# Vexilar



## shootnmiss09

HEy-

Is am just getting into ice fishing, and noticing that I should have a vexilar. I likr the Genz Pack and will probably go tath way. What are soem of the main differences between the FL-8 and the FL-18. I know nothing about these units, so even basic info will ge good.

Thanx
-Shootnmiss09


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## gunther274

the only difference is that the fl 18 can zoom from the bottom, to 6 feet up. i personaly have a newer fl 8, i have fished with an fl 18 before, but i really dont think it is worth the extra$ for one feature. if i was you i would buy the fl 12, it has some new fetures such as a low power mode for less than 20ft, which saves a lot of battery life, and it also has a flat screen, so no snow or water collects inside the lip. and i would also consider getting the "ultra" pack, because there is no exposed battery and the mess of wires is contained inside, it cames with a battery life indicator, and it has external charging posts so you dont have to un hook the wires every time you have to charge it, it also has a rod holder a tackle box, and convieniently fits in a five gallon pale. i have the fl 8 ultra pack and would have it no other way.

hope it helped
p.s. the fl 18/20 models are more complicated and harder for a new ice fisherman to learn to use.

gunth


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## cavedude

hey shootnmiss, i bought an fl-18 this fall and love it, i never used one previously and it was simple to learn, i think that focusing on the bottom 6 feet is awesome because you can tell a little easier when a fish in in the cone's area, although it is a little spendier i think that you would be pleased.....the only problem is that when you buy one of these crazy devices, you will never think of icefishing the same way...

FLAG UP!!!


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## shootnmiss09

Thanx for the advice so far...can ne one else help me out?


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## duckslayer

The 18 isnt needed unless you fish water thats anywhere deeper than 20ft. The zoom is nice for the deeper water because the target seperation is more precise. With the 8, you never know exactly how far off the bottom you are in 20+feet.


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## njsimonson

Vexilar's website has a great page for comparison of the different models, with info on each of them.

Check it out... http://www.vexilar.com/products/flashers.html


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## drjongy

Once you use the zoom feature on one of these units you will never go back. I like to tell if I'm an inch off the bottom, 6 inches, or a foot. You just can't get that type of separation without a zoom feature...well worth the extra money.


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## shootnmiss09

Would i be happy with the FL-8SE, cause it is alot cheaper then teh FL-18. I fishing in water from 15-45 feet usually. Is teh bottom lock or bottom zoom thing necessary. FL-8SE owners do you liek it, can you give me pros and cons of it?


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## duckslayer

The bottom lock feature is for open water fishing, that way the bottom bar isnt always bouncing while you are going across waves.


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## drjongy

I see on my FL-20 they got rid of the bottom lock feature. Don't know how this is going to work in the boat, perhaps it is a permanent bottom lock when you are in zoom now. One of the main reasons I got the 20 was for summer fishing...you should be able to see the 20 from all areas of the boat now. With the 8/18 and the shield they had around it, you basically had to have it pointing right at you or you couldn't see the display.


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## gunther274

i have an fl 8se and i like it alot. but the newer fl 12 has some nice features. i would look into that, if not you will not have any problems with an fl 8.

gunth


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## Hollywood

I used an fl8 for 7 years then upgraded to the fl18.

Buy the fl18- its worth it. Especially for fishing in water over 20 feet deep.


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## method

If you're stuck on a vexilar you still can't go wrong. I wanted one, but I have a boat that I want to put a sonar in as well. After ice fishing with somebody that has a Lowrance LMS-334c I'm going to be getting one of those. I found it easier to use than the vex, plus it has GPS. Granted, you'll spend a lot more to get it equipped for both boat and ice (the ice pack is about $150) but I think it will be well worth it. But, if you're stuck on a vex, I don't think you could go wrong.

-Mike


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## shootnmiss09

I am either gonna ge the Fl-8 or the Fl-18, those are the ones I need to choose from, which i Need your help. I have never used a Vexialr or ne type of flasher for teh matter, so I wanna stay basic. IS the bottom zoom on the FL-18 really worth the money? DOesn;t the FL-8 Goto the bottom or waht?


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## Hollywood

Yes- the fl8 will read the bottom.

The fl18 reads the bottom like youre wearing 8X glasses. It makes a huge difference.

Now make up your mind & go buy one already!


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## shootnmiss09

So would the FL-8 work good fro me? I fish in 10-40 feet of water. I fishi for bass, crappie, wallete, northern, perch, and a few others


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## nodakoutdoors.com

I still use an FL-8SLT and it works. Like said previously, you can still see the bottom, just not as well. But I've been using mine for about 7 years and I can tell when the bottom is "moving" with fish.

Now when I upgrade one of these winters, I'm sure I'll say I was missing out but for now.....it's been a great winter.


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## Scott Schuchard

just buy the 18 if you dont you will be thinking well maybe i should have got the 18 i think its worth the price i personly upgreated from the 8 to the 20 this year and LOVE it. its a great insterment.


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## CNY Tim

The bottom zoom on the FL-18 is a joke compared to the zoom performance features of a MarCum LX-5 or LX-3. Who are you guys kidding?

To answer the guys question as a former FL-18 and FL-8 user the FL-8 will be just fine if you have to have a Vexilar :roll: 
But if you want more bang for your buck the MarCum VX-1 packs alot of punch with zoom for only $249. Check fishingprostore.com for a deal on a refurbed LX-3 or LX-5 unit they have free shipping I believe too.
Vexilar makes a good flasher but MarCum gives you much more for less money and MarCum's are made in America and were engineered by Military U.S. Naval Sonar engineers


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## method

shootnmiss09 said:


> So would the FL-8 work good fro me? I fish in 10-40 feet of water. I fishi for bass, crappie, wallete, northern, perch, and a few others


Yes. the FL-8 will work well. I used one up on Lake of the Woods for the weekend and was quite happy with it. We were in 22 fow so I had to use the 2x mode and I was still able to get pretty good detail. Will you be happier with the 18? Yes. I've fished with an 18 and the zoom feature was quite nice. If you can afford it, I'd get it. But if you can't, you will be happy with the 8.

-Mike


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## shootnmiss09

I will prolly jsut get the FL-8 Pro or Genz Pack, but it won't be till next year. But i Have one last question. Whats the difference between a 19° Ice-Ducer and a 12° Ice-Ducer, and teh Dual Beam? What would u recommend?


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## CNY Tim

Even though I do not run a Vex I love the dual beam transducer on my MarCum LX-5. A push of the NBT button and I go from a standard 20 deg. to a super tight 8 deg. that dual beam allows you to fish thick weed without the clutter of a wider beam and tight to structure and drop offs, reducing dead zone. The 8 deg. transducer allows you better seperation as it concentrates the power into a smaller diameter area. I fish the 8 deg. extensively unless I'm fishing flats without weeds, the difference between the MarCum and the Vexilar units is that the Vexilar blends two bulbs it's red and green signals to give you the orange medium signal strength while the MarCum has three individual bulbs in the LX-3 and LX-5 of yellow, green and red. This helps immensely in selecting the larger fish in a school when fish are stacked. Having the extra LED in the MarCum definitely reduces the blobbing of targets that is standard on all Vexilar units.

I could go on but the narrow beam for me is a must have... Now if you fish flat's most of the time the wider 19 deg. will work just fine but a happy medium would be the 12 deg. and would be my choice over 19 deg. if I was still fishing the vexes.


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## shootnmiss09

I am either gonna get the Fl-8 or FL-12. Which one woudl you recommend? Pros and cons of eash one. IS one easier to use then the other, casue I am new to flashers and wanna saty kinda simple. What degree od transducer should i get?


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## drjongy

CNY Tim said:


> The bottom zoom on the FL-18 is a joke compared to the zoom performance features of a MarCum LX-5 or LX-3. Who are you guys kidding?


I bet you're being brain-washed on IceShanty (a lot of Easterners use this web site) :lol: . I know Marcum is a big sponser on that site, and from what I've seen, anything bad about the Marcum gets deleted or moved so no one can find it. I won't visit that site anymore because of the censorship....pretty lame in my opinion!!


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## Norm70

shootandmiss09,

I was in your position about a year ago. I went with the FL-8. I like mine just fine. I guess alot of it just depends on what you can afford. I would get an fl-18, but i don't want to spend the money, if the fish are there they will bite. Like chris said if you really learn how to use it you can tell the difference between a moving bottom and fish.

thats my :2cents:


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## CNY Tim

drjongy said:


> I bet you're being brain-washed on IceShanty (a lot of Easterners use this web site) :lol: . I know Marcum is a big sponser on that site, and from what I've seen, anything bad about the Marcum gets deleted or moved so no one can find it. I won't visit that site anymore because of the censorship....pretty lame in my opinion!!


Censorship is pretty much everywhere you go unless you have your own site. IS has very good info on local lakes I like to fish and I do check there reports and stay in contact with friends over there. There are sites that allow the free flow of info on anything like this site until they start getting personal and some actually encourage that to go that route so they can delete the threads if they conflict with sponsors.

MarCum is in there 4th season and Vexilar is in there 21st or so.. History and great longevity are definitely Vexilars but MarCum in there short existence has proven to be a formidable prescence in the flasher industry.
Sponsorship on web sites is nothing but advertising, both companies do it. Fishing Minnesota, In-Depth Angling, Fishing the Wildside, YRF all are sponsored by MarCum. Vexilar has IceTeam and a few others I'm sure.

I have owned and used the Zercom Colorpoint, Vexilar FL8SLT, FL-18 and MarCum's LX-3 and LX-5.
From my ice fishing experiences the preferred unit between the FL-8 and FL-18 would be the FL-8. I don't have a boat so the bottom lock feature on the FL-18 would not do me any good and apparently it was not an important feature to keep with the FL-12 or FL-20 as the dimmer switch replaced that feature? Initially the PR on the FL-18 bottom lock was something you had to have but it was short lived with the introduction of the new units? Why?
The FL8SLT was solid from the get go the FL-18 was not. One of the things that surprised me was how much better the interference rejection on the FL-8 was compared to the FL-18. I could clear the screen much easier on my FL-8 than my FL-18. Secondly on the FL-18 the zoom feature was entirely inadequate for me. My initial observations with this unit was that zoom was entirely to small 6' bottom only. There were numerous occasions when I had to fish it in non-zoom because the perch were running off the bottom 7 to 9', out of the zoom range and I felt for my lakes where the fish don't nearly hug the bottom it was a wasted feature at it's current 6' setting. At the same time I had problems with the zoom holding on the FL-18, multiple occasions the zoom would jump up to 4' off the bottom and it would consistently do this. Advised that there was a software upgrade available to correct this I sent the unit in and and had that accomplished. When I received it back and fished with it continued doing the same thing so what did it fix? Another thing I did not like about the FL-18 was it's inability to hole hop flats in zoom. Every hole you moved to you had to recalibrate the unit to stay in zoom because the unit will not hold from hole to hole.
So basically I paid $100 more than my FL8SLT for the FL-18 and fished this unit more like the FL-8, so what did I gain? Where did that extra $100 go?
At the same time I was running a MarCum LX-3, first year machine. I am a techno geek when it comes to flashers and I wanted to see what this unit had to offer.
Right out of the box I was thoroughly impressed with this unit. The larger 10' zoom window that expands from 5' to 10' in the 20 and 40 foot depth setting. 10' to 20' in the 80' setting and 20' to 40' in the 160' setting. Now those are some zoom options! What I loved about that unit when fishing flats it would hold it's zoom from hole to hole no readjusting. Set the zoom up on the first hole and it's locked in for the rest of the day... The display was must crisper and cleaner than the FL-8 and FL-18 and the target separation was phenominal compared to my Vexes. Fishing stacked targets no problem because the targets would not blob together like they did on my Vexilars. There was some good things on the display and the clutter was virtually gone. Definitely you could see the engineering in this unit was top-notch. Padded softpack, DCS 100 fully automatic charging system and the powerhead construction was second to none. The only thing that I did not like was the softpack opening was a little small and I'm 6' and wanted the softpack to open a little deeper for us taller fella's. The only other problem that these unit's had were the in 2nd year when a batch of transducers were produced with the improper epoxy on the tranducer and MarCum stepped in to take care of these immediately.
Lastly the depth reading decal didn't line up with what the depth was, what I mean hear is you would have a blind spot if you were fishing 17.5' to 20' in the 20' setting, it was no biggy to switch to the 40' depth setting and have your bottom but I though they could have better designed the decal to reflect the true depth.
Without a doubt the LX-3 gave me what I needed to attack the situations I fish solidly and immensely improved my ice fishing outdoor experiences and made them more enjoyable.
Comparitvely priced with the FL-18 the clear choice for value for the dollar was with the LX-3.

Fishing this unit for three seasons I never had a problem and sold it for the new release LX-5 and have never looked back, this unit is simply incredible with the dual beam 8/20 deg. transducer standard it gives you much more at a better price than the FL-18.

I fished the LX-5 last season extensively and have been fishing with the same unit this season and it delivers trip after trip without a hitch. MarCum gives you the whole shebang for a great price. On Vexilars the softpack is an add on option, MarCum's are standard. The softpacks are quality constructed padded and have mesh side pockets to hold extra tackle or bait.
Fished the Silver Lake Trap attack this past weekend in New York (Finished 23rd )and saw first hand two FL-18 users staring at the my buddies LX-5 and immediately after seeing it perform on the ice decided emphatically to go MarCum for next season. It's not that Vexilar is a bad unit at all it's that MarCum gives so much more in features, zoom and interference rejection for a better price.
Naturally since Vex has been the only mechanical flasher the last 20 years people are loyal to there products and they should be. But if your looking for more for your money and technology and power to give the crispest display, and surgical seperation of targets like no flasher has given us before, the US engineered and built MarCum does that.

Brainwashed is believing that the Japanese built Vexilars are still the best production built flasher out there for the dollar and that's simply not the case. More Vexilar users are moving to MarCum with confidence, asked by a convert on how he liked his LX-5. Simply put... "I can't believe I waited this long to switch, it's incredible!"

MarCum's not big into PR they built there machines to be sold on the ice and that's exactly what there doing. :beer:


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## csp88

shootnmiss09 said:


> I am either gonna get the Fl-8 or FL-12. Which one woudl you recommend? Pros and cons of eash one. IS one easier to use then the other, casue I am new to flashers and wanna saty kinda simple. What degree od transducer should i get?


Out of these two choices, I would go with the FL-12. Both models are extremely easy to use. As far as the transducer, first choice would be the dual beam, followed by the 12*.


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## csp88

Sounds like a commerical (broken record) I've seen on several other websites.. :roll:


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## njsimonson

I like IceShanty. Get to hear the Easterners 
A) Complain about how there is no ice.
B) Complain about how cold it is (single digits).


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## CNY Tim

Just informing the public that there are options out there. Try disputing the facts Chad. :roll: For you guys that don't know Chad he follows me around from site to site like a shadow. The competition keeps a very close eye on me. :wink:

One last thing that I forgot to add is you don't need a DVD or a hand book to run a MarCum it's user friendly right out of the box and designed that way to keep it simple.

Regardless what Vexilar unit you choose shootnmiss, good luck with it, having a flasher is a must have...


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## csp88

Tim.....you may want to look at the joining dates....who's following who??


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## Hollywood

Question-

Is either of you guys PAID by either vexilar or marcum?

Seems as though thats likely. More than likely. Look forward to your reply.


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## csp88

I have no affiliation with Vexilar, other than I do use the FL-18  I can't speak for Tim, but if you frequent other web sites you will see the same commercial-type posts generated by Tim, so I guess one could wonder what his connection is with Marcum.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

I have no problem with people supplying information, but there is a border line where the forum is used to drive sales.

I've had this conversation already with someone on this forum, and I suggest he read it again.

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/terms.html

You'll be happy with any sonar you purchase. But like most things in life, you get what you paid for. Best of luck on the purchase and tight lines.


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