was I had to shut off my vex for it to work and I had the vex in a hole that was probably 20' away. The vex had no interfence at all from the showdown. This was 2 seasons ago so they have probably addressed this issue with new software.

 Reply by: Covidiencowboy      Posted: 11/28/2009 9:00:09 PM     Points: 1027    

The Vexilar FL18 has 10 positions for noise rejections. So I would say if someone had to move 20 feet away they didn't know how to use the noise rejection feature. Go to Vex web site and they show how to use that feature!

 Reply by: Ankrum      Posted: 11/28/2009 9:05:11 PM     Points: 602    

I think he was saying that the showdown was having the issue, the Vex had no interference. The noise rejection in the Vexilar units are specifically to clear the "clutter" on that specific unit. The rejection feature doesn't help rejecting interference for other units. I may be wrong on this though, correct me if I am.

 Reply by: ducati      Posted: 11/28/2009 10:31:09 PM     Points: 1077    

Yeh the showdown was the one having the problem my vex was fine. I would hope that Nature Vision, I think thats who makes it anyway, has fixed the interference problems.

 Reply by: Covidiencowboy      Posted: 11/29/2009 8:37:08 AM     Points: 1027    

Sorry misread it I guess. Last year, Deadhead was using a showdown and I was using a Vex and we didn't have any problem. Nature Vision is a really good company, so things like that, they usually take care of fast.

 Reply by: Longhorn      Posted: 11/29/2009 9:58:47 AM     Points: 48    

ducati, no it was not during black friday. Just happend to stumble across a back room deal. It was the last one.

 Reply by: ducati      Posted: 11/29/2009 10:13:29 AM     Points: 1077    

LUCKY!!!!!!!! Good job on that one, Great deal.

 Reply by: eron      Posted: 11/29/2009 5:04:03 PM     Points: 870    

fyraxe, I have a showdown and haven't had any real problems with it, they're great units if you're on a budget. Two of my friends have fl8s that I fish with often and I've never had a problem tuning them out, I've used it at the Granby, Wolford and Rifle ice tourneys fairly close to other people aswell with no problems, but I have heard of people having interference problems with these units. This is what I've noticed - I don't have very good eyes and the vexs' are a lot easier to to see/read outside and from a distance and the multi-color display on the vexs' for me is a very nice feature. The noise rejection on vexs' is better, sometimes on the showdown rejection isn't enough and you have to mess with the sensitivity as well, but it still works. The neoprene case that the showdown comes will soak up water, and if you store it in the wet case like I did, the moisture will get into the unit and fog up the screen and cause minor malfunction. Fortunately I was able to dry it out in front of the fire that night and it has worked fine ever since. Other than that I have no complaints...

 Reply by: starika      Posted: 11/29/2009 8:00:22 PM     Points: 137    

speaking as someone who has had both. the vex is the way to go. my first flasher was a humming bird and at the time baught it to save some money. big mistake it would hardly read the depth of my lure let alone fish. im sure they are better now. but ive had my vex now for 6 years just had to get a new battery this last year its never let me down. if i were you go with the vex.