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No Love For Vexilar?

Discussion in 'Got Any Tips And/Or Suggestions For The Forum?' started by A_Manitoba_Angler, Nov 16, 2015.

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  1. bohuntr

    bohuntr Well-Known Member

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    Had two Marcums, LX3, Lx5 both new, the bottoms started dancing on both of them after 3 outings......same with my buddies. He had an LX3 returned 3 times (in season) Using Vex and Birds now, not a single problem. The Vex is a tank (FL18)
    All my ice fishing pals got rid of their Marcums, except one with an older LX3, the older ones seem to last.
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2015
    bohuntr, Nov 22, 2015
    #21
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  2. Cam

    Cam Well-Known Member

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    Yep. The older marcums are the good ones.
     
    Cam, Nov 22, 2015
    #22
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  3. ribbie

    ribbie Well-Known Member

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    I bought a FL20 because I know it will last me. Almost got caught up in the flashiness of the LX7 but am happy with my choice. It's not high tech but it will do everything I need it to do for years.
     
    ribbie, Nov 22, 2015
    #23
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  4. Ernie

    Ernie Administrator Staff Member

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    Good idea. I will add it. Thanks for the suggestion.
     
    Ernie, Nov 23, 2015
    #24
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  5. BIGGAMEFISHER

    BIGGAMEFISHER Well-Known Member

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    It will only be the same 3 members posting in there anyway. Can you make sure it gets listed below Marcum and Humminbird.....cause that is where it belongs! :p
     
    BIGGAMEFISHER, Nov 23, 2015
    #25
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  6. Ernie

    Ernie Administrator Staff Member

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    I have now added Vexilar to the list. Thanks for the suggestion.
     
    Ernie, Nov 25, 2015
    #26
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  7. BIGGAMEFISHER

    BIGGAMEFISHER Well-Known Member

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    Beautiful...........right below Humminbird and Marcum where they belong..........:tonguewink::tonguewink:
     
    BIGGAMEFISHER, Nov 25, 2015
    #27
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  8. Mike B.

    Mike B. Well-Known Member

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    My old FL-8 marks way better than my "new" Ice-55, no question, no contest.

    FL-8 has never once given me trouble, aside from the unit outliving 3 batteries.

    Ice-55 blows away the old Vex in the noise rejection subject, no question no contest.

    I don't own a Marcum. Have used them...I'm not crazy about the display...they seem low-def to me, and they really blast the noise out. Which, to a Marcum owner does not matter at all.......

    Marcums are like a deaf old man with a really loud voice....he doesnt care he can't hear that well cuz he can hear himself perfectly....the Vexilar guys are the old coots with really high end hearing aids, getting annoyed by Mr. Marcum for yelling all the goddamm time! Get a better hearing aid so you don't have to yell all the fricken time! :p
     
    Mike B., Nov 26, 2015
    #28
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  9. Dumpy

    Dumpy Well-Known Member

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    Vexilar and Marcum make the best flashers...no question, no contest.
     
    Dumpy, Nov 27, 2015
    #29
  10. BIGGAMEFISHER

    BIGGAMEFISHER Well-Known Member

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    Ok everyone....Dumpy has spoken, throw away your 'birds!
     
    BIGGAMEFISHER, Nov 27, 2015
    #30
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  11. Ernie

    Ernie Administrator Staff Member

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    He's a got point...
     
    Ernie, Nov 27, 2015
    #31
  12. Inmate

    Inmate Well-Known Member

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    Hmmm. Guys like Mike B, Aaron Wiebe, Inmate run Ice-55's.... You guys just sound jealous and petty
     
    Inmate, Nov 27, 2015
    #32
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  13. PeteK

    PeteK Well-Known Member

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    My guest unit is a helix 5,if I run it in flasher mode I'm almost there lol
     
    PeteK, Nov 27, 2015
    #33
  14. BIGGAMEFISHER

    BIGGAMEFISHER Well-Known Member

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    What do you guys know? Listen to Dumpy! He knows!
     
    BIGGAMEFISHER, Nov 27, 2015
    #34
  15. Dumpy

    Dumpy Well-Known Member

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    humminbird flashers suck
     
    Dumpy, Nov 28, 2015
    #35
  16. Jneuf

    Jneuf Well-Known Member

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    Well Dumpy, you make an extremely compelling argument...however, even with all the hard data you've provided to prove Humminbird units are horrible, I'm going to go ahead and continue slumming it with mine...

    Just curious as to your opinion on Lowrance ice units, as I didn't see you mention them..?
     
    Jneuf, Nov 28, 2015
    #36
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  17. Harpz

    Harpz Well-Known Member

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    My 385ci is great. But its a hell of a lot more than just a flasher. I have no complaints with my ice35 either. Both serve me well
     
    Harpz, Nov 28, 2015
    #37
  18. Cam

    Cam Well-Known Member

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    Let's not go down the rabbit hole. All flashers have bad units. No one is infalable.
     
    Cam, Nov 28, 2015
    #38
  19. Dumpy

    Dumpy Well-Known Member

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    It was just my opinion. I am currently using an ICE 45 as its my only flasher (had for 4 years, too cheap to change...I spend all my money on open water stuff). Would I buy another Hummibird flasher? Nope. Some of my other family members use Vexilar and Marcum and I'm more impressed with their units than mine, that's all. Target separation, noise reduction, zoom feature and stuff like that I like better on those units than my Humminbird. Everyone has an opinion and some people love the Humminbird flashers, I don't. The inability to use the unit in open water is irritating as well, although I should have thought of that before I bought it...but it was before I had a boat so I never really considered it.

    As for Lowrance, they are fine units based on my limited use (my old man runs them on his rig and they are nice - couple of Elite's and HDS units). To be honest, any of the 'screen' units (Lowrance, Humminbird, Garmin, etc.) all perform similar functions close enough for me not to notice much of a difference (i.e. 2d sonar, imaging, mapping and navigation, etc.). I know some folks would strongly disagree but the 2d sonar, imaging and navigation on all of the major brands are so close that I find it difficult to tell the difference from one to another (and you can change settings to how you want it too look). From my experience, the ones who continually claim that one brand is better than the other are generally basing that off of some pre-existing bias (likely because they own a specific brand), or they like some of the special features that the other brand may not have (360 imaging for instance). I run Humminbird's on my boat (1198, 858, 798, 788) and don't have any issues marking fish, structure or whatever. When I'm with my old man in his boat I see that same stuff on his Lowrance units as my Humminbird units (yeah the Lowrance might accent the arches a little more but I can still see arches and fish just as clearly on my units). Would I change to Lowrance or Garmin? Sure, why not, if it didn't cost me another 5 grand. I'm used to using the Hummibirds and their menus/layouts and I'm liking the new Autochart live feature on the new Helix units so I anticipate I will still be sticking with Humminbird in the short-term...unless I can find crazy deals on Lowrance or Garmin units.

    As a side note, I also rig my 798 and 788 for ice fishing and they both do their job. They aren't quite as 'quick' on the screen as the flasher but they serve their purpose for charting and marking my jig/fish.
     
    Dumpy, Nov 30, 2015
    #39
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  20. Jneuf

    Jneuf Well-Known Member

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    Ahhh....a much better answer than previously! Good info in there...

    You make an interesting point about running it in the boat...I've never actually considered running mechanical flashers in the boat with an open water transducer.... Is there actually a benefit to it if you have other good electronics??
     
    Jneuf, Nov 30, 2015
    #40
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