Flasher Info from Scheels

[harvey lee]

the mankato scheels last year told me they won't stoock any marcums as they didn't sell and said they are out of the picture now that hummingbird arrived so they only carry vex and bird

I guess it would be hard to sell one when they talk bad about them.

[KG243]

Ford, Chevy, Dodge whatever works for ya!

[BriGuy88]

I bought an x67c when they first came out and got both the hardwater and software accessories for it. I used it on the ice the first year with mixed results and ended up mounting it in the bow of the boat where it has been great. I now use a FL-18 on the ice. Would like to see how the 'Birds and Marcums perform on the ice but all of my buddies run a Vex too.

[trapperdirk]

I agree Harvey . With remarks like that it tells me the employees have poor product knowledge and as a customer I want and demand that any and all products are available to me or I will shop elsewhere . Sounds like Scheels does not want my business anymore .

TD

[Johnnie15]

Exactly the reason to stay away from Gander and Scheels. They make up stories to help push whatever products corporate is making the most profit on or has the most inventory of at the time. GM is especially terrible with their Gander Series stuff. You can get better service and more accurate information from Thorne Brothers over the phone than you can in person any of the big box shops.

[harvey lee]

Pretty sad if they are told to tell potential customers to stay away from a very good quality built American made product.

If one were to have issues, MarCum will take care of it just as well as vexilar or Humminbird.

[pitz0005]

Note from admin, please read forum policy before posting again, thank you.

[cementhead21]

Pretty sad if they are told to tell potential customers to stay away from a very good quality built American made product.

If one were to have issues, MarCum will take care of it just as well as vexilar or Humminbird.

Marcum took extremely good care of the issue i had this year and couldnt be happier about it

[Sportland_Bait]

I'm not sure that the employees at Scheels were up to date on their info. But I think you would be happy any of the units out there. Both Vex and Marcum have great units, I use both. The only thing I think Marcum has missed out on in recent years is the demand for the flat screen units. Sometimes stores push product for financial reasons. The Vexilar company has an incentive program that is especially nice for stores that do big volume.

Jason Erlandson

[tsande00]

has anyone tried the lowrance x67c just wondering how it compaires to the others

I would stay clear of that unit. My buddy that I ice fish with regularly bought one last year after seeing my flasher in action. As any good friend would do he tried to one up me by getting the x67 with GPS, sonar, flasher, etc. The unit reminds me of one of those Lamborgini or Ferarri kit cars. It looks great from the outside with all the features but when it comes down to the real nitty gritty it doesn't perform nearly as well as a Vex or Marcum (can't speak for Hummingbird, haven't used one). The flasher emulator is much smaller than a real flasher, and the added colors make it harder to read. The biggest complaint (and this is huge IMO) is that he is unable to block interference from other people's units. It is 95% unusable if fishing near another flasher. Also, the GPS feature is very weak, with no ability to add a lake master, and more often than not fails to acquire a signal period.

Don 't waste your time. Go with a proven unit like a Marcum or Vex.

EDIT: I should mention that he says it works great when he's fishing by himself. Also, the sonar option seems to work well..but again he has to be by himself or it gives faulty readings (135' deep in 10' of water, with the screen constantly flashing).

[CrappiesNCats]

Am I the only one that talks to sales people at Scheels/Gander/Cabelas. I love asking questions I know the answer to and hear them try to explain their "expert opinion". I'd bet at least 75% of the time they have no idea what they are saying.

next time just point and laugh. sales people like that need to be called out/taken down a notch.

[tsande00]

Anybody else buy a unit at Cabelas? I went there last year and the sales person talked me out of a Vex. Couldn't say enough good things about Marcum. He said both are good units but he'd by the Marcum. Said it was more bang for your buck. I'm just curious if all of the Cabela's sales staff are like this, or if it was just this guy.

My personal opinion is you can't go wrong either way.

[CrappiesNCats]

as of a week ago cabelas in owatonna had only the lx3. they had no other marcums set up. but they did have marcum cameras. i thought that was a little strange

[gwiff100]

will now and always be a vexilar owner!!!!!

stick with the brand that got us to where we are today!

[tsande00]

will now and always be a vexilar owner!!!!!

stick with the brand that got us to where we are today!

I take it you only drive Ford vehicles, and always will?

[Duffman]

Originally Posted By: gwiff100

will now and always be a vexilar owner!!!!!

stick with the brand that got us to where we are today!

I take it you only drive Ford vehicles, and always will?

Doesn't sound like a Ford guy, sounds more like a Chevy guy.

[chrismackmn]

I have an old fl-8 vex that is ok. I wish it had the zoom function but oh well. The marcums are nice, I have used those before. The ones I really like are those new hummingbird ones. Those seem to be way better then anything else out there.

[Will]

i am curious, what do you mean by "seem way better than anything else out there". What are you basing your opinion on?

[chrismackmn]

i am curious, what do you mean by "seem way better than anything else out there". What are you basing your opinion on?

just from seeing it at the store and talking to the guys at Marine general. and no, they are not trying to sell me anything. I used to work there.

[Will]

Ok, but can you give specific examples of what makes it "better"?

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Tonight I had a little free time, so I figured I would try and do a little Christmas shopping. Being the outdoors type, before long I was in Scheels looking at Flashers. I asked 3 workers there if they carried a VX-1. They told me no only the lx-5, and to stay away from Marcum at all costs. They said the company is completely unstable being bought out, and that their product quality just isn't there. They nearly shoved the FL-8, 12, and 20 down my throat. One of them went as far to say that he has only seen one other person with a Marcum on the ice ever because the company is struggling so much and can't sell units! I didn't buy what they said though, and will still probably pick up a VX-1. Just looking for a few other comments and some advice. Am I still going to be satisfied picking up a VX-1 and get a quality product? They really confused me! Thanks

I was in Scheels earlier this year, and was checking out some sonars. I've done a lot of research on flashers, and I am just waiting for a heck of a good deal to justify upgrading my sonar. With the research I've done it looks like Marcum gives you quite a bit more for your money when it comes to features, power, etc. The Scheels salesman did exactly what you mentioned. Cut down Marcum pushed the Vex hard, didn't really even mention Hummingbird. So I let him do his sales pitch, and then asked what he thought the best buy was. Guess what the old FL18 at around $450 was just a steal according to the salesman. (The Marcum LX-5 was down the row of flashers for $399) So I played stupid, and started to ask questions about zoom features, power out put, flasher line thickness, & target seperation. Guy did a good job explaining it between the FL8 & the FL18. Then I pull the Marcum LX-5 of the shelf and read him all the specs on it. When I was finish, I asked why I would pay $80 more for a FL18 with a softcase which has less power, less target seperation, no adjustable zoom, and a cost of an additional $30 for a softcase. Not to mention that the Marcum was made in America. After that he just got a blank look on his face and didn't know what to say. So then I asked him what the Hummingbirds were like, and he shot me straight on those.

[fishwater]

Sounds like folks at Scheels have their hats a little too tight.

[EyeGuide]

I'll bet anything these guys are getting kick backs from Vexilar! Vexilar will go into these places and offer them free units or at the very least cost so they push they're products. It's run almost like the goverment and special interest groups

To ease your mind I've ran a Vexilar for almost 20 years and this year I made the switch to Marcum. They flat out have the better unit on the ice right now.

[WinterHaven]

Originally Posted By: Hory

Tonight I had a little free time, so I figured I would try and do a little Christmas shopping. Being the outdoors type, before long I was in Scheels looking at Flashers. I asked 3 workers there if they carried a VX-1. They told me no only the lx-5, and to stay away from Marcum at all costs. They said the company is completely unstable being bought out, and that their product quality just isn't there. They nearly shoved the FL-8, 12, and 20 down my throat. One of them went as far to say that he has only seen one other person with a Marcum on the ice ever because the company is struggling so much and can't sell units! I didn't buy what they said though, and will still probably pick up a VX-1. Just looking for a few other comments and some advice. Am I still going to be satisfied picking up a VX-1 and get a quality product? They really confused me! Thanks

I was in Scheels earlier this year, and was checking out some sonars. I've done a lot of research on flashers, and I am just waiting for a heck of a good deal to justify upgrading my sonar. With the research I've done it looks like Marcum gives you quite a bit more for your money when it comes to features, power, etc. The Scheels salesman did exactly what you mentioned. Cut down Marcum pushed the Vex hard, didn't really even mention Hummingbird. So I let him do his sales pitch, and then asked what he thought the best buy was. Guess what the old FL18 at around $450 was just a steal according to the salesman. (The Marcum LX-5 was down the row of flashers for $399) So I played stupid, and started to ask questions about zoom features, power out put, flasher line thickness, & target seperation. Guy did a good job explaining it between the FL8 & the FL18. Then I pull the Marcum LX-5 of the shelf and read him all the specs on it. When I was finish, I asked why I would pay $80 more for a FL18 with a softcase which has less power, less target seperation, no adjustable zoom, and a cost of an additional $30 for a softcase. Not to mention that the Marcum was made in America. After that he just got a blank look on his face and didn't know what to say. So then I asked him what the Hummingbirds were like, and he shot me straight on those.

Glad to see you did that because that is something that I would do as well.

[blongtin]

Nice work Agronomist_at_IA, I'm glad you did that. I hate when someone who's new to flashers thinks that they'll get good advice from them, when all they're doing is thinking of commissions. To me that says something about the store.