vexilar fl28

[t- rexx]

Is the flx 28 worth the money im thinking about buying one I would like a little feed back on it good or bad . is it worth the money I have a 22 now thanks.

[fishwater]

On the one hand, your current fl22 will last and function well past the point in time Marcum and Vexilar put out the next generation of units. On the other hand, $ tends to burn holes in pockets; if you have that problem it might be worth it in fabric savings alone.

The only bad thing that I have to say about the 28 is that it doesn't implement the zoom exactly the same as other vexilars. Often it displays only a fraction of fishable area no matter the buttons or dials pushed, the rest is showing dead space below bottom. I've started setting the zoom with my ducer down super low, then tweaking it up higher after I set the flx28 into zoom to give a full fishable zoom window.

[HOGEYE]

I've noticed that while fishing shallow on red lake I need to constantly mess with the gain on the FL-28 to see my bait. I set it low and within a few minutes need to turn up gain to see my bait. Either the battery power fades a bit or angle is too narrow? I turn up the gain and am soon looking at a big blob so I turn it back down and same scenario...Also auto mode looses signal often (once an hour or so) when not hole hopping and just sitting still. I like to unit. Just some first impressions so far. None of these issues with my FL-20.

[Jigging Joe]

Same problem with mine. I've only used it in shallow water, 15 feet or less. I always have to put it in low power mode because I cant turn the gain down far enough to get a small weak line for my jig. Then when I go to lp mode I need to really turn up the gain. Then at times the line disappears or gets larger. Very frustrating. I haven't fished in deeper water with it yet but would hope that's a lot better. I have a lx-7 and like that unit better. Thinking about selling the flx-28, just don't know what I would buy. Are the other vexilars better, like the fl-20? I want two different brands so that they don't interfere with each other.

[HOGEYE]

Same problem with mine. I've only used it in shallow water, 15 feet or less. I always have to put it in low power mode because I cant turn the gain down far enough to get a small weak line for my jig. Then when I go to lp mode I need to really turn up the gain. Then at times the line disappears or gets larger. Very frustrating. I haven't fished in deeper water with it yet but would hope that's a lot better. I have a lx-7 and like that unit better. Thinking about selling the flx-28, just don't know what I would buy. Are the other vexilars better, like the fl-20? I want two different brands so that they don't interfere with each other.

I have the same exact thing going and think it may be the ProDucer. I heard of another guy that had better performance for his situation with a different ducer.

[fishwater]

The problem with LP mode is that you don't really have a cone anymore to work with, underpowering the element produces something resembling more or less a tube. Tube mode has some merit in some situations, but inherently degrades jig tracking.

[gonehunting]

Would it be better to put a 12 degree transducer on it rather than the proview transducer in water 20feet or less?

[HOGEYE]

I wonder if this is a problem that that should be looked into/get fixed or normal. Don't think I can use AZ in LP either, however; I do realize it's not very beneficial in shallow water.

[GSP4ME]

The problems noted is the exact reason I sold mine and went back to a Marcum. I was actually pretty disapointed in the 28. To me and just my opinion not worth the money

[Transporter]

I have a 20 that came with the tri-ducer, I seldom fish shallower than 100' and after a couple months it began exhibiting the same symptom, lure (generally 1oz. of larger) appearing and disappearing for no reason. Was in the area and Vexilar tested and found the tri-ducer bad and offered me several replacement options, I chose the pro-view. I found little to no difference. this year I bought another tri-ducer and it is far better, no issues after many hours of use this season. I do know that if my buddy brings his Marcum along the Vexilar has interference, may or may not be normal due to 150' or more and gain needed.

[flipper]

And here I was really considering the fl-28. Looks like I will stick with my fl-18. I really like the brighter display on the fl-28 when I've been around one. I can't say that I have caught any less fish than those using the 28 though.

[ScottO]

Went from an Fl18 to FLX28 this year and I'm very happy with it. No problems with the zoom at all - works just like the FL18. It will not work in 10 foot manual mode - check the owner's manual. I'm guessing the same for 10 foot auto mode. The other reason I have seen the bottom look like it comes up in zoom mode is when fishing really soft bottoms. Need to turn gain up in normal mode to get stronger bottom signal, turn to zoom and then turn gain back down to fish. Same issue with Fl18, sometimes the soft bottom tricks the unit. I have to use low power in less than 10 feet, but I'm used to that from the FL18 too. The Proview 9 degree ducer is part of the reason. With a 19 degree you can get out of LP mode in shallower water due to the signal return not being as strong with the wider cone. Not sure why you would even want to zoom in less than 10 feet of water because you really don't gain anything. Weed mode works great and really cleans up the clutter. I've fished everything from 6 feet to 120 feet and love the unit. The zoom feature in 120 feet was much better than the FL18 it replaced. Much crisper, probably due to being In auto depth instead of Fl18 in 200 foot range. I also really like color pallette 4 with white as the strongest signal. My unit has been flawless and I consider it a major upgrade to the FL18 - like going from standard Def to High Def TV. The display is amazing. It's also very quiet and I don't miss the hum!

[HOGEYE]

My main issue is having to screw around with gain to maintain a signal and consistent signal strength in LP. To me this is a problem. One should be able to lower gain in LP to where signal is just visible and maintain that signal without constant adjustment.

[Lawrence Luoma]

My main issue is having to screw around with gain to maintain a signal and consistent signal strength in LP. To me this is a problem. One should be able to lower gain in LP to where signal is just visible and maintain that signal without constant adjustment.

I'm going to take a guess that you have an issue with your transducer or ducer cable. I would check out by testing with your buddies transducer. Sounds like more a cable issue as you losing connection and getting it back.

[Lawrence Luoma]

Also, when you using the Pro-View Ice Ducer you basically want to use LP in 20' of water or less no matter what Vexilar unit you have. You always want to have you jig to be just a green line. Awesome practice when using a FLX-28 in 4 color mode. That way when that fish gets white you know to really concentrate on bite detection.

[ScottO]

I have used LP mode for many hours without any issue like this. As mentioned above - maybe a transducer issue? The only time I've had to adjust gain and lost lures was while fishing in varying currents on Green Bay that push your lure around in the cone.

[HOGEYE]

For others' benefit following are the prompt responses I received from Vexilar:

I provided the same description above of my issue with disappearing signal and was sent the following reply:

"when you are in 15 feet of water, the cone angle at bottom is

only about 2 feet in diameter. The bait has to stay within about 1 foot

of the center. All bodies of water have some sort of current and when

using small baits, they can be moved in and out of the center of the

cone. By increasing your gain, you will widen the cone angle, but of

course, you also increase the basic sensitivity. At that point, you

cannot expect the bait to continue to be in green. If you just let the

bait become orange or red, I guarantee you will still be able to see the

difference between your bait and a fish target. One other thing to try

is to take the unit our of AUTO and run it in the 20 foot manual mode.

This could also help."

My response: "I would tend to agree but have tested with a large buckshot with no bait, hanging still, and observed the same behavior."

Vexilar's second response, "I have no other suggestions except, if you are only fishing shallow water and NEVER intend on going beyond 60 feet, then you might want to consider a larger cone angle. If you are fishing between 15 and 55 feet of water, the 12 degree might be a better fit. If you fish 90% of the time in water under 30 feet, I would then recommend the 19 degree. We HAVE to supply a Pro View (9 degree) with the FLX-28 units, because we have to guarantee that the unit can be used in DEEP water. That's the ONLY cone angle that will allow deep water fishing. It gets a bit tougher in shallow water with the Pro View. If the transducer is still in "Like New" condition, you're welcome to send it to us for an exchange to the 12 or 19 degree transducer cone angle."

I Hope this information is helpful to someone.