FL-18 Problems

[Guest]

I have been having some trouble with my new FL-18. My buddy has been having the same problem with his. It does not matter if I am fishing around other vexilars or not. The problem I am having is when I use the AR Feature to focus in on the bottom 6 feet. On the left side of the screen where it shows the bottom 6 feet, it will show the bottom at 1' or 2' off of what is the zero mark. It does not matter what I have the gain on or what channel I pick. It may go away after a while and the bottom will go back to the zero mark. I know it is not a big hog laying down there because I can drop my lure and feel the bottom. Anyone having this same problem? Any suggestions you may have?

[Try Too Fish]

Iceman
Are you in shallow water(say 15 feet or less) it helps to use the low power az.if you already are i dont have a clue.On mine the bottom always starts at about the 1 foot mark unless i'm in shallow and on high power it will then show higher.
good luck

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Try Too Fish
Forced Too Work!!

[S.D. Ice Angular]

Iceman, I have experinced the same thing...

S.D.

[This message has been edited by S.D. Ice Angular (edited 01-29-2003).]

[Deitz Dittrich]

Make sure you dont need the softwear update on your unit!...

Try turnning the unit back off and on again?

[Scott Steil]

With the exteme cold we had the last week and a half nothing of mine seems to be working right.

However, I would bet that your units have not been upgraded. Last year we called it bottom jumping but the upgrade took care of it. Remember you should not keep the unit in AZ mode if you are switching holes. The unit will lock on the bottom prior to your transducer going all the way down the hole and you will have a false bottom reading.

If you bottom jumps and your unit has been upgraded switch it off or back to norm and then to AZ. That should take care of it.

[Guest]

Thanks Scott S,
I was having a problem loosing a couple feet off the zoom side, it was solved by turning the unit off and on. Sounds like I am turning the unit on before the transducer is resting in its final position as well as jumping holes with the unit on as you said.

[Dave]

Yea, you can't jump holes with the AZ on.

[Guest]

What is this upgrade that you are talking about? Where can you get it? I bought the unit new this year. My machine may have been a carry over from last year. Would this matter? I have been an a warm fish house in the same hole, have tried turning it off and on, I have disconected the battery, I have tried it on different days and nothing seems to cure it. Maybe I am used to the FL-8 which was pretty much fool proof.

[Guest]

If you are in shallow water, it may be weeds that are laying on the bottom. There was a post on which serial #'s need the update a while back. I think it was anything under 192,500. If you are in deeper water, I have no clue.

[icehousebob]

I think CHIRO nailed it. I noticed this happening on mine when I was exploring several holes without shutting it off. Also, having the gain set too high can make it ride up . I thought it was happening to me a week ago even after restarting the machine until I figured out there was a great mass of perch under me. It just takes me a while sometimes to catch on.

[Mankato-Ice-Man]

Check this out. Should answer your questions-

http://fishingminnesota.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/001018.html

Jeremy

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Born to Fish, Forced to Work!

[This message has been edited by Mankato-Ice-Man (edited 01-29-2003).]

[Mankato-Ice-Man]

my bad.
delete this one, moderators, please.

[This message has been edited by Mankato-Ice-Man (edited 01-29-2003).]

[Scott Steil]

Call Vexilar and tell them the serial number off the back of the unit. They will tell you if it needs to be updated. As I said earlier, you have to turn the unit back to Normal if you are going to hop around from hole to hole. Yes, it works occasionally to leave it in AZ mode but most of the time you will have to switch it back to hole hop.