Pro View or Tri Beam

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I picked up an FL8 SE cheap. I need to put a transducer on it.

With using the S cord for the low power mode, would this cause problems with the pro View since the power setting is suppose to determine the cone angle.

Has anyone used a tri beam and a pro view?

I usually fish in a Fish trap voyager. Usually 20ft or less for the most part. When I sit next to my friend I like to be able to set the cone so I DON'T have his lure on my screen. I can usually do that with the tri beam.

Can this be done with pro view? Is Pro view worth it or is the tri beam better for what i'm wanting?

Also on the FL8 I'n going with a genz box, genz soft pack, S cord, and a Battery status indicator (Have it lying around) Anything I should look at to pimp it out nice?

[Brad B]

I picked up an FL8 SE cheap. I need to put a transducer on it.

With using the S cord for the low power mode, would this cause problems with the pro View since the power setting is suppose to determine the cone angle.

Has anyone used a tri beam and a pro view?

I usually fish in a Fish trap voyager. Usually 20ft or less for the most part. When I sit next to my friend I like to be able to set the cone so I DON'T have his lure on my screen. I can usually do that with the tri beam.

Can this be done with pro view? Is Pro view worth it or is the tri beam better for what i'm wanting?

Also on the FL8 I'n going with a genz box, genz soft pack, S cord, and a Battery status indicator (Have it lying around) Anything I should look at to pimp it out nice?

you won't have problems with a pro view when using the s cable. the power output does not have any thing to do with the cone angle. if it did then there wouldn't be the low power mode on the FLX 28 since this comes only with the pro view transducer. the gain only controls what the transducer receives from the return signal. open the gain up and you receive return signals from a larger area and keep it low and only pick up the return signal from right below you. the pro view is so sensitive that if you fish in water 20 or less feet deep you will want the low power of using the s cable on the FL 8se. I can't really compare it to the tri beam since the tri beam I had on my FL-22 was one of the bad ones and I never got to use the tri beam. they replaced it for me with a pro view. as for add on items I wouldn't use the battery status gauge unless the battery is easy to access once the unit is in the soft case. the gauge will run the battery dead if you leave it hooked up to the battery and the soft case might make it hard to un do the wire at the battery. the only other things you could add would be one of the flex lights and the mag shield.

I have a extra pro view I will send you a pm about it.

[ClownColor]

If you fish under 20', I personally don't see a reason for the tri-beam. I like mine cause I can switch cone angles for different depths (deep=narrow and shallow=wide). Other then that, it's nice to switch cone angles when fishing with other flashers for interference...lol

[clayton08]

I had the tri beam and ended up having a bad cable so brought it to vexilar and they swapped me straight up with a pro view. IMO the proview is pretty sweet it is a little bit better in weeds. Even when I had the tri beam i always put it on the lowest degree, personally I only wanna see the fish that are right on my jig. If im looking for fish out of that area I will swing the puck. I like the proview myself and most people that I know that own one would say the same. Good luck and tight lines

[crappiebuster]

I picked up a Flx28 with the pro view last year after fishing with it for awhile I couldn't get my jig to show green. Low power turned all the way down 30fow still wouldn't show green. Swapped my 12degree ducer from my Fl-18 and all is well now. The 18 with the pro view is a backup for a worst case scenario or when a buddy is along that doesn't have a flasher. I thought about picking up a tri beam for it but heard they had a lot of problems with them. Also the tri beams footprint is a lot bigger and early ice I fish with a 6in hand auger so that I think wouldn't have worked so well.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Said the heck with it and got a tri beam coming. Picked one up for $80 new. Just can't bring myself to using the pro view. I like to change my cone depending on depth of water and I don't think I would like the pro view, because I wouldn't have a clue on the angle it was set on.

[Lawrence Luoma]

Said the heck with it and got a tri beam coming. Picked one up for $80 new. Just can't bring myself to using the pro view. I like to change my cone depending on depth of water and I don't think I would like the pro view, because I wouldn't have a clue on the angle it was set on.

Maybe, what you don't understand is that the Pro-View is actually two beams. By using a whole crystal it actually has a secondary return that acts like up to a 40 degree cone. With that reason alone there isn't a reason to know what angle it's at. It works well enough that if you see a green line it's a fish close, orange closer and red it's dead on (white if you have a FLX-28). I use mine even in 5ft of water and it still works better than my dual beam I have on a Fl-20. With conjunction to low power, and weed mode the Pro-View is by far the best ice ducer on the market and you'll wish you had one.

[Lawrence Luoma]

Check out this video and it should really give you a better understanding.

[brook100]

I fished on a trip to Bayfield, WI last season with a couple of Clam Prostaffers. Fishing 80+ FOW for lakers and whities, they had the proview ducers and I had the tribeam. With the deep water and strong in shore current of the big lake I couldnt get my 1/4oz spoon to even show up on screen. Their lures were right there on screen no problem with the proview. I had to move in shallow to be able to fish. My tribeam is already sold and the Proview is on the way.

[fishylilminion]

Just a FYI, the tri-beam ducer tends to crack at the ducer where the red part attaches to the black top half for no apparent reason. My buddy and I had this problem and there were also several other users reporting the same problem. However, Vexilar has provided top notch customer service and replaced them.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

I am not a Pro-Staffer or have anything to do with Vexilar. Last year I picked up a 28 with the ProView. It worked great in shallow weedy water and 100 foot depths fishing for lakers.

The other benefit is that it helps with interference. Fished next to a buddy in 32 feet. He had a Marcum with a 20 degree ducer. I never had to touch my interference rejection and he had a clear screen the whole time. When my friend with the Marcum fished next to another friend with a FL20 and 9/19 it was chaos. I also had multiple people in my wheelhouse over the winter with a variety of units and I never had an interference problem.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Maybe, what you don't understand is that the Pro-View is actually two beams. By using a whole crystal it actually has a secondary return that acts like up to a 40 degree cone. With that reason alone there isn't a reason to know what angle it's at. It works well enough that if you see a green line it's a fish close, orange closer and red it's dead on (white if you have a FLX-28). I use mine even in 5ft of water and it still works better than my dual beam I have on a Fl-20. With conjunction to low power, and weed mode the Pro-View is by far the best ice ducer on the market and you'll wish you had one.

After thinking about it I've been really happy with my dual and tri beams on my vexilars. I have no plans to change whats been working. I think I have a fairly good idea on how the Pro view works, and I don't believe it would work very well for me. I really question how well one can control the width of the cone angle of the pro view with the gain control. If fishing shallow to get a wider beam are you going to have your lure showing a strong red if you turn up the gain to get the wider cone? if I'm in 10-15 feet of water how wide of a beam do i have with my lure showing green? If I want the widest beam without showing my friends lure next to me if I turn the gain up on the unit to get to a 12* cone is my lure going to show orange or red because of the higher gain setting to widen the cone? If I need the 9* narrow cone to keep my friends lure off my screen, can the proview do it or is it so sensitive that even on a low setting the unit is picking up a wider cone? Maybe I don't quite understand the pro view, but I know what I want to be able to do. I do know that the tri-beam I have been using is delivering exactly what I want to do............So train of thought leads me to believe Why pay more for a proview if a tri beam is doing what i want. I'm sure the pro view is a good transducer, but I've heard a few people that have changed them out for the old standard transducers which leads me to question if it would do what i want.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

What do you have on your 28 and 20?

[Agronomist_at_IA]

What do you have on your 28 and 20?

FL20 is a dual beam.

FLX28 is a tri beam

Don't ask why I bought and FL8SE.......got a unit on the bay for $105 shipped couldn't pass up the "DEAL"

[NCLaker]

Your questions of what to put on your FL-8 would seem to be a rhetorical one ... I cannot imagine you would even use it if you already have an FL-20 & 28 and you are already happy with they dual & tri-ducers.

If you have the FL-8 as a spare for someone else - go with a cheap all-around 12" ducer. Hard to go wrong with that one and you can probably pick it up pretty cheap. You could also save the money and sell the FL-8 and put that money and what you would have spent on a pro/tri-ducer and get a second hand FL-18 (bottom zoom on a flasher is a must imo).

If you like collecting Vex stuff, just get the pro-ducer so you have all three and draw your own conclusions ... everyone will have their own personal preferences, the most important one is your own

I personally tried the tri-ducer, and after going through 2 defective ones I gave up on it and am now on the pro-ducer. I also have a dual 9/19 and find myself pretty exclusively using the 9. I do a lot of whole hopping so that works for me. I do have a 12" as a spare all around one if I know I am gong to be focusing on real shallow water (got it cheap ... I also kinda like the 12" because it is not as bulk or heavy when I'm hole hoping and I have 3' of cable down the hole.

So my setup is FLX-28/Pro, FL-20/Dual, FL-18/12". Have the other 2 as spares for family/friends but any one of the combo's would be rock solid as my primary when it comes down to finding & catching fish.

[Jarrid Houston]

Very helpful video!!!!