FL-18 problems?

[Guest]

I just bought the FL-18 and found some ice tonight to try it out. I was very excited to give it a whirl beings I have have the old fl-8 for over 8 years. Well I think that I got a lemon. It works great but the only problem that I am having is that the AZ mode doesn't seem to be working right? It would be working great and than out of the blue it would decide to move the bottom to the 2 foot mark if you know what I mean by that. I could still see my jig normally but the bottom was at the 2 foot line instead of 0 like it should be. If I turned off the vex. and than turned it back on it would work good again sometimes. What is the deal with this I fished in all diff. depths and had the same thing happen. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated I hope that you understand what I mean. I think that I am going to return it and get a diff. one tomorrow.

[Guest]

This forum is used by a lot of guys that fish a lot. If there is a problem, most of the time it will be found by someone on this forum and discussed. Usually it is the people with the problems that do the posting, so you do end up with what apprears to be "over negativity" if that makes sense. That is why it is important to have someone like Vex Tech to give the other side of the story. I think all manufacturers should check out the forum occasionally. Thanks for the response Vex Tech. Much appreciated.ScottS

[Crappieman]

I had this problem up at LOW last weekend and I started to see a pattern when this unit would jump. The bottom was hard without weeds. The jumping seemed to take place when fish would move in. there always seemed to be fish around. when this happened I turned off the unit and then back on and this would help. FL 18 is a good unit though. I am very happy with it.

[LMITOUT]

Vextech - Is Vexilar looking for any Electrical Engineers? I'd be more than happy to apply.

Don't have the new unit yet, but I did check them out at the St. Paul ice fishing show. Very bright display. I would love to see them work on the ice.

[Guest]

Well I have had 2 of these units and have had this problem with both of them. And my buddy just bought one a week ago and I was at his fishhouse the other night and the same thing happened to his. Vex if I get it happening on film will I be rewarded. I love this new vexilar but this problem needs to get fixed. I have fished on all types of bottom and in shallow and deep water and it does it still. I can go out one night and it will work flawlessly and than the next night it will jump and the bottom will show at 2 feet and if you shut it off and turn it back on it will help for a few min. and than it goes back to the 2 foot mark. I am glad to hear that you are working on the problem and I like the support you company gives. Keep up the good work and lets get this problem solved!

[Guest]

Hey Wall-I, I know ealier in this post I mentioned that I had seen the samething but there was a fish down there..Well this afternoon I was out and It happened to my new FL-18 (3-weeks old). I see all red in AZ mode from 0 to 2ft off of the bottom. I shut the unit off/on and all was fine then. This happened after I had been using for an hour or so.

[Guest]

LMITOUT - Not at this time, but we'll see.

Wall-i and All - We were able to capture the glitch on film yesterday. We also got some good data that may explain a lot.

More to come...

[Ret-ro]

Vextech, got the FL-18, first vexilar. I thought the 8's were great from using a friends until I got the 18. I have had to turn unit off/on to reset from bumping and fish turbulence. No big deal. Only gripe I have is the float for the Ice-ducer should be bigger. The weight of the 12 degree transducer pulls the top of the float and stopper into the water. If ice forms in the stopper the ducer slips and falls further down the hole throwing off the autozoom. The low power mode and autozoom are awesome. Just my two cents.

Fish Onnnnnnnnnn!!

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[BLACKJACK]

Used my FL18 with the dual transducer for the first time Sunday. Early on it worked good, I was jigging in different holes anywhere from the 40' to 20', started out in normal mode, went to AZ, tried out the LP mode in the shallow water, experimented with the 9 vrs 19 transducer, everything worked great, I caught a walleye and a few crappies . I noticed the problem that a few other people had where the bottom would drift up from the zero mark, I would just turn it to normal and then back to AZ and it would reset.

The one problem that I had was that once it got dark and we settled into the portable in 38' of water, I seemed to get a lot of 'clutter' - green lines - on the screen in both normal and AZ modes. When I turned the gain down to eliminate the clutter, I couldn't see my jig. When I turned it back up, there was so much clutter/green lines that I had a hard time distinguishing my jig from the clutter. My buddy beside me with a FL8 wasn't getting the clutter... Did the 4 jigs within 8 feet of each other cause the problem? Any ideas or suggestions?

[Guest]

I had the same problem Blackjack was talking about. I noticed it alot when I would jerk my bait up to fast (when missing a bite) it would cause a whole bunch of little green lines that would stay on the display for a minute or so before going away. I also tried to adjust the gain but it didn't seem to make a difference. I was using the 12' ducer.

[Seabass77]

I also had a similar problem. I was using a chubby darter tipped with a minnow head and as I jigged my lure, a green line would “float” up the zoom side of the flasher but then disappear once it got past 6 feet. At first, I thought I lost my minnow head but realized it was just an error. The only other thing that I can figure is that maybe the lure’s action razed junk off of the bottom, but based on where the green lines started, it’s highly unlikely.

[Piker]

That problem could also be scales falling off, or perhaps bubbles. I've noticed it too. Maybe swirling water. I am not really sure. I've pretty much experienced every issue raised here, so I can relate. I don't consider my unit to be a lemon though. I have had to bottom go to one foot or two but, I eperienced that less or not at all, after I took to the practice of switching to normal mode when moving holes or pulling the transducer out of the water. Then when it's settled, I go back to AZ. I have had those green lines go up like some had mentioned. So of my theories may be the cause of that. For that bottom deal, I found that a lot of times when I thought the bottom was moving up it was actually a fish hugging tight. I started with that being a thoery, so then I'd try and "pull" the fish up off the bottome. So once I got the transducer set in the hole in normal mode, switched it to AZ. Whenever the bottom would seem to move up. I'd treat it like a fish and it seems that it always was. The biggest problem I've had is with another FL-18 near by. The IR setting would take some doing to get where they'd both work and then after sitting for a while it would just randomly start to go out of whack again without anyone changing it. Just thought I'd share an experience. Thanks

[Guest]

BLACKJACK - what you were seeing is Daffnia or Zoo Plankton. They're little bugs that come out of the bottom at night. They're extremely small, some units can see them and some not. There's a good artical in In-Fish (Dec I think) about it.

wax worm and Seabass77 are seeing tiny air bubbles and/or currents produced by a ripid motion under water.

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I have a tip for you all to try. Next time your '18 is in a "glitchy" mood, try switching the mode back to Normal, then the range all the way to x10, then switch back to AZ. It seems to help. Although the Normal side of the view will be pretty squished, the zoom side should show the full six feet.

More to come...

[BLACKJACK]

Thanks Vextech. I was wondering whether the unit was 'too' powerful and was picking up baitfish or something else. I'm already anxious to get back out and experiment with the FL18 but work has been too **** busy....

[Guest]

I just want to add that I picked up my first unit and the second is on the way. I now have 16 hours on the new one and not a problem! IT IS THE BEST!!!ScottS

[Havin' Fun]

The only time I noticed my bottom jumping up, was when I had a ton of fish on the bottom and the locator thought it was bottom. What a sweat machine. Buddy who has a fl8 really likes the bright colors. I really notice that too after using his.

[Guest]

Hey all, here's a glitch update.

We have found the problem. We can even duplicate it repeatedly in our shop. It definitely is a situational problem with bottom content and/or targets in the area. The glitch will only occur under certain conditions. We have come up with a solution which is being tested now. If everything goes well we should have a final fix soon. Then, once our service department tools up, we'll be ready to take care of everyone.

Anyone who has seen the glitch should contact us to get on the fix list.

Email [email protected] or call 952-884-5291

More to come...

[Guest]

Now thats great service. Keep up the good work! Try getting that from hummingbird..Vextech: are the blue lights going to be avalible for us color blind folks for the 18? I see red and yellow but cant see orange.

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MILLE LACS AREA GUIDE SERVICE
651-271-5459 http://fishingminnesota.com/millelacsguide/

[This message has been edited by D-man (edited 01-25-2002).]

[Guest]

D-man - The Blue Light Conversion probably won't be available for the '18s until sometime this summer. The display in the FL-18 is much brighter than the FL-8s. We'll need some time to find a blue LED that will work well.

[Guest]

Ok, I did notice the "bottom jumping" in the AZ mode that others are talking about. It would happen when a lot of fish were on the bottom. If the bottom was full of fish it would jump up all of a sudden. I just swiched it out of AZ and then turned it off and back on. Not a big deal but I can now say I know what you guys are talking about. But, I also bought a second unit now so you know it isn't to bad.ScottS

[Ret-ro]

I have also experienced the AZ jump. I was on a 31' mud flat on winnie this weekend and experienced the bottom jumping from 0 to the 3 foot mark with no bumping. I had not seen it that drastic before in similar depths that were more solid. However, the AZ worked great on the 22 ft bar. Landed a 25" eye that stared at me and my buddies lines for 10 minutes before I got it to bite. We were side by side in his new Otter Magnum and he was using a 00 FL8. No problems with the Normal or LP reg modes. Sending in my message as requested. Thanks for the updates vextech.
Fish ONnnnnnnn!

[Guest]

I have just recently upgraded to the fl-18 over the fl-8 and have used it about five times, I have not had any problems with it, it is great. I think vexilar is a first class company, you cant go wrong with these guys. Just my 2 cents worth......fish on.

[Raven]

Was up on LOW yesterday and noticed another "glitch" in my FL-18. When I would drop the jig, I would see a green line that would follow my jig down. If I raised the jig, the green wouldn't follow. Had a real time with it until I figured out - it was the little bead that I use on the line when using a slip bobber. It would slowly drop down the line until it hit the jig I still had some trouble with the real glitch, and am really glad to hear from VEXTECH that they have been able to figure out a fix. I think this FL-18 is fantastic.

[Mankato-Ice-Man]

Just got my FL18 today. I wanted to take a second to think VexTech and everyone on this forum for this type of talk and such so we can all work through these kinds of things.
I am SO happy that I found this site!
Happy fishing!

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Born to Fish, Forced to Work!

[red bricks]

I bought my Fl-18 last Thursday. Used it Fri. night. It was very frustrating because it was 10 below and I was using the Vex for the first time. I turned it on and the screen was full of little green lines. Nothing seemed to work. To add to the frustration I dropped my flashlight down the hole!! Next day I went back to the same hole. The Vex worked fine. I must have been seeing all of those little insects. I did experience the bottom moving up in AZ mode. Sometimes it would move up 1ft sometimes 3ft and even 4ft. I would'nt touch anything and it would go on its own. I was fishing in 32 ft of water. I tried for trout the next day and fished in 60 ft of water and the unit worked great. I love the unit but wish the AZ worked better. I will email VEX.

[red bricks]

I spoke with a fella at Vexilar yesterday. He said the AZ problem has something to do with softer lake bottoms and feedback. They are working on a software update and should have it in a couple of weeks. They will update your FL-18 for free and the turn around should be about a day. They might be able to do it while you wait.