Ice Flasher Feedback

[fishur]

I'm considering buying a new ice flasher. Either a Vexilar FL20 or a Marcum LX5. I don't see red all that well and am wondering if anyone thinks the Marcum would be superior in color visiability. Also, is the dual cone transducer on the Marcum any real advantage fishing on inland lakes to 50ft. max?

I intend to use this flasher on my bow mount motor in the summer so I need one that has a motor mountable transducer accessory available.

Any input is welcome. Gander has the FL20 on their weekend special at $499 with the soft case and $20 back plus no payments or interst for 60 days on their card. Should I take the leap?

[Outfitter17]

I have an LX-5 and it works great. All my buddies run the LX-5 also, we have all tried differnt ones in the past and everone has switched over in the past 2 years.

Good Luck with your purchase.

[Esox_Magnum]

LX-5 is $449 at Pro Fishing Supply I have the LX-5 and fish next to a FL-20, my partner seems to borrow my spare LX-5 more than using his 20. IMO having fished them side by side I would go with the LX-5.

Dual cone is real usefull, alot of times I don't want both my baits showing on the screen, I jig with one deadstick the other. Sharp breaks its also a great feature and with the LX-5 you get adjustable zoom not just the bottom 6', better target seperation and better and crisper zoom and my favorite feature the Super Fine Line feature.

Take a big sharpie and draw a line on a sheet of paper, this represents the Vex's line image, now take a fine ball point pen and draw a line this represents the LX-5 in Super Fine Line mode giving you sharp crisp image with no colors bleeding togeather.

[Northlander]

I would also lean towards the LX-5.

[steve schmidt]

I have been a flasher user for years. Have had multiple Vexilar's as I update often. I bought a Marcum LX 3 a few years ago and run both the Vexilar and Marcum at different times. I will say the Marcum has better fish identity. I also know that Vexilar does have an enhancement they can do to your locator that is especially for color blind people. It costs approx $100 bucks. I happen to work in a store that sells the Vexilar so I have spoken to them directly. The color blind addition apparently has some blues etc...whatever color blind persons can read. Not sure if Marcum has that option. My suggestion..go with the one that you can read easily. They are both good.

[PerchJerker]

Lots of good advice here already and I agree with all of it .... I prefer the LX-5 and I think the narrow beam transducer is a definite plus and I use it frequently ..... but if color vision is an issue then the FL-20 with the color conversion may be a better way for you to go.

You can check them all out at Ice Flashers At Pro Fishing Supply

[Ed Carlson]

The Cool Blue conversion may fix the color contrast issues your having. I can't say for certain because there are different types of color blindness and it often is unique to the individual.

There is one way to find out....If you can read the Vex in my photo below, that is my Vexilar FL-20 Pro Pack with a Cool Blue Conversion, and it may be the option you need to get the most out of on ice sonar.

Camera flash put some glare on the display in this photo, but this close up should help.

My FL-20 is in 20' full power mode, split screen 6' AV zoom mode. That purple thin mark on the left is a shiner head falling down slowly after I just landed a walleye on a Chubby Darter.

On the right you can see a strong signal that is another walleye going down that fallowed up the one I hooked up on.

You still have Red as the strongest target reading, but Purple and shades of pink replace the Orange and Green that often blends into the Red and causes confusion for guys with male pattern Color Blindness issues. The high contrast, for me at least, makes all the difference to offset my color blindness issues. I also find this new CB color scheme to be even more daylight friendly for me, and easy on the eyes at night. I run them year around on my boat and on the ice.

FL-8 SLT Pro Pack with "Cool Blue" conversion.

I hope this helps you make a more informed choice to best fit your needs.