FL8 slt question

[bigeyes]

Hey guys, my buddy and I both use fl8 slt's but when we try to fish together we get bad iterference and have to shut 1 off. Is that supposed to happen? He has the IR button pushed so the led lights up? Is there something we should be doing?
Thanks

[bigeyes]

Maybe I should understand my units functions better. To be clear, pushing the gain button once resets the ir? Pushing the ir butoon once lights the led and engages the IR? I was under the impression that pushing the gain caused the signal frequency to change a little to end the interference, is that correct? I thought you could push it up to 10 times to get 10 unique frequencies?

[jkrash]

I may be wrong but

When you push the gain button you turn the IR feature off

When you push the IR button you change frequencies.

[This message has been edited by jkrash (edited 11-20-2002).]

[CNY Tim]

On the FL8SLT push the I.R. Button to turn it on and then push your gain button in to change the pulse rate. If it does not clear keep pushing the gain to you hearts content. To be honest with you the IR button is freaking joke. I loved fishing next to FL-8's and scrambling them with my colorpoint.
Hopefully my new MarCum LX-3 will have an I.R. that works it has 6 frequency variances I just hope one of them truly works. I can't wait to test this new unit. If you guys are still on the fence about the FL-18 because of the problems they had with it. Keep an eye open for my test posts for the MarCum LX-3. If this unit does what it says Vexilar will be scrambling for an overhaul...
If you fish suspended crappie this unit will be the cat's meow let me explain further...

Say your fishing in 30' of water and you see crappies at 22' with the FL-18 in the zoom mode you will only see the bottom 6', which is not gonna help you... According to the manual on the MarCum LX-3 you have a 5' or a 10' zoom window and you can adjust it to any depth you wan't. That mean's that you can adjust it to read 20' to 25' or 17' to 27'... Now think about that the zoom is adjustable for the entire water column. That's huge!!! if you fish suspended species like crappies and lake trout.

The 2003 In-Fisherman Ice guide says that the MarCum has an 18 degree transducer that is incorrect it is a 20 degree. Competition to be the best flasher is a good thing and I am open minded I own an FL8SLT, Colorpoint and now a MarCum LX-3. Vexilar and Colorpoint are both quality unit's. I used my FL8SLT for shallow water applications and it performed admirably for bluegills and crappies in water less than 20'. But as I said earlier the IR was a joke. But if I had to go deeper especially fishing for perch and walleyes the Colorpoint hands down worked better not just because of the target seperation which was a big factor but the crisp clean lines on the display that was Colorpoints signature. Vexilar knew they had a problem with there display, that's why you saw guys with coffee cans, lense magnifiers, etc. I never had to squint for a wavery red line to know that a fish was down tight to the bottom like I would with my FL8SLT.
If this IR works on the new MarCum it would be like providing military technology for the combat ice fisherman. Think about that when your hammering fish and some yo yo cut's in on you which happens more and more often. You will be laughing as you watch this guy cussing at his flasher because he can't see anything.

I remember the first Colorpoint I had and I had major problems with it but I got a new transducer and battery and it took care of everything.

I work for the Department of Defese and I know that MarCum is a respected leader in Military Technology. MarCum bought the rights back from Colorpoint to improve what they started and give us the technology we need as serious ice fisherman. Now all I have to see is if the proof is in the pudding.

They didn't mess around with the power supply for the new MarCum either they put a PowerSonic battery in "These babies don't quit" it with a digital readout that you can see through there soft pack on top of the battery which enables you to know without pushing a button and holding it in to get instantaneous battery status, i.e. 100%, 90% and so on. No more taking a battery out to charge it either they supplied a fully automatic charger that has one connection in to the digital charger that's on the top of the battery, no morefumblig with clips... Which enables you to plug it in and walk away. It charges at 1 amp not .5 which means a quicker recovery for your battery. The one draw back is the power consumption this baby really sucks up the juice 23 -24 hours of performance max before it needs to be recharged.
Look for my test post's guys on this unit. This MarCum could be the new ice leader if it lives up to it's hype...if not I will let you now that too.

[Rick]

That's some pretty good reading Tim...

Now you have me wanting to try a MarCum

See how you are

Thanks.

[bigeyes]

Hey guys, my buddy and I both use fl8 slt's but when we try to fish together we get bad iterference and have to shut 1 off. Is that supposed to happen? He has the IR button pushed so the led lights up? Is there something we should be doing?
Thanks

[Guest]

If he pushes in the gain button it should reset the IR. After you do that try pushing the IR and gain button until the signals are somewhat steady. It might be hard to eliminate all interference but I've fished with friends in the past that had Vexilar's and it worked for most of the interference.

Good Fishin, Matt.

[Guest]

I do not agree the Vexilar SLT (IR) function is ineffective if tuning out non compatible frequency distortions.

In the past I have been able to tune out distortions produced by disruptive Zercom units in close proximity of my Vexilar with the (IR). The Zercom was not so lucky, it had signal distortions and false ghost readings from the Vexilar.

The MarCum LX-3 has some good features and it will give Vexilar a run for the market share. The reports I get so far on the MarCum LX-3 have been positive for the most part, lets see how they hold up in 2002-2003.

------------------
Backwater Eddy..><sUMo>

Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"
(701)-281-2300
[email protected]
http://ed-carlson.fishingbuddy.com

[bigeyes]

Thanks guys. Does anybody know how many pulse rates are availible on the fL8 slt? I thought I read somewhere that the FL18 had 10.

[slick2526]

I have fished with a old si-tex right next to a vexilar and no problems. I guess it must just be easier for me to read threw the clutter.

[CNY Tim]

Backwater Eddy - Your right... fishing deep water with vexilars close by I had problems with interference from other units with my colorpoint but in shallow water it was never a problem. We did some testing on the FL8SLT 's with a few of my buddies last season on a perch/walleye lake in 29' of water we intially wanted to fish in tight but we were forced to spread out a little to not have any conflicts with our FL8SLT signals. At the time we were close in all using FL8SLT's we tried different variance's of the frequency of the IR and without it and we still had that nasty roll or that migrating clockwise flicker. That's when we knew it was a hoax. After we spread out a little bit things were fine. I am independent and on my own I have no allegiance to any unit. I am just intrigued to find out which unit will be the best of the best. It makes for great conversation too. I will be honest with you Vexilar has a solid product and always has and it's not easy for a new comer to come in and knock off the top dog but you gotta admit it makes things interesting....

[This message has been edited by CNY Tim (edited 11-21-2002).]

[Guest]

You can also get signal distortion from "rigging" signals (Ice distortion). This will happen when the transducer is not set far enough down a ice hole.

Several units close together on very hard bottom may cause distortion of the signal as well. I have never seen 2 properly functioning Vexilars interfere with each others signal, sorta odd?

You can often see wacky readings when your fishing by another Vex with a poor transducer, I seen that one myself. Turned out I had a bad crystal and needed to replace my transducer.

I fished with a Vex rep once and he gave me a very interesting on ice lecture of all this frequency junk. Most of it was way over my head, I nodded a lot.

------------------
Backwater Eddy..><sUMo>

Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"
(701)-281-2300
[email protected]
http://ed-carlson.fishingbuddy.com

[CNY Tim]

Backwater Eddy - I know.. alot of variables and a lot of different situations. There sensitive units and we treat em the best we can but accidents happen, maybe one of em had a bad crystal, hhhmmm. Thanks for the info.
I'm no expert either and yes if I was there with you guys I would have done a lot of nodding myself... Now if we could just get some ice here in NY State....

[DaveHastingsMi]

I'm looking forward to hearing more as I am considering the Vexilar or MarCum
(don't tell the wife, I'll tell her some crazed lunitic of a salesman gave it to me......Yes.. thats it, he gave it to me)
Dave

[bigeyes]

NY? Now we have to discount everything you said! J/k Ed and others when you are fishing with another sl8 in close, do you both turn on the ir or just 1 unit also do you both change pulse rates or leave one and change the other?

[CNY Tim]

DaveHastingsMI : Are you sure your wife and my wife aren't sisters, LOL. It's worse than getting your teeth yanked, even mentioning new gear to my wife is taboo. I'm tapped out...

bigeyes : Would it make a difference if I told you I was born and raised in western Massachusetts and the military transplated me here... Fact is I love central New York and the fishing here is fantastic.

[KING]

All you need with a Vexilar to get a bad signal from other units is a scratched up transducer bottom. Mine got really bad from checking depth through the ice. My buddies Clearwater used to really bug my Vex up, I bought a new transducer, now no trouble. It's possible something else was wrong but it worked well while fishing alone. We usually fish within 8ft of each other in a fish house with no trouble with depths up to 40ft of soft bottom and 30ft of rock. Often you can see the other guys lure on your flasher.