vexilar VS standard portable sonar?

[bossmann]

I have been using my standard protable sonar unit for ice fishing, what is the advantage of using a vexilar?

any info is appreciated

[Grizzly]

If you mean that you are using the same kind of unit you throw on your boat for the summer. Their is a HUGE differance...

read the article on my blog, it's alot to discribe, and i think this will help.
click my signature!

the article is Titled "Sonar Love"

[noslack]

Great little article there Grizzly.

You do prove a good point. You see everything in the water colum below you. From the density of the bottom to baitfish. heck you can even see a wireworm on them.

And the fact that it has real-time display....well that's what i'm talking about.

[Grizzly]

Yah you bet buddy!
I cant fish without it!

Although, fishing for whitefish with it is still very tricky! haha

[bossmann]

So what I gather is that advantage is separation. I have been using a standard protabel sonar off of a boat and i am not happy the battery life in extreme cold, it’s not as compact as i would like and better separation might be an advantage although I have become very good at reading my sonar. So now without breaking the bank what unit would you recommend? Also what would you expect for battery life?


thanks

[Grizzly]

All of the untits i believe will run straight for over 14 hours of fishing in the toughest and coldest conditions...

the Showdown is by far the cheapest unit out there, but because it uses and LCD screen and push buttons instead of dials, it does tend to freeze up in cold weather! I have used both the Showdown and now i own a vexilar FL-8.
the vexilar in my mind out performs in battery life, and cold weather but the sepereation in the showdown is much better....

I would suggest a vexilar or marccum, and your looking at 449.00 for the FL-8 Model at canadian tire, and the showdown can be found at the fishin hole for around 349.00

Good luck!

[bossmann]

Thanks for the advice. I have been targeting lakers a bit more lately and really think I should get a flasher I just need to convince myself. If the battery life is better that may be reason enough. not a lot of places to charge bateries where we been going..

thanks

[Grizzly]

you will have no problems fishing ONE FULL day with a flasher...
the batteries are very impressive!

[Mudslide]

If you are going to fish for lakers (deeper water) I would suggest you get a flasher with more power and definitely a dual beam transducer. Either the Ice 55 or the Marcum LX5.

[honker_clonker]

More power doesnt really mean anything. Peak to peak is the farthest part of the wave and just because it has a really high number doesn't necessarily make it better. Why use 2000 watts when 600 will give you the exact same result. There is a good post on this from a guy that used to work at marcum and he says something along the lines that peak to peak is more or less a marketing scam because people see big numbers and think its better. I can get 2 days of fishing worth out of my FL 20 battery and those are about 10 hour days. Since it is built for ice fishing it has alot more advantages over a portable boat sonar; the real time display, flasher vs liquid crystal dealio for better perfornance and the packs themselves. Sport specific equipment makes it more adapted for use. I also used a summer finder in the winter, it worked OK but the vex is a whole new animal.

[bossmann]

so honker you figer vexlar is your choice of flasher?

[honker_clonker]

I have an FL 20 and it has been good to me. The people that have marcums and humminbirds really like them too, the top of the line models are all pretty similar save for difference zoom features and color combos of the marks that appear. If you were fishing for lakers people would argue that a marcum would be better because it has moveable zoom but from what I have heard about the trout is that they are all over the place so a movable zoom might be as ineffective as a bottom lock zoom. Most of the fish I target are bottom huggers and so I chose the FL 20. If it means anything, the vexilar goes 40' deeper on the depth scale, which could help with lakers.

Its the 'why do you need 1875 watts of power when 400 will do the exact same thing' question. I have not used a marcum but my vex can pick up a 2mm wolfram jig in 70' of water with the gain still very low.

I went balls out and got the FL 20 ultra pack with the dual transducers and I have not been let down ever by it. My money goes to vexilar but people will say otherwise. If someone spends $500 on a humminbird and it catches them a fish its the best, same with a marcum. I researched the hell out of this before I got mine and I believe I made the best choice.

[montec]

vexilar is far the best fl-20 all the way

[Grizzly]

Even my FL-8 works very well
I have ad no issues with it...
the deepest ive used it is 50ft.
and i could pick up a 5mm tear drop inches off the bottom on a gain setting of 4....

I prefer the vexilar over any other flasher... but that is my preference!
if it wasnt a vexilar i would go with a Lowrance, but they are a bit out of my budget! haha