Which FLASHER would you choose?!?!

[PurpleFloyd]

[Steve Foss]

These MarCum guys. Always so short-tempered.

I caught a lot of fish when I had a MarCum LX3. Same deal when I had my old FL-8SLT, and my newer FL-20. No doubt same deal when I add an ICE 45 to the lineup. If I switched back to MarCum, I doubt if I'd catch any more fish than I do now.

I make a good part of my living through fishing.

[Random guy]

muc33 thanks for the reply. I was just ribbing Jonny P because he is a guide up on Red.

Ya I get a cut on one a year for standing in a booth for about 6 days a year. The others I pay full price for and trust me they cut me no slack when I run them over, run the transducer cable through the track or even stab the screen with a chisel. Yes I’m tough on stuff.

As for me and Marcum I will tell ya a little story. My first LX-3 was a promo to try from a sporting goods store the year the LX-3 came out. I hated it. The colors didn’t look right compared to my old vex, the transducer went bad and it pushed me over the edge. I blew a cork, opened the door of my shack and pitched the SOB LX-3 across the ice like a Russian discus thrower. After a whole bunch of cussing and swearing I called Marcum on the phone. I got to talk to a guy buy the name of Jon Marshal. I was heated and those that know me can see the old sergeant in me come out when I am torqued. I gave this Marcum rep a piece of my mind and told him just what a piece of junk he was peddling. After some calming down he convinced me to send it to them and see what they could do. I sent to them out of pure spite.

Meanwhile I dug out my old unit. I was eating crow as I realized just how much finer the LX-3 displayed, how much quieter it was in the shack and just how much I used the moveable zoom. I then realized I wanted my LX-3 back. Five days later, yes five days from the day I shipped my LX-3 was back and worked like a champ. Ya know what it is still working like a champ. As years went by I bought a couple more LX-3s for clients to use, then a LX-5. Then a few cameras and to be honest the only problem I have had has been me abusing the physical strength of the units. Now it’s my job to bust them, as Jon Marshal and I became friends he found a good job for me. “Give it to Jonny and Kelly, we’ll see just how much it can take”.

Moral of the story is I never knew how good I had it until I used one and had it taken away. Many claim to not like the Marcum units or swear by their old standby units they have had for 15 years, BUT many times once somebody tries a Marcum they often don’t want to give it up. It’s just like a guy that drove the same old truck for years. That truck has always worked even if it was slow, underpowered and was lacking features you still stood by it as it was all you knew. Then once you buy a new truck, you wonder why you didn’t do it years ago.

As for the original question, take a hard look at all the units side by side in action if possible before buying anything as it is a big investment.

[mww24]

Hey johnny P. Thanks for the very insightful reply. I was the one who asked why people voted for the flasher they did. You and a few others gave very detailed answers. These are the discussion that may not make everyone happy but they help people find the right product for them.

[Snake River King]

Go with a FL18 there a tried and true design great quality and great customer service. I don't see the reason with going with any other brand. If you want the best pick vexilar. There the longest player in the game and keep setting the bar for the others to follow. If you want pretty colors go with a bird, if you want low battery life go get a marcum. If you want a great piece of mind go with vexilar.

[aquafang]

Lx3 or 5.

They have a finer line . Comes in handy when fish are on the bottom. The vex seems to show your bait as the whole bottom foot or so.

[Esox_Magnum]

Snake I think you have been miss informed, Vex is the one lagging without anything new and innovating since the FL-80 and then it was only the addition of the zoom, HB and Marcum have raised the bar in ice flashers....Like Johnny said most who were once a vex owner and tried a marcum side by side went wit a marcum, I know I did after about 5 minutes of having the LX-5 next to my FL-18... Needless to say I owned a LX-5 by the next weekend.... Thankfully theres many like you Snake who are died in the wool vex guys willing to overpay for the units.... I'm also not paid or endorsed anyway by Marcum I pay retail or buy used.....

[mww24]

where is it stated that marcum units have the least amount of battery life? Is there a article or anything that has tested all three side by side and rated the marcum the lowest for battery life? What makes humminbirds colors prettier than the others? And why is vexilar tried and true? what makes them tried and true besides being around for a long time?

[leech~~]

There is a very good way to check you flasher for bottom separation if you have a camera. Drop the cam to the bottom, put on a small spoon, drop the spoon to the bottom. Bring your rod tip down to the water in the hole and keep pulling up until you can see the mark on your flasher, then just measure the distance from the rod tip down to the water. I have a FL-18 and just picked up a used Humm 55 today so I am anxious to get out on some hard ice and try them both out! Which ever one doesn't work the best will be on the List within the week!

[Snag]

Lx3 or 5.

They have a finer line . Comes in handy when fish are on the bottom. The vex seems to show your bait as the whole bottom foot or so.

You can see your minnow head fall off your jig with any of them.

[grizrunner]

As much as I prefer the Marcum over Bird, I use a color Lowrance w/gps and will never go back.

X67C. You can get a high speed transducer and use it in the boat too.

[Snake River King]

must be because of that 3 billion watts of power they got?

[Esox_Magnum]

I know for a fact thet a FL-20 will show your bait on the bottom when in fact it's 6" or more above it but the LX will show your bait above the bottom .... Bonus of being able to sight fish down to 20' and seeing what your flashers miss, seen a 3-4 pound eye swim under us one day hugging bottom mine clearly marked it my buddys FL-20 did not and it swam right under his jig.....All from side by side comparison of the LX and FL series flashers....

[mww24]

We all know that all of the flashers greatly exaggerate their power ratings. I posted that earlier. there is no way a little unit puts out 4000 watts of power. Go find a car stereo amplifier that puts out a legitimate 2000 watts of power and see how big it is. They rate it peak power when you need to know the RMS wattage. I was just wondering what evidence you had to support your statements SnakeriverKing. Esoxmagnums side by side comparison was evidence and johnny P's long statements about how he uses his equipment and why he like it is the statements that are very informative.

[Rippinlip]

I know for a fact thet a FL-20 will show your bait on the bottom when in fact it's 6" or more above it but the LX will show your bait above the bottom .... Bonus of being able to sight fish down to 20' and seeing what your flashers miss, seen a 3-4 pound eye swim under us one day hugging bottom mine clearly marked it my buddys FL-20 did not and it swam right under his jig.....All from side by side comparison of the LX and FL series flashers....

If it swam below your jig and wasn't interested in biting, then why would you want to see it anyways?

[mww24]

LOL @ Rippinlip. good one.

[palisade1kid]

Ok these Flasher threads get pretty gnarly and I try to stay out of them but, I have to say it at least once every year and here is my speech in reference to above posts and a few others I have seen.

First off setting the bar for zoom flashers? Yes others have a bottom locking zoom, what about moving that zoom anywhere in the water column? A great feature for trout, crappie, suspended gills, perch off a side hump and a numerous list of occasions bottom locking zoom just doesn’t have it. A zoom that is infinitely adjustable anywhere within the water column is the answer. Marcum has adjustable zoom on the LX-3, LX-5 and LX-7

While talking about zoom there is a huge difference in a digital processed zoom and expanded optical zoom. Most just blow up a picture and make it bigger, just like zooming in a picture on a computer, now you have a bunch of fuzzy edges and poor contrast. Marcum actually processes the zoom display so you have a true zoom that is a crisp clear zoomed picture that is displayed finer, not an exploded view of what you are already looking at.

Target separation. This is such a ridiculous argument I can’t believe it is even brought up any more. The competition brags about 2.5 inch separation. The LX-5 takes it to ¾ inch and the LX-7 along with the Showdown has it down to ½…ya that’s target separation.

Many say how great it is they can have their units sent to a service center. At Marcum you can just bring it by to their Minnesota based company. Some say assembled in America, some say “distributed” in America, Marcum is truly made in America by Minnesotans none the less! This does not mean they put an off shore unit in cardboard box made in America calling it American. Marcum units are truly built from the ground up at Marcum headquarters right in the Twin Cities. That’s Minnesota jobs and economy!

Well for many of the reason above I chose to buy Marcums but why do I use them?

1) My living comes from catching fish. If I don’t catch fish I can’t heat my home, pay my light bill or put gas in my truck. I need tools I can push to the limits and I can rely on to hold up. That is why I drive late 70 ford trucks, wear Mickey boots, run old Jiffy augers, carry a simple compass and use Marcum products. They hold up even for a guy that’s spends 90-100 days on the ice every year.

2) Marcum products work and work well. From flashers with target separation that show me bottom hugging fish to cameras so clear I can tell the difference between a school of Spottail shiners or Emerald shiners. They do what they do very well. No hiding behind accessories or gadgets, they outright perform right out of the box. You can buy a compact truck and put mud tires on it but it’s still a little baby truck with big tires. Or you can just buy the 1 ton 4x4 with the big engine from the start and be done screwing around…that’s why I chose Marcum.

3) Customer Service. Marcum will take care of you I have seen guys who wreck their units out of pure abuse and Marcum took care of them. I have had guys in rentals shacks have me send a unit in for whatever reason and it beat them to their own door step. You can’t go wrong with Marcum customer service.

And thats what I have to say this year.

Well said...I started out with a Vexilar...it worked well but it took some time to learn what I was doing and how the fish reacted to my presentation.

Those 1st few years fishing next to only a couple of others life was great. Then came the day when I fished around more flashers ...hence the issue. Fishing next to a Marcum LX3 one day and noticed what a clean screen he had. There were about 15 guys ..all with flashers and I could not see my bait through all of the interference...talk about looking at a x-mas tree!

The next day I went and bought a Marcum...those days of massive interference are over.I can always tell a guy has a Vex...he keeps hitting the IR button looking for a clean screen.

I like the 3/4" seperation,moveable zoom anywhere in the water column...plus there are so many other features that help me catch more fish.

Customer service is second to none.

I also fish for a living...being shut down is not an option.

As for Hummers...I've never owned one ,but have fished around them.

They work just as Vexilars work.

My $$$$$$ goes to Marcum

[leech~~]

Someone pick a lake and a date this winter and lets all get together for a "Flasher Shoot out" We can do some testing on which one has the best bottom sep, zoom, etc etc. And if we test long enough "lot's of Beers" we can see which one has the best battery life! I can bring a camera, FL-18 and Hummingbird 55 to test if someone can bring one of those battery eating Marcums! . Then we can put this all to bed in one day!

Oh ya, Mike is bring one of those up & down Showdown which ma call it's to test!

[Random guy]

Marcum actaully did that a couple years ago. They even went out and got untis from all makes and models to comapair on ice and invited everybody to come out including reps from other companies. Nobody showed up to the Red lake one and few to the other locations..

[FisH_SLaYer24]

If I had to choose the best value between the given flashers, I would have to give that to the Marcum LX-3tc. The Marcum comes with adjustable zoom to any portion of the water column, it offers a very fine target separation, it has a twelve step interference rejection system, it comes with a padded soft case, and Marcum is offering a $50 mail in rebate. So for $350 I'd say its your best choice and this is coming from a Vex owner. I have no brand loyalty, but I do love my Vex. I just feel that the Marcum has a better value between the other stated graphs... no disrespect to the Bird, Vex, or IceMachine. As stated before, the graph isnt going to catch you fish, but knowing how to use your graph will increase your catch dramatically. Good luck on which ever route you do go with, and I'm sure you'll be more than happy with which ever graph you decide on.

[Esox_Magnum]

Someone pick a lake and a date this winter and lets all get together for a "Flasher Shoot out" We can do some testing on which one has the best bottom sep, zoom, etc etc. And if we test long enough "lot's of Beers" we can see which one has the best battery life! I can bring a camera, FL-18 and Hummingbird 55 to test if someone can bring one of those battery eating Marcums! . Then we can put this all to bed in one day!

Good idea, I always tell folks near me they are welcome to stop by the shack and see for themselves, few do but those that do are impressed. I do the same with my Nils when peaople don't belive what it will do, also most leave impressed....

[Snake River King]

Sounds like a good idea that would be fun

[mww24]

that would be very fun. I would love to start seeing what these units do side by side in real world situations being used by real world consumers.

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

I know for a fact thet a FL-20 will show your bait on the bottom when in fact it's 6" or more above it but the LX will show your bait above the bottom .... Bonus of being able to sight fish down to 20' and seeing what your flashers miss, seen a 3-4 pound eye swim under us one day hugging bottom mine clearly marked it my buddys FL-20 did not and it swam right under his jig.....All from side by side comparison of the LX and FL series flashers....

I call Bull**** Vexilars, Marcums and Hummingbirds ALL do what they say the ease of use and features are what makes them "the one and only" for each individual user. I also call Bull**** on the story above because ***if you can sight fish in 20' of water why in the world would you use one flasher let alone two?

[Snake River King]

Mww24 look at how many posts you have done? lol post another one lol.