Vexilar information...

[Corey Bechtold]

With the ice season almost upon us it's time to start getting geared up.

Vexilar has a lot of products that can help you catch more fish! I started out with an Fl-8 about 22 years ago. It helped me a TON but then the FL-18 came out. Some things I've learned through the years about the FL-8 is a lot of casual fishermen don't even know what transducer they have. A lot of Genz packs came with a 20 degree standard. People went out to the lake but had troubles with particles especially close to dark or fishing deep water with other fishermen around. There was this double whammy that would tend to happen. The green flickers a dark made it hard to see a small jig so one would turn their gain up. This would cause interference and other issues around their buddies so if this scenario sounds familiar a simple solution could be to update your FL-8 by picking out a transducer that has a smaller cone angle.

I'll break down some other Vexilar information later...

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

When I first saw Vexilar came out with the FL-18 I was very excited to get one. I had to wait a year because at the time I had no money. I sold my FL-8 in a garage sale and eventually got the 18. I never knew how important the Zoom feature was till I went out fishing with my dad. He was still using an FL-8 so we could easily compare. It didn't take long till he went out and bought the FL-18...

Life was great with the 18. I really didn't understand the LP mode because I rarely went shallower than 15' as that was the way we used to fish.

Then the "Internet" came out and I started dabbling in fishing websites. I started to hear about this certain locator that would make every Vexilar obsolete. I got excited because the internet made flasher "X" sound so much better. I sold my 18 to my cousin to pay for the "X". Life wasn't do good and if anything I found myself missing more fish and the battery drainage was horrible. I eventually started having transducer issues which kept me from getting out fishing so I said enough and went back to the store and picked up another FL-18. It was after that experiment that I started figuring out what the LP (Low Power) was and how much it was able to help me fish in weeds!

Needless to say life was back to normal with my Vexilar.

More to come...

Corey Bechtold

[UFCreel]

Corey I run the FL-8 still. One needs to know their machine. I see plenty with it that others miss. The FL-18 will be mine someday. But until then the FL-8 works just fine.

[rockman]

Needless to say life was back to normal with my Vexilar.

Life on the ice is normal ONLY, with a Vexilar.

[palisade1kid]

I can identify with you Corey...I also started with a FL8 and then after several years I made the switch to brand X.....I thought I had made a good move...as it turns out ...and there's more issues then I want to go over now I found myself back in the arms of Vexilar. Confidense in my gear is meaningful and I have that with Vexilar.Especially with one of the most important pieces...now I get to play with the new FLX28. I am nothing but ecstatic for ice to be here.

[Corey Bechtold]

Ok. So now I have went back to the FL-18 after a few strikeouts with another flasher. So now another newer even better unit hit the market promising to leave every other flasher in the dust. My kids were now fishing with me so I thought picking up the new improver competitor flasher would be a good test. I was trying to use this new unit and couldn't get used to all the features. The promises of better target separation was an empty one. I was having problems detecting when fish were on my bait! This was resulting in a lot of missed fish. Couple that with blind spots at 17-20' , and a few swaps at Cabelas and similar issues with the last unit dropping a transducer for the 3rd time I had enough! While I was playing with this "competitor" flasher and having nothing but problems I made one more return/exchange at the store. That was when I picked up the Vexilar FL-20.

When I saw this unit I thought..."now THIS is what I want in a flasher!". It sported a flat screen, Low Power setting in a 20' mode, 2 zoom windows (6/12') and my favorite Night Mode! Joy have no idea how many times I had been fishing outside and had to scoop out snow so I could read the flasher. Also the eye saving lower intensity of the Night View which rocked close to dark or any time I was fishing in a shack. I had 0 problems with this FL-20 and am still using it today!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[fisherman-andy]

I know Vexilar flashers are rock solid and they have great customer service. I was a little confused by this post's intentions as a personal review or meant as an Advertisement? Maybe this post should be titled more like "My Vexilar experience" instead?

Aside the negatives, I will offer a different opinion and say I have had good experience with multiple other Brand (X) sonar/flashers and I am certain there are others that would agree with me. The Brand (X) has yet to fail me and has live up to at least my expectations. And yes, I have been around Vex's; it also hasnt let me down either. In part I salivate at the chance to own an FLX28. I have felt this way long before I came upon this post. If a product is truly good it will sell itself.

If one is looking for some great information about Vexilar and their flashers I suggest one start here:

http://vexilar.com/info/

[palisade1kid]

With all my searching...educating...study I just saw a cool feature on my FLX28....the round housing around the screen has a cut away at the bottom....no more water laying in there...it will fall right out..so cool.

[Corey Bechtold]

I'm slowly working up to my FLX-28 but I don't live on the internet so it's taking some time. I work (way too hard) all week and try my best to be the best dad to my 3 kids, best husband to my wife and also share my experiences in the field or on the water with people who share the same passion as me.

Getting back to the story and hitting on the point as to why I am a Vexilar guy I'll continue later. For now I am making dinner for my kids (venison steaks!) and then I am going to take my wife to a movie for our 19th anniversary.

Be back later...

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Finlander]

Good Man Corey!

[Jim Kusuda]

Hey, I'm a Vexilar guy and I just went out and got some venison steaks. Sorry for hijacking, please continue.

[Lusid]

lol @ above post.

[brian6715]

I'm surprised you didn't put one of those FLX-28's next to that deer for the picture, but at least you got some ice team advertising in!

[Corey Bechtold]

Getting back to the Vexilar information...

I built strong "trust" in my Vexilars. After struggling with some high end electronics on my boat (mainly determining what was fish and keeping bottom at high speeds). I picked up a high speed transducer and put my FL-18 in the back and mounter the FL-20 to the universal sonar on my bow mount trolling motor. One year during fishing opener we were struggling to locate the fish. I put the hammer down on my little 16' Crestliner and was ready to head back to the cabin. While going top speed (28mph! Whoo hoo) I noticed the Vex lit up for a second. I turned the boat around and circled back in the prop wash and found a big raft o baitfish. I clicked to the Bottom Lock and went through the pod of bait. I found some Walleyes hanging down there and proceeded to catch them! I didn't see those fish on my $2500.00 open water unit but my Vexilar did!

Vexilars aren't only for Ice fishing. They are AWESOME units for open water use!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Finlander]

An FL-8 was what I had on my trolling motor on my old Pro-V! Worked great for all types of fishing!

[wishing for walleyes]

I also tried brand x and did not care for it. Instead I upgraded from an fl-18 to an fl-22 with the tri beam and then added an fl-20 with the pro view. They are awesome in these shallow water lakes. If a great deal comes along on an flx-28 I will get one of them.

[Corey Bechtold]

So I loved everything about the FL-20. Flat screen, auto zoom in both 6 and 12', low power and especially night modes. So now what?

The FL-22! This unit really had my attention. Depth ranges in 10' increments to 60' (I rarely fish deeper than 40). Low Power in all depth ranges. 2 zoom windows (6 and 12'),Bottom lock for the bottom 6' (which is very valuable in the boat!). Flat screen and night view as well.

They also had the "Tri-beam" transducer...

The Tri Beam transducer is an interesting story. I liked the transducer. It had a switch built into it that you could switch from 8 12 and 20 degree. I was given a new transducer to demo an give my opinions on. Rather than try it myself I put it on my sons FL-18. We went to the lake to fish. I drilled out an area to find some Crappies. I grabbed my Tri-beam duvet on my 22 and started hole hopping. Cole started following behind me when he stopped, put down his locator and banged 3 Crappies out of the hole! I didn't think much about it so I kept on looking for more fish. I caught a few and left the hole I was in and went to the next one. Cole followed me again and stopped in the hole I just left. He caught 2 more Crappiea! Now this really had my attention. The day went on and I began following him and watching his flasher. At times he was catching blips that mine was missing. If I tweaked my settings I could find them but his seemed to pick them up a bit better with no adjustments. We made a few other outings to different lakes and fished different scenarios and one thing stayed consistent. The "prototype" transducer rocked!!!

It wasn't long and I ordered one up for myself. It became what we know it today as the "Pro View" transducer. I still have my Tri Beam in the garage but haven't put it back on since I bought the Pro View.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold