Vexilar or Marcum

[Gofishleech]

I have an fL18 and like it fine. I am going to get my son a flasher for christmas and was wondering which one is better if infasct there is a difference. They both cost the same so maybe I stick with what I know and get the vex?

[Deitz Dittrich]

use the search at the bottom on the ice page and type vexilar marcum. and you will have a ton of information to read.

Good luck with your new purchase.. either way, I think you will be very satisfied!

[Moose-Hunter]

I was in the same boat recently. I went with the Marcum LX-3. After an in store, side-by-side comparison (Marcum LX-3 vs. Vexilar FL18 Ultra pak) I just felt more comfortable using the controls of the Marcum. For some reason, if felt "more natural" to me. Maybe it's because I'm a "graph guy" during open water. Also I felt the Marcum was a "better made" unit. It seemed like it's really built to last, more so than the Vex.

They are both great units and I'm sure your son will be happy with either. For me personally, the Marcum was the way to go.

[Chris Haley]

gofish

The Marcum has a stronger signal. Since you already have a vex, as much as I hate to steer you away from what I think is the better depth finder. I think in the long run you'd be happier running two vex's along side each other. The Marcum will cause interference with the vex, and since it's your son and just not a buddy. You don't want to do that to your son. I love to do it to my friends, and say you should have gotten the better unit.

[Royal Dutchman]

gofish,

I've been fishing with an FL-18 and an LX-3 side by side in the same house with no problem. Does help to set up the Vex 1st as the Marcum at least seems to have more filtering capabilities. My next unit will definately be a Marcum. The eye strain that I get from the Vex is non-existant with the Marcum. Even though the Vex is supposed to be a real time display there is a slight delay compared to the Marcum. The Marcum picks up many more targets than the Vex which can be good & bad. Good when they are nice bottom hugging eyes and bad when you are constantly going for 4" eyes & perch that don't even show up on the Vex.

Bottom line. I would pay more for the Marcum.

[dojigger]

I think that vexilars and marcums are the worst thing ever made. Its cheating. YOU dont give the fish a chance when you use these. The DNR should band all types of these including aqua views. A real sportsman goes out and finds the fish by drilling 2 holes and fishing for them, not by going out and drilling 97 holes until you find a school of fish.

[Philo]

My vote is for the Vexilar. I have the FL-18 and I love it, no problems (I did have an early version and thus I needed to get an upgrade - no charge while I waited) and great customer service. I have not fished with an LX-3, so I cannot comment on its capabilities.

[Dan Wood]

The LX-3 is a great unit. This will be my third year with MarCum and I couldn't be happier. Vexilar makes a good unit as well. I'd look at the features on each and see which fits your style of fishing best.

[chunkytrout]

Wow, out of left field! Dojigger, if man invents an improvement on a product or innovates a new tool you think that's cheating? I guess it's back to the horse and buggy then. No more rapalas, no more hooks, no rods or reels, no more outboards,.....the list goes on. Crude primative nets and clubs then? On the lighter side, any Marcum or Vex owner will tell you, "Just cause you see em don't mean they're going to bite". Careful on that ice now folks and good fishing.

[Captain B.R.K]

dojigger- are you saying you don't own any piece of electronics? Do you own a boat- any piece of electronics on that?? Interesting.....not really cheating, you are actually helping yourself out by knowing the depth, possible structure and if any fish are below you. I guess I never thought of it as cheating. I thought of it as spending money on making myself a better angler by being more efficient on the water.

As for me, I have owned a fl-8 and now the fl-18- great units! This debate will be heard until the next best thing comes out on the market. Do a search on Vexilar or Marcum and you'll be suprised to what has already been said. I know there was chatter about this a month ago.

Good luck.

[waskawood]

Oh, oh. I think I screwed up again. I thought they were saying on an earlier thread that the best way to avoid the interference issue was to use a Vex and a Marcum together as two like brands interfered with each other. I went out and bought my daughter a Marcun for Christmas as I have a Vexilar. Was I mistaken?

[Northlander]

Ya you were mistaken, sorry. Two Marcums wont cause problems together, at least in my experiences. A vex with a Marcum or another Vex will go nuts. You play button games trying to get a setting that both people can live with. I used to hate that when I had my Vex. With my LX-3 Im yet to get any interferience from my buddys flashers no matter what they run. Hope this helps.

[BradB]

I think it's a Ford/Chevy thing. Get the one you can get the best deal on.

[JHansel7]

Vexilar, and a chevy vs. ford thing, you dont get the best deal, you go with chevy because its better. period.

[f1sh1nfool]

Quote:

---

Ya you were mistaken, sorry. Two Marcums wont cause problems together, at least in my experiences. A vex with a Marcum or another Vex will go nuts. You play button games trying to get a setting that both people can live with. I used to hate that when I had my Vex. With my LX-3 Im yet to get any interferience from my buddys flashers no matter what they run. Hope this helps.

---

Afunny thing happened last year on low in 30 fow. four guys three with lx-3. one with a fl-8. evertime one of the guys with the lx-3 would adjust the ir the other two had big problems with their lx-3's having lots of interference. the guy with the fl-8 had no problems what so ever. I was one of the guys with the lx-3's i love my lx-3 but it was a little frustrating. I know that this was a lot of electronics in a small area and a lot of overlap of the cones. so i don't expect to be interference free. it just suprised me that the older fl-8 had no problems.

[dojigger]

All im saying is if you guys need to go out and buy a piece of equipment that cost $350-$400 hundread bucks, you probably dont fish enough during the late summer to find the fish patterns . And i do own a boat and a depth finder...but the fish that show up on depth finders arent really there...dont believe me, put the transducer in a bucket of water...hmm fish show up on it.

[Dennis Steele]

I have fished in groups with all kind of flashers. Vex, Vex, Marcum. Marcum, Marcum, Marcum. Well you get the drift.

All the units will get interfernce from time to time. I have had better luck tunning it out with the Marcum however.

What is fun, is to mess with your buddies. Once every one has gotten their units set for a get a good signal. Bump your gain way up ,and just wait for the complaining to start.

After all ice fishing isn't always about catching fish,Its about messing with your buddies!

[jiggin pig]

I just bought a LX-3 and love it already have tried it out. great target seperation. by the way did i mention i got a free hundred bucks from cabelas for buying. couldn't pass it up

[HoleHopper]

A free hundred bucks. How does that work? You got a deal!

Great unit!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Do-Jigger, I'm not sure I follow you... I know for a fact that if I put any of my depthfinders in a"bucket" none of them.. not my Vexlar, or the 3 off my boat will tell me there are fish there.

I personally dont agree with you on this. but we can agree to disagree thats for sure!

[zelek]

dojigger: If you're serious about this comment, and it sounds like you are, try taking your electronics off of the automatic mode and put it in the manual mode.

Now you will get rid of all the "cartoon fish", and you will start seeing "hooks" or acual sonar readings of the real ones.

[zelek]

oops...obviously I'm talking about LCG's used in boats.

[jltimm]

I got my Marcum from Outdoor News for selling 12 subscriptions to their newspaper!Cheapest piece of equipment I own!!LOL!!Great Unit though!!

[Matt Breuer]

It definitely is a matter of opinion! In my experiences I have fished with endless combos. Vex Vex, Vex Marcum, Vex, Lowrance, so on and so forth.

Interference has never been a problem with any unit aside from the Lowrance. Don't get me wrong, there is no better piece of equipment in my boat, but never will I use one icing.

As for the eye starin, I don't like the Marcum's colors personally. Too many like colors.

Not to mention the customer service at Vexilar, it's bar none!

All good units, situations make some better, and they all help you catch fish, just choose what's right for you!

[Ed Carlson]

A good point Matt, color is a very good consideration when selecting a sonar unit.

Some 10 million American men, fully 7 percent of the male population either cannot distinguish red from green, or see red and green differently from most other people. This is the commonest form of color blindness, but it affects only .4 percent of women. That just may explain why guys hate to shop too?

I for one do experience male pattern color blindness in some color spectrums. For this reason I do have a strong preference for certain makes of sonar units. The intensity of the colors for me is another major deciding factor to what works best and lessens eye fatigue.

It is wise to spend some time comparing sonars before the purchase to be sure it meets you individual needs visually.