Which combination of sonars get along best inside one fish house?

[Cove]

I have a Vexilar FL-20 that I am perfectly content with.

However, my son and his girl friend are excited to do some ice fishing this year. They presently have no sonars (I am going to supply them).

I have a typical 4 man pop up type ice house. What kind of sonar would get along the best with my Fl-20? Another Fl-20 (or any other newer Vexilar)?

A different brand e.g. mix my FL-20 with a Marcum lx3? It is very important to me to get these young people interested in ice fishing so I want good flashers with minimal interference. I can fish through some interference but to learn, it will help if they have minimal interference.

[bigbad401]

Humminbird. I fish with one and my brother-in-law fishes with a FL-20. No issues whatsoever.

[dirt292lv]

Good time for you to upgrade to the fl 28 my marcum screws with anyones vexlairs in the shack so I would stay away from that but I love my marcum just wanted to let you know that about marcum vs vexlair

Good luck

[walleyeking19]

I got a vex and my dad has the humminbird 55. We have no problems at all. If you get another 20 you'd probably be okay. The cheaper vexilars seem to cause more interference it seems

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Any vexilar and most hummingbirds work.

[bltbowhunter]

Any of the humminbirds will work for you with zero interference when running next to a vexilar.

[JigginIsLife]

as long as you have a decent ice ducer, and can operate your flasher with the gain at less than a quarter turn i wouldn't think you would have much of a problem especially in water less than 20 ft

[hamms-scooter]

Ran lx7 next to fl18 no issue

[Hawg]

Any frequency experts out there? There was a time when most of these couldn't run next to each other, especially MarCum, now it all seems to work. Do they really work next your buddy with a different make 4-8 feet away from you? It seems most of my friends have Vexilars so I honestly don't know the answer, I'll be watching responses. Why didn't they work before and they do now?

[pushbutton]

Not an expert, but assume the IR features have been improved. In the past it could be even difficult to make 2 marcums side by side.... play nice. I fish with a buddy all the time that has an 18 within a hub....suppose 4 1/2 ft apart. One or the other hits the button a few times and your good to go.

[marine_man]

Humminbird runs on one frequency, Marcum / Vexilar on another.

In general though, with a little adjusting of the IR feature on any units you can get it to the point that it's fishable.

marine_man

[Crappyfisherman]

One thing that has really made a difference for us is using the Vexilar Proview ice ducer. We can fish 5 guys in a 10x18 sleeper with no interference. I fish right next to my wife in a Otter Cabin with a Vexilar fl22 and flx28 both with Proview transducers and no interference what so ever. Unfortunally this transducer will only work on Vexilars.

[harvey lee]

I have had very good luck with my Bird 55 and my Marcum LX5. They play well together but I may have to adjust a tad from time to time. I have not had as good of luck using my Vex with the others. Just what I have seen.

Not trying to favor one or slam the other.

[dan z]

Vexilars and marcums are terrible friends. Brother runs a bird 55 and I have a old fl-18 and we have very little issues when were in the 2 man together.

[Cove]

I appreciate all the comments I drew with my question about sonars getting along with each other in close proximity. Thought I would publish an actual experience.

The long awaited day came today when my son's girl friend came ice fishing. This was literally her first time. I had 3 sonars at my disposal. I started her on my best one which is the FL-20. She picked up on it and caught some nice panfish!

My son fished a hole not 4 feet away with a Marcum lx-3 which I borrowed from my son in law. They were both catching fish and I was in heaven. I putzed around keeping my eye on them and after an hour I joined them with another hole same 3 - 4 feet away in L shape. I used my old Lowrance 522c which is an LCD but, I actually like the way the screen looks and it is pretty fast...not good enough to nudge out my FL-20 but a good back up and all three of these machines could be used with interference that was quite acceptable! So, a good day and I thank you again for jumping in with advice.