great information flasher

[leechlake]

I've laughed over the years about the Marcum vs Vex and now Marcum vs Vex vs Hummingbird posts. I have a FL-18 and don't ice fish enough to need to change/upgrade. I suddenly found myself needing to buy one as a gift for someone and I almost posted "which one should I get."

I'm going to spend the night reviewing all the posts I can find; right now I'm leaning LX-5 or maybe the Hbird 55. Should be plenty of material to look at. Maybe I will review extension posts and get him a stocking stuff of an extension too...

[maxpower117]

They all suck except vex.

[Huntin&Fishin]

Vexilar is on the top of the market in my opinion

[brian6715]

Vexilar is on the top of the market in my opinion

You've clearly never used an LX-7

[Huntin&Fishin]

The LX 7 is basically the same as a open water sonar with alot of options. The digital read out is not as instantaneous as a flasher due to the processing needed. Nice unit I may say, but I'll stick to a vexilar.

[CaptainMusky]

We'll played leechlake.

I'd like to throw out looking at traditional open water units as well.

[Jaymo99]

Allow me to throw in my 2 cents (although I'm not an expert by any means) I was in the market to purchase one 2 years ago. after reading a ton of reviews/posts I still was unsure which to get. So I went to 3 different sporting goods stores in my area. and asked the sales people witch is best for my needs:(used almost exclusively for ice fishing, want quick accurate and as little as possible interference)

each salesperson proceeded to show me the unit they thought I needed. (2 said Marcum one hummingbird) Then I asked them "what do you use?" all three said: "oh I have a vexilar"

anyway good luck with your search let us know what you end up with.

Jaymo

so anyway I bought a fl22 and have never regretted it. (although it doesn't like more than 3 vex's in the same house.)

[B-man715]

I would get a Chevy

[Crappyfisherman]

Let the games begin.

[Smoker]

I always had a Vexilar. I got tired of the interference all the time. I got the LX5 and now I can set it next to any vexilar and no problems at all.

[leech~~]

each salesperson proceeded to show me the unit they thought I needed. (2 said Marcum one hummingbird) Then I asked them "what do you use?" all three said: "oh I have a vexilar"

So you got a good lesson on what's call "upselling"

[th64]

Get one that uses sound.

[hamms-scooter]

For the same money look at the lowrance elite 5 ice machine. Gps and all the features of a flasher plus more. $100 rebate on lowrances site. Of the choices you mentioned the lx5 is great.

[ZachD]

The LX 7 is basically the same as a open water sonar with alot of options. The digital read out is not as instantaneous as a flasher due to the processing needed. Nice unit I may say, but I'll stick to a vexilar.

This is not a 1980s computer with .1gb of ram

If there is any delay it is not noticeable at all we would be talking about milliseconds

[Hydrostreamin]

Allow me to throw in my 2 cents (although I'm not an expert by any means) I was in the market to purchase one 2 years ago. after reading a ton of reviews/posts I still was unsure which to get. So I went to 3 different sporting goods stores in my area. and asked the sales people witch is best for my needs:(used almost exclusively for ice fishing, want quick accurate and as little as possible interference)

each salesperson proceeded to show me the unit they thought I needed. (2 said Marcum one hummingbird) Then I asked them "what do you use?" all three said: "oh I have a vexilar"

anyway good luck with your search let us know what you end up with.

Jaymo

so anyway I bought a fl22 and have never regretted it. (although it doesn't like more than 3 vex's in the same house.)

Are you from Fargo Jaymo?

[Hawg]

Same thing at one of the big retailers/advertisers on here. He gave me the speech on MarCums and Birds. When I asked him what do you use he replied-I got the new FLX28 Vex, I don't like all the button pushing on the others. I'm set up and fishing when they are still pushing buttons.

What's that tell you?

[mrscott]

I have owned an Ice45 for 4 years. No complaints! I catch fish and it's reliable. However, I had to buy a case for the unit, (ICE ARMOUR), which I really like.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Vex is reliable and has been around forever but to me for the money you spend you can have more features and much more defined lines on marcum. Never used a bird but if I got a new unit it might be a bird just for the different frequency.

[PurpleFloyd]

For the same money look at the lowrance elite 5 ice machine. Gps and all the features of a flasher plus more. $100 rebate on lowrances site. Of the choices you mentioned the lx5 is great.

This^^^^^^

I have an elite 5 and just got an elite 5 hdi and they are better than vex or Marcum

[M1dwestF1sh]

This^^^^^^

I have an elite 5 and just got an elite 5 hdi and they are better than vex or Marcum

[uffdapete]

I've owned an FL8, FL18, LX5, LX3, LX7, Showdown troller and used and been around an Ice 55 a lot.

My review would be -

FL8 - noisy and dim, hard to see in sunlight. Got my money out of it.

FL18 - less noisy but started to dim the last 2 yrs, liked that it fit in a pail. A huge plus was it sold on the bay for $150 more than I paid after 6 yrs use :-)

LX5 - quiet, bright and sharp screen, zoom had helpful features, liked fine line setting, heavy transducer was known to cause troubles with cord. Didn't make any $ on the bay but did ok.

LX3 - identical to LX5 except a smaller, lighter transducer & also no fine line or dual transducer. Use this on a run and gun or hole hopping day - like today.

LX7 - way more features than I usually need but have used and liked all of them at times. Heavier and bulkier than any of the above but also a larger, sharper and more adjustable screen. Use this if I'm mostly stationary and in a house.

Showdown - decent unit, but no color & after 20 years I'm use to circular screen. Will be on CList soon.

Ice 55 - nice features, but readings are much brighter and sharper on Marcums. Also adjusting knobs are larger and less durable than the others. My brother would disagree but I'd take any of the Marcums first except the Showdown.

[gunner55]

Just got a Elite 5 Ice Machine at the Icefishing show in Duluth for $300,after the $100 rebate.With the Insight chip for less than $80 & we plan on getting the open water TM transducer to go with.For a HD graph/chartplotter combo that's usable in both apps we couldn't pass it up.Our old unit on the bow took a dumb on us last season so we were looking anyway.By the way it was sold to us by Marine General & we haven't had a chance to use it.