FL-18 or FL-20

[gonehunting]

In the market for a new vexilar. Looking at an Fl-18 or FL-20. What are the advantages of one over the other. To me the FL-20 looks complicated when looking at the screen. I like the flat surface but too many lines referring to depth that look confusing to me. Money is not a problem. Just want a good flasher. Sorry but not buying a marcum. What degree transducer is a good multipurpose transduceer. Mainly fish 12-30 feet of water. Thanks for any input.

[Finlander]

I had a FL-8 for years and after looking at my buddies FL-18 perform and seeing the zoom advantage made the 8 look old school. And when deciding to get an 18, my sun bought a 20 and I was totally convinced that the 20 was way better than the 18.

The flat screen can be seen at any angle and the lack of a sun shroud eliminates snow loading up on the screen. The multiple lines from the left and right are just about the same from an 18 to a 20 and after the first 10 minutes of use there is no problem as to what your looking at! I would get the 22 if I had the money!

[BartmanMN]

Flat screen is way better and very nice and like mentioned about if you only fish 15-30 ft, then the FL22 is the one that you should look at. I love mine. Friday night the crappies were flopping so much if I didn't have a flat screen that thing would have been full of water.

[mattpaumen]

I would also go with the Fl-22. It is probably the simplest unit to "read" of all the Vexilar units. I really like mine!

[gonehunting]

Why the 22 over the 20? What's the difference in the two?

[magnum mike]

I was in the same boat as you a few years back. I have friends with the 20 and they are OK. I have been looking at FL-8's since the late 1980's. I went with the FL-18 becasue that is what I was used to looking at. I have seen every depth sounder on the market including the Marcum LX-7. I'm still happy with my FL-18.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I picked up an FL 20 with the dual beam transducer a year or so ago. It was the 50th anv. addition. Overall very happy with the sonar.

As far as an 18 vs a 20 It's what you prefer or get use to when it comes to reading it. I do like the 6 foot or 12 foot bottom zoom option with the night/day view options. (I believe that the 18 doesn't offer the 12 foot bottom zoom, only the 6 foot).

Both are good units that you can't go wrong with, and IMO the thing that would put either of them on the top/seperate them from each other would be the avaliblity of a dual/tri beam transducer on the unit. I think a lot of people overlook the handiness/importance of having the righ transducer degree for the depth of water that they are fishing.

Just a heads up, but if you fish in a portable next to a buddy get at least the dual beam if not the tri beam. It comes in handy to narrow ur beam so u don't pick up his lure when in water when fishing 20 foot or deeper. Yet, it's nice to be able to switch to a wider beam when fishing shallow water around 15 feet or less so u can pick up more area around your lure.

Here's another case where the dual/tri beam transducer is handy. I was having problems finding & keeping my lure on screen due to some current in the lake that I was fishing in the narrow beam over some deeper water. So flipped it over to the wider one and was able to keep the lure on the screen. My friend with the narrow beam fought keeping his lure on his sonar all day.

Before I picked up my FL 20 I had a showdown with a single transducer that I believe is 18*. It's a great unit, but sucks when fishing next to someone in a shack if you're around 18ft or deeper, you can't space the holes far enough apart in a voyager shack to keep is lure from marking on your sonar. So I keep it for a spare or for a friend to use.

Either way You'll end up with a solid Sonar unit.

[Gillfisher]

If you dont plan on fishing over 60 feet deep I would go with the FL-22, it is designed for fishing in water less than 60 feet and does a great job at it. I have the 18 and 22, the 18 was great in its time but the flat screens and night mode is a much better option.

[BartmanMN]

Why the 22 over the 20? What's the difference in the two?

22 was built for shallow water fishing in mind so that is 60ft and under in their book. The 22 has 10 ft increments so that means 10,20,30,40,50,60. This is helpful when you are fishing in under 10 ft of water and you can use the full flasher window rather than starting at the 20 ft range and only using half the circle.

The 22 has a much less cluttered depth display compared to all the marks on the 20, so it makes it very easy to read and understand.

[rkpolaris]

Fl-20, the screen is very easy to see. Even from the other side of a 16ft fish house

[Will]

Ii upgraded to the fl-20 this year, after using the fl-18 for the last 5 yrs. the flat screen is a great design but I really appreciate is the "night mode" it knocks down the screen brightness, it makes it easier for me to stare at for extended periods.

[LunkerCity]

I love my 18, I just wish it had the dimmer on it for night fishing or in the house. Sometimes the bright screen makes my eyes all goofy.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I love my 18, I just wish it had the dimmer on it for night fishing or in the house. Sometimes the bright screen makes my eyes all goofy.

I always run it in the night view, unless I'm outside in the bright sun. It saves the bugged out eyes!

[PerchJerker]

I would also suggest the FL20 or FL22 over the FL18, for the reasons already mentioned ..... flat screen display, and night mode ....... and for another reason that hasn't been mentioned yet. If you ever fish around a Marcum flasher, you're probably going to have better luck tuning out the interference with a FL20 or FL22 than you will with an FL18.

I would really lean to the FL22 over the FL20 unless you're going to be over 60 feet of water. The 10 foot and 30 foot depth scales are the real deal in my opinion --- if you're fishing 0-10 fow or fishing 20-30 fow the benefit of these is that you have more diplay segments and better target seperation. Seems like I do a lot of fishing in those depths, and that means wasted space on the flasher display if you have to use the 20 or 40 foot depth scales.

There are some good deals HERE on the FL22 right now.

[LunkerCity]

Do some of the 18's have the dimmer? I bought mine the year they were released... it doesn't have it.

Fishing next to a marcum is not a problem for me, but my dad has one from when they hit the market. Maybe his has less power than the new ones. I have found I get more interference from my brother's FL-8 than my dads marcum.

[polarsusd81]

I would also put in a vote for the FL-22 for reasons already mentioned. My favorite features on the unit are the 10 foot scale, flat screen, low power, and night mode. All of those add up to an awesome flasher for folks that don't plan to fish deeper than 60 feet. I run a 12 degree ducer on mine and like it a lot. It is a good compromise between narrow and wide. Just a bit more dead zone on a sharp break than a 9 degree, but not much.