Vexilar problems. I need some ad

[Lip RIPPER!]

I need some suggestions about my vexilar. My unit is about 3 years old and when I fish with another person who has a vexilar in the house (his unit is only a year old), his always seems to work better than mine. I also have had this problem with other units which are only a year or so old He can pick up his lures up better than mine and he also has much less interference than I have. He doesn't have to have his interference button on at all and I am always trying to tune stuff out. They set their gain on about zero or one in deep water and mine is on 2 just to see my jig. Do I need another transducer or is it something else? Thanks

[Dave]

My gain is usually around 2 in 35 feet of water to see a jig. But, couple years ago, I did have "interference" problem when fishing next to another Vex, too. I had a bad transducer.

[Guest]

Replace the ducer.

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MILLE LACS AREA GUIDE SERVICE
651-271-5459 http://fishingminnesota.com/millelacsguide/

[Lip RIPPER!]

How much are the new ducer's?

[bigeyes]

trandsducer is 49.99 at Gander, it sounds like that is the problem to me. What does the bottom of it look like, is the plastic houseing on it smooth like new or has it been roughed up over time?

[Lip RIPPER!]

It is a little rough. It worked pretty good in some shallower water with current earlier this year. I suppose I will have to shell out 50 smacks then. DO you know if they have them on hand or do you have to order them? Thanks for help.

[Dave]

I'd try a visit to Vexilar in Bloomington. They've always been first rate in customer service for me. Maybe they'll replace it for ya.

[Lip RIPPER!]

I was on their HSOforum and they want to charge and even admit charging more than going through a retailer. Does anyone know if Cabelas has them on hand?

[Gissert]

Lip RIPPER -

I had the same problem a couple years back. I dropped by their facility in Bloomington, and asked if they could test my transducer.

The tech took it, and returned in a few minutes. He said my ducer was bad, and handed me a used one, as they had no new ones around. No charge! I hav ebeen using that used one for three winters now, and it still works great.

It might be worth your while to just drop by.

[minneman]

So, in other words, if you have a scratched up ducer its bad? looked at mine and its pretty scratched, and can say that mine acts like rippers, anyway to buff out the scratches? or would that help? thanx

[finface]

whatever you do, dont buff anything off, or tamper with it in anyway. your only gonna dig yourself a deeper hole.
good luck

[Dave]

I'm sure there's many ways to "scratch" the bottom of the ducer. Was it dropped, slid across the ice gently, scratched from rubbing the bottom of a dirty pro pac while in your sled......having a ducer go bad might depend on how abused the ducer has been. Inside the ducer is sensitive components. I don't think the scratches have anything to do with performance itself.

[Guest]

If all things are equal and you have a clean transducer you shouldn't be getting do much interference. Your transducer should be set so it is just below the ice and free from and surface bubbles, slime, or dirt. The gain should be set just high enough to read your bait and if you still see rough signals then odds are your crystal in the transducer is bad.

You stated your unit is 3 years old. If you always had this problem then you may have received one of the poor units that was sent out about then, they will replace it free of charge if the model number indicated the transducer lot may be the same.

Vexilar is very good about there service policy so give them a call. If the unit began this more recently then the odds are the transducer went bad after you bought it and they may not warrantee the unit then. Keep that in mind when you call...(WINK).

I did get a poor transducer about 3 years back and they had a new unit at my door in 2 days, at no charge.

I am curious, is your transducer shaped like a film canister or a cylinder, or more of a tapered turd style ducer? The canister units were the poor units if I recall correctly. But there may be a factory defect at any time so I would call no matter what and check with the service dept.

Vexilar is tops in quality and service, they love there customers!

Good luck!

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"Ed on the Red"
Backwater Guiding Service
[email protected]
fishingminnesota.com/ed-on-the-red/

[Lip RIPPER!]

Ed, mine is shaped like a film canister. I talked to another buddy of mine last night and he says is scratched up pretty good and his works just fine. I'll have to give vex a call.

[minneman]

BE, I think I have one of those 3 yr old mods. with the film canister style, do you just give them a call or send it in?

[Lip RIPPER!]

Minneman, I just sent them an e-mail on their HSOforum. I'll let you know what they say.

[Guest]

Give the service dept a call and explain the situation. If all go's well they will have a new one out to you and you then send the old one back when it gets to you.

[Guest]

,

[This message has been edited by D-man (edited 01-08-2002).]

[Guest]

The "film canister" shaped ducer just means that its a 19 degree ducer. The shape of the ducer changes with the degree it is. I have never has a problem with the 19 degree. Average life span on a ducer depending on how you take care of it and how much you use it is less than three years. Sounds like you need a new one. If you get a new one, the thing i see that most guys are doing is when pulling it out of the hole when bringing a fish, the ducer is being slammed on the ice. Taking better care of the ducer even though it looks like it could with stand a beating,will further its life and return better signals.

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MILLE LACS AREA GUIDE SERVICE
651-271-5459 http://fishingminnesota.com/millelacsguide/

[Wobbler]

Lip Ripper,
You can use my transducer this weekend and see if it makes a difference. It would not have matter last weekend because there was not very many fish showing up on the vexilar.

[widetrack]

Is it just me, or does a vex take a while to "warm up" On mine I have to have the gain up to around 4 for the first 1/2 hour or hour, then it starts working better and I can turn the gain down to 1 or less. Anyone else experience this?

[Guest]

If you had your Vex stored in the cold it may just be your battery is warming up in the sun?

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"Ed on the Red"
Backwater Guiding Service
[email protected]
fishingminnesota.com/ed-on-the-red/

[Lip RIPPER!]

I borrowed a transducer from a buddy on Saturday and my Vex worked great. It was the trasducer that was causing the problems. His doesn't have any scratches on it and mine does so I'll be making a purchase this week.

[Guest]

LipRipper did you check in with the service center at Vexilar yet? If you suspect it may have been a poor unit I would sure do that.

A recommendation I would toss out is if you fish often in 10' or less pick up a S-Cable too. They really do the job in the shallows as you will have a better signal an peripheral mood detection then without one.

I have been ice fishing walleye at night in 5-8' of water on rivers with very soft bottoms. I know when a walleye is near no question about it by adding the S-Cable (limits power to the transducer).

The trick is to set the gain just so you occasionally get the second ghost signal. Once a fish moves into the outer reach of the cone you see the ghost mark brighten slightly, then you may see a another mark appear between the ghost mark and the main band as it closes in to look at the bait.

You can read the fish's mood much better and change your presentations accordingly. Without the S-Cable this information often gets blurred out by the excess of band with and you will not see these cautious looker fish.

With less ice and more O/2 available we see more walleye up very shallow at night then we normally would this late in the season.

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"Ed on the Red"
Backwater Guiding Service
[email protected]
fishingminnesota.com/ed-on-the-red/

[Lip RIPPER!]

Ed, I checked with the company and there were no recalls on the 19 degree transducers. After looking with mine, it is scratched pretty bad. I'll just have to be more careful. It would be nice if they could come up with something to slide over the end so that the transducer itself wouldn't get scratched.

[minneman]

Theres a good one!, Prophalactics for your ducer!? good idea!