Vexilar vs Marcum?!?!

[IcEaHoLiC]

What do you guys think about the differences between a marcum and a vexilar? I am looking at purchasing somthing and I dont really know much about the marcum.....just wanted to see what you guys think about them!! Thanks for the input.

[Pete Riola]

We've used the LX3 in incredible cold for the last few years without a single failure. I'll bet amongst our crew we've used 10 LX3's in at least 20 below numerous times without a problem. This unit performs well in all conditions and it's ability to mark a target is unsurpassed. Just curious, did your friend bring this situation directly to Marcum?

Here are the specs of the LX3.

1500 watts of power for superior target separation. This feature is incredibly handy when fishing deep water or fishing with really small lures. This power allows for the LX3 to ID targets incredibly well.

Patented interference rejection, knocks out interference from nearby units.

Zoom- you can zoom anywhere in the water column. When in zoom your target separation is about 1 inch.

Warranty- Marcum is 2 years.

Carry case- Handy carry case carries lures, bait, pliers etc.

DCS charger- Digital charger keeps your battery charged to the correct level without over charging. Digital read out allows you to see how much power you have. Very nice feature! No alligator clips just plug it in.

Clear bright crisp display- Easier to read than other brands. Especially nice on blue bird days fishing outside.

20 degree ducer- combined with the 1500 watts of power allows you to see more of the bottom. For most anglers there is no need for multiple ducer angles.

Self leveling ducer with adjustable arm, eliminating ice build up on a styrofoam float.

Marcum products are built right here in Minnesota.

I hope this helps you decide what unit to get.

Pete

[Dennis Steele]

Interesting...Never had a problem with mine in exteme cold either.I am the kind of guy who moves often and rarely lights up the heater.I had an FL 18 that got noisy in the cold,matter of fact it didn't work quite right untill it ran for about a half hour after turning it on.ONe of the reason I gave Marcum a try last year.Pretty happy with Marcum.

[Paul Waldowski]

I had the cold weather breakage problem with an FL-8, also one of the reasons that I went with a Marcum. I have never had a problem with it in cold weather, it has performed flawlessly.

I have the Vex on the bow of my boat and lately it has really been making a lot of noise though, and it really hasn't been that cold. I wonder if that means that the brushes are starting to go out??

[Matt Johnson]

Yep, I used my LX-3 probably 65-70 days last winter and in temps as low as -15 and I had no problems. Never had an issue will the cold...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Ray Esboldt]

Never had the cold weather problem with mine either. One of my older FL-8s suffer in extreme cold. Might just be old age.

I really liked the Marcum better than the FL-8 or 18 after a couple months of using it. I had my doubts after being a Vexilar fan for so long. They're both great units. I do believe Marcum offers a little more for the same price.

[Surface Tension]

I've actually found the Vex to have a lot of vibration and noisy like something is rubbing even in warm weather. On the other hand my MarCum LX3 is whisper quite.

Pete covered the all lot of features and benefits of the MarCum but I'd like to add the MarCum's IR is able to clear up interference from all sounders. I've found the Vex has trouble with interference when 2 or more flashers are in the area. On open water when your spread out thats not a problem but when running multiple flashers in an shack or those close quarters in ice cities it becomes a big problem.

[marine_man]

I'd have to agree with everyone else on this thread... I currently own a Fl-8... a friend that I regularily fish with bought a LX-3 last year... and boy.. do I wish I had the cash to get one this year... now... I haven't fished with an FL-18... but based on everything I've seen on the LX-3 I'm sold...

Now to figure out how to get one...

marine_man

[g3angler]

I have had my Marcum LX3 for 2yrs now and just love it. I have had not one problem with it at all. I would highly recommend this unit to anyone. I even use it in the summer on my boat. My buddy is getting rid of his vexilar to purchase a Marcum this year because he likes how mine works with no problems.

[TurkeyNateDog]

I have a few fishing buddies that have Marcum’s products and they like them a lot.

You really can’t go wrong with either a Marcum or a Vexilar.

Bring on the Ice!!!

TND

[iffwalleyes]

TND

I guess I will say this. I was a diehard vex user and never thought I would own anything else. Last year I made the switch and I can't say anything but good things about my unit so far. One complain that I have had is that the trandsucer cord was about 1 or 2 feet to short for late in the year when the ice is deep. Several people had this as a complain so what did Marcum do they have came out with a cable extention that eliminate this problem. I also have never had any problems in the cold with mine and I will agree with others it is far quiter than a vex unit.

The only other thing that I would like to see Marcum do is offer some other choices in tranducer cone angles. At times in deeper water the standard cone angle picks up to much stuff and tends to clutter the screen. I have fished in a house at LOW with 3 others and I was picking up 3 or 4 lines on my display and couldn't get it turned down enough to eliminate them without eliminating my line. So as it is now this is really my only complain that Marcum hasn't came out with a fix to. One thing I did find though was that last year fishing with 1 marcum and 2 vexilar in one house we were able to clean up the interference much better than we ever were able to with 3 vexilars in the same house.

[EBass]

Ah yes the ol debate! As many of you know (does anyone read my posts? LOL) I love my FL-18 and won't trade it in for a marcum. Does it make noise from time to time? Sure, but so do I The only issues I've ever had were the batteries, but that's because I don't charge it correctly. My bad. Otherwise I see no need to sell it and get a marcum. Now I'm not knocking marcum at all, it's just I really love my vex and won't go fishing without it.

[Surface Tension]

Someone asked a question and I gave my honest opinion. If my friends or family ask the same question they'd get the same answer. If I had to go out and buy a flasher tomorrow it be the same flasher I recommend here on the forums. I've almost 30 years experience using all types of sounders and think I have a pretty good handle on them. If my word can't be trusted them I'm no good here.

[chunkytrout]

gotta chime in here man. First off, I don't think anyone here pushes anything they don't believe in. We are not pushed to shove anything down your throat. People ask advice here and that's what they get. People like ST offer a wealth of knowledge RE: the outdoors and he willingly gives it FOR FREE. So before we start wailing about sponsors and hyped products, we should do a little more research and look at the big picture here. I'm sorry you feel the way you do but only you can change that attitude.

[I'llTakeWhatiCanGet]

It seems to me that the responses on this thread are exactly what you ask for- people giving personal experiences and listing pros and cons. Nothing is forcing you to make any sort of decision based on the information provided here. If you do not agree with an opinion, that's one thing, but accusing knowledgable people of 'shoving information down people's throats' is another. Personally, I'm grateful for the information provided here, the more insights that are gathered on a thread like this, the more issues there are to ponder for those making a purchase decision. It's great to be able to look over a vast ammount of input, and gather what you want from it. Nobody's forcing anything on anyone, just providing a little food for thought.

[Tom Linderholm]

the guys are in here for sharing information, from what I know from the mods and members that I have met they aren't walking around selling me stuff. More so just sharing indivual experience's ST is one of them I've met up with him twice now and he isn't out to make a buck of off this HSOforum just here to help share info and enlighten idea's and to all around make fishing more fun. I would trust in his experience and had I spoke with him prior to getting my Fl-8 I would have been alot happier. My vex ain't exactly a fully functioning machine and I wish I would have been aware of this site before I bought mine cause I would have had better testimonials to go off of. As far as Pete's post, is sharing specs a plug, think not more so informational. Hope you can take this info and move on. You should be thanking these guys.

[Tahoe2349]

The original post was for comparisons between the two units.

Pete's post provided info requested on Marcum by the poster.

The "only" direct comparisons I see in any posts are from former Vex owners or those with experiences with them.

I don't think you can get any better unbiased information than that myself !! If you wont listen to those who have both and or those who may have switched, maybe "unbiased" isn't really what your looking for..

I know someone who has experienced the cold weather issue with his LX -3 as well. Does that that make the Lx-3 any less a unit than any other ? I highly doubt it makes a bit of difference in the big picture.

Things can be better without "perfection" or the need to magnify isolated issues that might be more "common" in others. Everything you buy has a few bad productions here and there.

Nobody appeared to be shuving anything Marcum down our throats here in my opinion. Sometimes the lump in our throat is our Brand loyalty being challenged which we find hard to swallow. We all want the best or better and either unit is a fine piece of equipment so who cares who's name is on it in my book.

With that said you must also be open to better features or technology from one to the other if its apparent ones Brand may not be the sole king of the hill any longer!!

[Mr.Seaguar]

I`m new to this site. One thing i`ve noticed is that sponsors arent the only products that get pushed. I was surprised and pleased to read pro staffers discuss competing products onjectively.

As for this topic, just ask the salesperson which they have the most of and buy that. It`ll make the decision a lot easier. Guaranteed they both will help you catch more fish. What else is there?

[ozzy]

This much I Know for sure.

Before Vex less fish.

After Vex more fish.

Because of my Vex I spend twice as much time ice fishing, that has to be a good thing.....

See Ya on the hard water

[Deitz Dittrich]

As many have already stated.. both are outstanding units. I dont think you will find many that have bought one and kicked themselves for not buying the other. Both units have had some negative feedback. Both have had very positive feedback. I have had a chance to use both. And except for the color, you could be looking at the exact same unit. The LX-3 has vairiable zoom, which is really nice, expecially if you are fishing fish that are suspended. The Vex 18 has bottom zoom, which is wonderfull expecially if you want to see them fish trying to sneak along the bottom.

Like others have said, both great units...

As for the pre-stated Marcum VS Aqua vu debate that also took part in this post. I think Aqua -Vu gets very good pub on this board. Its hard to find a bad word about either camera as well.

Keep the good advise comming people...tell us your thoughts!

[SPIN DRY]

Some people have spoke up for Vex some for Marcum. Me I'm glad for this thread, seeing as I'm in the market for a new unit. So I'm going to throw out another question here. I rarely fish in water deeper than 30'. Would the fl-8 or lx-1 better suit me. I've heard that the 18 or 3 work great for deep water, or is 30' considered deep water? Thanks for the info guys. Good luck

[Deitz Dittrich]

SpinDry- I cant say for sure about the Marcum unit.. I am saving to get one of them...I do have the Vex FL-18 and rarely fish deeper than 30 feet myself. Whats nice about the FL-18 over the Fl-8 is that it has a low power setting. This low power setting is designed for fishing shallow water. I usually only use it in LP mode when ice fishing less than 10 feet of water.

Hope that answers your question...

[Surface Tension]

The difference between the LX1 and LX3 is the LX1 has no zoom, it has a charger buy not the Digital Charging System(DCS}, or the soft case. The LX3 and LX1 both perform great in shallow and deep water.

The FL18 has the LP function, bottom lock and bottom zoom.

The FL 8se has no zoom, no bottom lock and no LP mode which has been found to be necessary in some situations like fishing shallow, weedy water therefore Vex offers a suppression cable to be added to the transducer cable.

So yes both the LX1 and FL 8se will suit your needs, just without some very useful features, zoom being one of them and in the case of the LX3 an adjustable zoom.

[ozzy]

If you can swing the 18 or the 3, I would go that route.

You will love the zoom.

But the 8 and the 1 are still a very good units.

For me 30 feet of water is deep water.

With the zoom you get alot more detial in your target area.

[EBass]

For me, I don't fish more than 40 feet of water ever. Sometimes around 30 but not much more. In the winter I chase eyes, so I love the zoom on the 18 to see the bottom as my minnow or jig is close to the bottom. It really helps. However, it was more a want vs a need. You don't need it, but it sure is sweet! After the season ends I chase dem crappies and don't use the zoom as much because they are suspended, then I use it like a regular 8.

Here's some Q's to ask yourself.

First Q is what do you want to spend?

Second Q is what do you normally fish for?

Third Q see first Q - LOL.

I hope I made some sense