marcum next to older vexilar in flip-over 2 person...

[VMS]

Hi Everyone,

Wife is looking to do a bit more ice fishing with me this year and will steal my vexilar from me unless I have another unit to use. I am curious of the performance of each side by side in a flip over (clam Yukon TC 2 seater).

My vexilar is a 1995 FL8 with an upgraded transducer to the smallest cone angle vexilar makes. The unit has interference rejection on it as well.

Currently been reading quite a bit on different units and although my wife really likes the FL28, I am not feeling I need all the goodies it has on it.

Seems as though target separation on the marcum LX5 and newer is better than the vexilars, and as such, am interested to hear what people have to say about running a marcum side by side with a vexilar.

My understanding with interference is when cone angles overlap that is when we see the interference between any two units regardless of brand, power, etc. If I am fishing in less than 40 feet of water for walleyes, panfish, etc. will I be having to deal with interference to the point I am better of going vexilar next to vexilar rather than vexilar next to marcum?

Thanks for any education you are able to provide.

Steve

[monstermoose78]

I was just fishing this year with RumRiverRat316 and he has marcum 6 I believe and I have an older Vex fl 8. They played well together but we were in like 9 feet at the deepest and had the gain on the lowest setting. That was in the Jason Mitchell flip over

Check out the Cambridge forum I posted pictures of the vex and marcum in used

[bobbymalone]

I have a early 2000s FL18 and get punished with interference when I'm in a house with a couple of my Marcum pals with their gains turned up. They don't usually get interference from me.

I switched to a 'Bird last year and don't have that problem. The bird doesn't seem to get/give interference with either Marcums or Vexilars. I've never tried it with another bird.

Everything I've heard is Marcums don't play nice with Vexilars and not so much the other way around.

Personally I think this talk of target separation and wattage is mostly just numbers gimmicks. I have some doubts whether it translates to a real advantage when it comes to down to catching fish.

[aanderud]

I have fished 3-wide in my otter lodge. My son uses the older vex FL-8, I use the marcum lx-5, and a buddy using his humminbird or his new vex. We're always able to deconflict everything reasonably well with some combination of IR pushing on the marcum and the vexes. With all three running, you'll never get a perfectly clean signal on both the marcum and the older vex, but you can get both to acceptable levels of noise. With two sonars running (just one vex and one marcum) things look better. Honestly, I think the vex-to-vex interference is just about as bad as the marcum-to-vex. This is in deeper water, 25+ fow.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

I am not an expert, but you might want to try the ProView transducer on the Vex. I have been told it helps to eliminate interference. I run a FLX-28 with the ProView. I fished in a popup with a friend running an LX-3. We were in 30 feet and neither one of us had interference and I didn't have to use the IR button. I asked an employee of Vexilar and he said the ProView does help with interference.

[maxpower117]

Here's how I understand it:

High power + less sensitive transducer = Marcum

Low power + highly sensitive transducer = Vexilar

Marcum + Vexilar = bad for Vexilar

Marcum + Marcum = OK

Vexilar + Vexilar = OK

[401TE]

I've ran a Marcum LX-5 next to an old (1998ish) FL-8 for 5 years in my house. You can get them to play well together as stated above, just need to work together with the other person to make it happen.

[Redlineracer12]

We've had Marcum LX6, LX7, and an old FL8 all in use before in a 6x12 wheelhouse, doable if you tinker with the IR settings. There will be some interference but it's not terrible. It all depends where you're fishing of course, 8 feet of water with a mud bottom will be much easier than 40 feet of water with a hard bottom.

[DTro]

I do believe that this is the first time I’ve read a thread (over ten years and literally tens of thousands of threads) that the wife says, “I really like that top of the line unit, we should buy that one” and the husband replies “nah we don’t need anything that fancy.”

Are you high?

Get the 28.

LOL

Oh on a side note, the gain setting has nothing to do with effecting other units on the ice. That is a common misconception.

[leech~~]

She may have move fun with a camera. Watching the fishy's come by can break up the day for people who are on the fence about being out there in the cold and bored in the first place.

[VMS]

My mind is not made up yet... Looking at both units and know I can trust vexilar....but marcum seems to be making a great quality product as well...

Not sure I can justify the 28 though... That's a bit of cash.

My fl8 has the Pro ducer on it... Helped a ton last year running 3 fl8's in a fish house on lake of the woods.

We have an older aqua view as well... Too dark at 20 foot depths to see anything as it is not infrared

Steve

[401TE]

The one issue I'll note with Marcum's is their transducer cable coating is junk. It's too soft/flexible. I've gone through 3 transducers in 3 winters due to the transducer cable breaking inside the coating, or the coating gets cut and the wire is exposed to water/not protected. Before folks get on my case about handling it roughly or otherwise mistreating the ducer cable, after I broke the first one I've babied it. Fortunately, I have access to an understanding retailer who will handle warranty issues for me. Otherwise, I'd have sold my LX-5 by now. And yes, I've made Marcum aware of the issues a number of times. Last winter they didn't respond for 2 weeks so I was forced to again bring it to the local retailer.

The FL-8 I have from 1998 still has the original transducer. The thing is built like a tank.

[Esox_Magnum]

I have fished vexes next to my LX series for almost 10 years. 99% of the time there's no issues.

[silverbulletguy]

My Bird(35) has always played nice with both vex's and marcums in a flip over or hard side house. We had my bird, 2 Marcum's and one vex and the vex had the most issues of all. With that said I've seen more marcums randomly decide to quit working than any others. I hear they have great customer service but that doesn't do much good when you're on the ice or off on a long fishing weekend.

[bobbymalone]

With that said I've seen more marcums randomly decide to quit working than any others. I hear they have great customer service but that doesn't do much good when you're on the ice or off on a long fishing weekend.

I've heard that too.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a vexilar that didn't work.

And I have three buddies that had marcums blow up last year.

[Crappyfisherman]

My wife and I both have Vexilars (FL22&FLx28) both with Pro ducers and we get zero interference fishing In a 2 man flip over.

[Rikkus]

No Worries What so Ever.

I had the Vex Fl-8 from the late 90's, maybe 2000, and 3-years ago I got the Marcum LX-5. I used them them both spaced only 3-5 feet apart; the holes only 2-1/2 to 3 feet apart at times. I never had an issue. Unfortunately, I gave away the FL-8 to a Fishing Buddy's son for his birthday. I loved that flasher. But, the little one really loves it.

My fishing buddy of 42 years has the FL-18. He has been having interference issues with his. One time, two of us in the same house turned our flashers off trying to help with the interference problems my buddy was having. That helped. but that unit seems to be a bit more sensitive.

Today I used the Vex FLx-28 and the Marcum LX-5 in the same portable. I had some issues last season with the Marcum. But it was a repair issue. I must say, Marcum's repair services are great.

But, the Vex FLx-28 is an awesome flasher, my favorite of the two.

[EMAGDNIM]

Humminbird runs on a different frequency than marcum and vexilar. If you dont want any interference i would highly recommend getting a bird. I have and ice-45 and i couldn't be happier. I never get any interference with my buddies with their vexilars and vise versa.