Marcum or Vexilar

[Studer]

Which is a better bang for your buck????

[Rick]

Do a MarCum Search and you'll find LOTS of info.

[Studer]

Thanks for the reply Rick I will give it a shot.

BTW did you get my E-mail??

[road kill]

Vexliar all the way! I've had my FL-8 fo 15 years and have never had a problem. I Know of a few guys that have had a few problems with the marcums. I purchaced a LXi hand held and I wish I would have got the vexliar hand held instead, my "green box" works better.

[Bob Horn]

I would like to know what problems the marcums were having that you are talking about. I know the vexilars from time to time had issues in the past but I think all electronics will have issues at some point. They are machines and aren`t perfect.

[CrappieJohn]

Very good point Bhorn.. Machines. I like simplicity. The Marcum is the epitome of that. White or wheat....not everybody likes the same toast and some don't like toast at all.

[Chris-Neises]

Go with the Vex. You should be happy.

[SingleShot]

Both units are good, I've looked at both for some time but ended up getting the Marcum Lx3 today. Awsome unit. I like the feature of moveing the zoom window throught the water column. The power output is much greater than the vex and some say this is not a big deal, but I have found the sensitive on the outer edges of the cone is better with units having more power. Like the above posts they'er both good units, I was able to see both in action and opted for the Marcum

JK

[Rather.B.Fishing]

I agree with singleshot. I had a Vex, then followed the debates on this very HSOforum a couple years ago, and went with the Marcum. I've got no complaints. The movable zoom did it for me.

As far as the hand held units, Road Kill, to bad your isn't up to your standards. Mine works great, as does my buddies Vex version.

I agree with CrappieTom, the toast analogy is awesome.

Either one will increase your catch, so take the plunge and get fishing!!

[wolfman-k]

I've had my FL-8 for at least 20 years and about 12 years ago, I went up to Mille Lacs fishing with a neighbor & a young friend of his who just bought an FL-8. Well, he watched his & then mine and offered me $100 cash along with his, sorry kid. I've still got mine and never had any problems!

[chunkytrout]

I think it's become an apples to oranges debate. I have a FL8SE and a Marcum LX3. One has 1500 ptp and target separation down to one inch, one doesn't. One has selectable zoom and one doesn't. The Marcum seems to have an upper edge on signal rejection as well. The Vex is a great unit and I love mine but come on...If you want the above features, buy a Marcum. If you don't need those features then buy something else. IMO it's that simple.

[korn_fish]

If Marcum had a 9 degree transducer, then I would consider Marcum., But they don't YET. I focus on eyes and deep breaks and didn't realize what I was missing on the bottom until I had the vex's dual ducer on the FL-18 ultra pack. If your looking at suspending fish that are over 6 feet above bottom then either unit is good with Marcum having and edge because of the movable zoom.

It's sorta, but not quite the ford vs. chevy dilema. Both are great units. When you say bang for your buck, it really depends on how you fish and the species you fish.

[Chad Wold]

Hey Fella's

Which of the 2 flashers would perform the best in deep water?I fish mainly for lake trout and they are normally a

40' to 60' deep fish in the winter here.I had been using a sonar in the past but I am leaning towards a flasher now.My sonar does have a flasher mode that I was playing with over the weekend and I really liked it.I could see my jig about 6 to 7 inches up from the bottom in about 50 to 60'of water.Are the flashers that much better or is it the colored Graph and clarity that really makes them the unit of choice back there?

[Dan Wood]

Chad,

For deep and suspended fish, the MarCum really shines above the Vex. The zoom on the MarCum can be adjusted anywhere in the water column, where the Vex is fixed to the bottom only. The deeper the water, the larger the depth scale and the greater the need for the zoom capabilities. You lose both target separation and range of movement with the larger depth scale. The zoom improves both of those.

[Paul Waldowski]

Chad,

Dan had a great post. Too add to that, IMHO a flasher is superb to a sonar, in the fact that once you learn and are familiar with it, you can almost set the hook by watching the flasher. It's like video fishing at times

[Chad Wold]

Dan,

Sounds like the marcum might be better suited for my needs here.The mackinaw are always coming in within a few feet of the bottom if not on the bottom.you hardly ever see them coming in higher up in the water column in hard water season. Im using a X97 lowrance now but thought that the Narrower beam(on the flasher) might be better than turning up my sensitivity(on my sonar)?? Isnt that supposed to widen your beam in degrees, up to 60 Degrees, which would make you lose your target seperation(with a sonar)? Am I on the right path here?Thanks for your input!

[Matt Breuer]

For deep water fishing where the fish are holding near the bottom, I would choose the FL-18 with a 9 degree 'ducer. You'll get a very tight cone and great sepration on the bottom.

If you're fishing your lakers over 6 feet off the bottom the Marcum may be better suited for you.

Apples to oranges is correct, it's all a matter of what's best suited for you and your needs.

I will say that I'm not a fan of the Lowrance Ice Machine. I've fished nest to them and the interference is something terrible! In my boat digtal is great, but I wouldn't trust anything bu my Vex on the ice!

[hanson]

Maybe there are other FMers that can chime in also but I thoroughly convinced my dad the other weekend that the Marcum was the way to go.

In all reality, I convinced 3 other friends of mine to go with the FL-18 before I REALLY learned about the Marum LX-3.

Before my Marcum purchase, I used the Zercom Colorpoint which I absolutley loved and cherished. The one thing that sold me on the Zercom was the packaging of the unit. Vexilar did NOT have any kind of SOFT CASE packaging at the time.

Somewhere along the line, I convinced my dad to buy the newest Vex, the FL18 which is absolutley awesome. We fished for a year together and I finally decided to upgrade due to the interference.

I hate to say, but 6 months later, I totally changed my mind of who made the best flasher after seeing the Marcum in use. I bought an LX-3 there after in a heartbeat and have no regrets since.

I ran my LX-3 against my dad's FL-18 2 weeks ago up at LOW and found myself splitting double duty between the 2 flashers. He picked up fish on his side of the house and I picked up fish on my side of the house. The one thing I noticed between watching the 2 flashers was the LX-3 'smoother' in preesenting the bait & fish. The Vex seemed to jump around more and present a stronger 'core' signal than the Marcum.

[Chad Wold]

Paul,

There seemed to be a little lag time in the movement of the bar on the graph in relationship to me moving the jig.Just a split second though.Sounds like the flasher can give you a little better heads up than the Sonar will, more of a real time unit. Is there a huge difference between the Lx3 and the Lx1 or the fl 18 and the fl 8?? Should I opt for the Higher Watts?? Alot of the lakes I fish have some pretty hard and rocky areas and are very deep. Again any advice is greatly appreciated!!

[Dan Wood]

The transducer angle doesn't change with gain adjustments. The transducer angle is more or less fixed, unless you get a dual transducer option on the vex. In most cases I feel the slightly larger viewing cone is beneficial. On the MarCum it is very easy to differentiate between a weak and strong signal, so you know when the fish are near the center of the cone. I like to be able to see more and differentiate by signal strength rather than limiting myself with the sonar capabilities.

Viewing cone diameter at 50'....

LX-3 20 deg. transducer

@50' - 17.6'

FL-18

19 deg. (nearly identical)

w/ 9 deg. transducer option

@50' - 7.8'

[Paul Waldowski]

Maybe these will help

The deeper the water, the more your cone grows. Adjusting the gain just gives you more power.

[Paul Waldowski]

The LX-3 and the LX-1 are really the same unit. The difference is the LX-3 has a few more bells and whistles and it also has the adjustable zoom which the LX-1 does not. The Marcum units put out 1500 watts of power which is just what you need to penetrate that deep water

[Chad Wold]

So will both the vex and marcum show me suspended fish pretty well?? I would prefer to see the bottom first and foremost but would like to get the unit that gives me a good view of as much of the water column as possible.

[Paul Waldowski]

Chad,

Both the Vexilar and Marcum will show the bottom and any suspended fish. The reason that most of us fish Marcum is with suspended fish you are able to zoom into that specific section of the water column and seperate out fish, meaning 2 or 3 fish group tightly together may show as one until you zoom in on them, they will then break out into different "marks". Vexilar also has that capability in the FL-18, but only from the bottom and up 6 feet.

[hanson]

Chad-

YES- They will both show suspended fish very well, and like Paul mentioned, you can zoom into that particular depth that the fish are at with the Marcum. With a Vex, you can zoom into any fish within 6' of the bottom.

Did I help you????