Vex vs. Marcum

[Lawrence Luoma]

Yes, I have many times. I fish and travel with many guys throughout the winter that are Prostaff of just about every electronic company out there. We do lot's of side by side comparison's.

[fisherman-andy]

Yes, I have many times. I fish and travel with many guys throughout the winter that are Prostaff of just about every electronic company out there. We do lot's of side by side comparison's.

Thats great, but im still not hearing what I need to hear or see. Until some guy with a FL22 or FLX28 sits in front in me so I can compare it to my LX7 in shallow weeds I cannot understand the value of LP mode on a Vexilar.

[brian6715]

This has to be a top 10 Vex vs Marcum debate. I think we need a flasher shootout, side by side

I will say there will never be an issue separating weeds, hooks, split shots in shallow water with an LX-7. Being able to use the whole flasher dial in 6' of water spreads it out so amazingly well.

[DTro]

 

 

The red team rubes will say Marcum while the blue team rubes will say Vexilar, followed by a bunch of babble about low power/high power, cone angle, interference, customer service,  reliability, pixel resolution, and staged photos 

 

dang, I forgot to add target separation and transducer superiority

[DLD24]

I found it funny how they never showed the marcum or the birds screen?? Why make a comparison video if you don't show each screen??? Making sure the people don't see the better units?? ...first ice I will do this test,my buddy has a ice 55 vs my 5 and I'll have to find someone with a vexilar that doesn't have to get a s- cable...Can I ask too why they didn't do this test suspended 25ft in the water column??? It wasn't because the "inferior" units have moveable zooms and the more expensive "superior" unit only has bottom lock was it????

[Corey Bechtold]

Some may like the "adjustable zoom" but i have used both and never cared for the adjustable zoom. Reason is this... It's a pain in the butt if you are hole hopping along a breakline following the fish. It's simple to go to the Normal mode on the 18, 20, 22. Then when you locate fish it's a simple "click" of the knob to dial in on the fish. I work the school and when they move on it's back to the full mode and search mode. Repeat the process when I locate fish again.

Suspended fish are pretty obvious on the dial. No big need for zoom for them.

Any flasher will help you catch fish. I simply like my Vexilar much better.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[BoxMN]

Quote:

Other Sonar Brands have gain settings ranging of 0 to 10… in all power settings, shallow and deep it does not change…

But mine goes to Eleven....

[pushbutton]

Bwwahahaha! Nigel rules!! What a fitting quote for this thread.

[trapperdirk]

LOL .Another thread of the flasher sonar mumble jumble especially from Vex heads . LOL They can't ever go much beyond the standard blanket statement " Superior " . Superior to what is my question ? Superior to some of their own units but that's about how far it goes with the LP mumble . I've compared most of the units by all companies on the market and the one thing Vex's are " Superior " in is the mighty blob . Yes blob .

TD

[Eric_Kruger]

LOL .Another thread of the flasher sonar mumble jumble especially from Vex heads . LOL They can't ever go much beyond the standard blanket statement " Superior " . Superior to what is my question ? Superior to some of their own units but that's about how far it goes with the LP mumble . I've compared most of the units by all companies on the market and the one thing Vex's are " Superior " in is the mighty blob . Yes blob .

TD

I too was always complaining of the blob, in fact, that is what made me go to marcum in the first place. But after looking at the 28 in the five color pallet, my worries of this are gone! At least give it a look and see for yourself. I loved my lx7 and who knows, I may go back. But I'm being open minded about the 28 I will be running this year!

[eyedr]

I have owned birds and vex, had an opportunity to try out marcum for a long weekend of fishing. The only one I have had or seen other people have consistent problems with is the birds. If you have one and it works, excellent, I don't mean to hurt your feelings. For me, my 22 has performed flawlessly and has done everything I ever wanted it to do. I don't have blob problems with my 22.

If your havin gain problems i feel bad for you son, i got 99 problems but that glitch aint one.

[brian6715]

eyedr you have clearly been spendin' most your life, livin' in a flashers paradise

[fisherman-andy]

I too was always complaining of the blob, in fact, that is what made me go to marcum in the first place. But after looking at the 28 in the five color pallet, my worries of this are gone! At least give it a look and see for yourself. I loved my lx7 and who knows, I may go back. But I'm being open minded about the 28 I will be running this year!

Your blob worries were probably answered with the better display segment and target separation from the FL22 and FLX28.

I had a little chance to play around with the FLX28 at the MN Fair. From a glance it appears to be a version of the FL22 with more color display and depth range along with the bells & whistles. Reminds me alot of my ICE55 minus the flat screen display. How it performs I assume will likely be similar to the FL22? But likely you wont know until you put it to the test yourself. Its good to be open minded but I have a feeling you will be reaching for your LX7 sooner or later. I dont see what the FLX28 can do here that the LX7 already does plus more with screen options & features. And with Marcum giving a better gain range from last software update added better versatility. In part I think alot of LX6/7/9 users dont utilize the detail of the 6 color palette.

[DTro]

Tis the season

[CaptainMusky]

Dtro, that is simply priceless.

I do have a question though. With this "superior" resolution that Vexilar has, why are the blobs so dang big?

[fisherman-andy]

Dtro, that is simply priceless.

I do have a question though. With this "superior" resolution that Vexilar has, why are the blobs so dang big?

You can always count on Dtro and his great antics...

[trapperdirk]

ROTFLMAO Dtro . Good one . That's truly " Superior " lmao .

TD

[Eric_Kruger]

I should have added that before my lx7 I had the fl22, the blob was present on that thing, I didn't feel like it was there while playing with the 28 though. Like I stated above it may have something to do with the 6 color palate vs the 3 color the 22 has.

[CoreyS]

The great debate continues...

Fisherman-Andy - I'd be more than happy to bring out a couple of Vexilar flashers of "old" and new to try and compare and show you how they work in deep, shallow, weedy, non-weedy areas. We can go some where local if you like. Name your lake of preference and let's try to coordinate a date.

My intentions are to have fun and educate. It would merely be an on ice demonstration with hopefully some CATCHIN!

Corey Studer

[email protected]

[Jarrid Houston]

Here is my take on the "great debate"

Vexilar has always been my go to unit for the way that "I fish". No disrespect to Marcum, but vexilar has been a great durable trust worthy unit. One that hole hops with me and gets kicked around the ice, snowed/rained on and beat up. When I first got my first vex I bought it used from a friend who had logged miles on it already. And I still own it. I have upgraded to other units I've the years to keep extra graphs around for my business. Initial cost of these can seem steep, but if you are an avid fishermen, it pays for itself. On the flip side, if you are not that avid of a fishermen, it still helps take the guess work out when using one. I remember the days of corking without one, and I know it is cliche to say, but it changed the game, and now I would not be able to fish without one. Marcum makes nice products and a lot of my fishing pals have nothin but good things to say about them. But for me it has always been Vexilar. From customer service, to new innovative designs brought from engineering research to simply being a great company! Vexilar is for me......but to each there own!!!

[choppermn27]

These threads all get old very quickly.

Go to the store and look at what is out there.

I did see the new Vexilar FLX28 and it was impressive and worth considering.

Last year I saw some comparisons showing the Marcum LX-9 and it also looks really nice.

The thing that annoys me is thinking you have to see the depth on an LCD to know the depth, half the time you are fishing through 2 foot of ice and it's off anyways. Bottom is what I focus on. And zoom is nice but not necessary.

The biggest thing I like is being able to see my bait, and fish swim in and they all do this function.

All graphs will do the job is just a matter of finding the one you prefer.

I like Vexilar but there is nothing wrong with others.

Target separation of 3 inches, 5000watts, multi colors none of that matters to me and is gimmicky stuff used to sell someone something they don't need. I'm sure there are people who can afford to spend 500-700 a year on the latest and greatest but not me.

I'd be happy using an old Clearwater lcd flasher as long as it works.

[hydro]

Thanks guys for all of the feedback! I was a bit confused but now it's all as clear as a bell

Seriously, some of the comments did point to how to interpret the info on the FLX 28 which does look rather interesting. Now if my trusty Micronar FL8 would just die. Maybe I'll just give Dtro a call.......

[Lusid]

I buy my products based on features, price point, and to me location of headquarters also plays a big roll for support / service needs.

Humminbird: Eufaula, Alabama

Marcum: Golden Valley, MN

Vex: Shakopee, MN

So I would pick from either Marcum or Vex.

[stpaulslouch]

Tis the season

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