Choosing a Flasher - MarCum or Vexilar

[katowebguy]

Well I decided to use an Xmas gift certificate that I received towards one of the Marcums at Gander Mountain. They had both the Marcum and the Guide Series at the same price with the same rebate. I bought the Guide Series. Got it home and opened the box and NO rebate form. I contacted Marcum by email. The email response I received was that the Gander Mountain model does not qualify (even though it was on the box & on the display). Needless to say its going back tomorrow and Gander will hear about it.

[CNY Tim]

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Well I decided to use an Xmas gift certificate that I received towards one of the Marcums at Gander Mountain.

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If you picked up the VX-1 which is a MarCum product instead of the Guide Series GSX you would have found the rebate in the box, enough said. Sounds like your Gander got carried away with the rebate stickers. I would be mad at them but not at MarCum it's not there fault. As for the customer service it's first rate it's just that it's the holiday season and I am sure the phones are not fully manned, case and point I called today and it was busy. It's the holidays and I'm sure they have families too. Do what you want but the VX1 is the best value on a flasher I have ever seen and Ganders GSX and Cabela's VXR have proven themselves very well in performance when they were introduced last season. Time's running out Dec 31st is the last day to cash in on wonderful introductory unit...

[katowebguy]

The model I selected had the rebate "per the display model tag". The Gander rep who has worked in the fishing department for quite some time said they both qualify for the rebate.

[311Hemi]

Why not just exchange it for the VX-1, since you have until Dec. 31 that the rebate is good? Because the Gander Rep said it's true means Marcum is wrong, it might not be the other way around?

Just return it and get a vex...

(No offense vex guys!!)

[PDOGG]

It probably just takes some getting used to but when I'm in 19 FOW I'd rather be using the whole screen instead of half. But your right the MarCum is definetly superior to any Vexilar I've ever used and if they really haven't improved anything why change. Thanks for the response.

[CNY Tim]

The only promotion from MarCum is the VX-1 can't speak for Gander. Sorry for your wasted trip but I hope you will let the Gander sales guy know that he is wrong so someone else doesn't get the same bad business bull you got from the Gander rep.

[DTro]

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Well I decided to use an Xmas gift certificate that I received towards one of the Marcums at Gander Mountain. They had both the Marcum and the Guide Series at the same price with the same rebate. I bought the Guide Series. Got it home and opened the box and NO rebate form. I contacted Marcum by email. The email response I received was that the Gander Mountain model does not qualify (even though it was on the box & on the display). Needless to say its going back tomorrow and Gander will hear about it.

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FYI.....if you are in Mankato, Scheels has the VX-1 for $219, so after the rebate it's $169.

Also remember, the deadline for purchase is Dec 31 to qualify for rebate.

[katowebguy]

Scheel's has been sold out for days according the person I talked to on the phone today as they had a very limited number of them.

Back to my main issue:

After dealing with Gander Mountain this morning their model GSX per their distribution head for this area does in deed have a $50 rebate and they have a rebate site that they went into and printed me off the rebate. He was the one apparently who helped setup the deal for Gander Mountain.

That being said as I stated previously CS is absolutely poor. Lets take a company, shut down during the holidays and have a "person" answering our phone calls and emails and let him dish out mis-information however he sees fit. This is a problem with most companies in general. CS is a thing that has long since been tossed out with the garbage especially here in the USA. He finally admitted he didnt know for sure and a person who could answer the question would not be back till after the holidays. Why then answer the question at all? If you work there you should know about your company and its products and promotions or else you should find a new line of work.

On thing that bothers me yet is this rebate form also states "photocopies will not be accepted". That is all the form is and was with the Gander Mountain models. I can see them not honoring them and creating a mess for anyone who did purchase them. Gander Mountain assured me that Marcum would honor them but of course they will say that as they are not the ones who have to do them.

[Crappie_ Kid]

I was just there yesterday and they had a display one and three boxes under it.

[snoozebutton]

katowebguy, Do you think that with the rebate and Christmas just being over that they sold of ton of VX1's and just maybe all their CS reps are busy? Just a thought.

BTW, Thorne Bros has their VX1 discounted to $232.95, it says $249 but once you "Add it to your cart" the discount kicks in. I ordered mine on a Monday and Thursday afternoon the UPS guy dropped it off.

[cliffy]

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That being said as I stated previously Marcum's CS is absolutely poor.

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Sorry to hear of the problems. I have contacted Marcum twice in the past two years...they got back to me with a few hours...answered all my questions and even fixed my LX-3 and LXi for free...minus shipping. I guess every once in awhile things dont go right.....

Cliffy

[katowebguy]

America has become the land of the worst customer service ever.

[trapperdirk]

Oh katowebguy - Your only legit point is that indirectly or directly the GM product is a Marcum . The rebate is direct from Marcum to start . The GXR is not the same exactly. THE VX-1 HAS THE REBATE as advertised by MARCUM till DEC 31 of 2006. DO your talk at Gander as this seems to be their discount from them not Marcum direct or go ahead and buy an FL-8 as the world does not care if you want to use a product for more money . I don't wish to turn you off Marcum but something is not right with what you are saying. THE VX-1 is only Marcum that has rebate of 50 bucks . Buy it as the best flasher out there for the money and comparable with features to a vexilar FL-18. You make no sense to me.

As far as customer service ?. You must be kidding?. Marcum rocks in customer service.

TD

[Cal]

New hear, but I took alot of what was being said and purchased an LX-5 from Cabelas the other day. I was missing the wall charger, but contacted Marcum yesterday and whomever I spoke with was helpfull and said they'd get a replacement sent out right away.

For anyone else that may be in the market right now, reeds has them for 446 right now and if you print the page off, Cabelas will honor that price. Plus right now if your a Cabelas card holder you get another 30.00 off.

I also had another discount coupon, so before I used my cabelas pts. I recieved a total of just about a 130.00 in discounts.

[katoguy]

If Marcum sent out stickers and rebate forms to all retailers along with instructions to put the sticker on the box, open the carton, put the rebate form in the box (sticker states "rebate in box"), and then to reseal the box it was probably Gander's error.

The company I work for would never instruct retailers to open our cartons. Too much chance a part would go missing. Also, many consumers shy away from boxes that aren't "factory" sealed.

Either way, someone should reimburse the 50 bones. katowebguy, when marcum does call you back share their response. Good luck with your purchase.

[river huntfish]

cant beat a vexilar they have never failed me and they have brought my fishing skills to a whole new level.

[JayS]

I used my new Marcum over the holiday and it’s great. I never fished with a flasher before. Any secrets from you experience users on keeping the fish from getting tangled in the transducer? It seems like a pain to pull it every time.

[nitroant]

I drill a second hole just for the locator to use right next to the hole I am fishing out of. It works really well. Was losing a few fish at the top of the hole when it would get tangled up.

[marcumx*]

Some images of the new Gander Mountain Guide Series GS-X 3 Color Flasher made by Marcum.

Specs: 600W power, 6 levels of Interference Rejection, 4 depth ranges, Gain setting, Zoom, soft pack to withstand moisture, will work with 3 different transducers (ice one included)

[joe joe]

hears my 2 cents can't beat the fl-20 easiest one to read

[griz29]

I bought the Marcum VX-1 at the local bait shop right after christmas - I can't say enough about this product it works great costs less than a Vex and I haven't had any problems other than the case doesn't fit in a 5 gallon pail. Over all If you are looking to get a flasher and don't want to drop over 300.00 buy the marcum you won't be sorry.

[montanacurt]

I've fished empty handed next to my buddy with his Vex fl-8 for way too many years-- he outfishes me every time. This year I decided to enter the flasher game and ordered an FL-20 Ultra Pack from Cabelas. The next day they informed me they were sold out for the season! (not on all FL-20's, just the one with the specs I wanted) Apparently the data base is updated just once a night and doesn't exactly reflect what is in the warehouse.

I learned that they had the Lowrance M68 (just like the x67 but with GPS). This is a full color finder that also has a flasher mode. It was on sale, and with shipping it came to right around $450. That is less than what I was going to pay for the FL-20!

My opinion, the flasher mode on the Lowrance will be fine. I doubt it will be quite the same as a Vex-- let's face it real flashers are just plain cool! But, I only ice fish a few days a year, so having a unit I can take on my boat makes more sense.

As an added bonus, if I mark spots on the GPS in the summer, I know I will have them with me in the winter.

[mr fishfry]

Hello Anglers,,,Well I also bought a Marcum lx5, this year. Been out fishing with it the last few days, had a blast. Seen fish going thru it all day long. Played fish with all day long. Great bright colors too read in the sun, no problem. Just fun to fish with.Very glad I bought one. Had it on all day, used 20% of the battery power.Nice.There are plenty of other nice flashers out there too. But this one is mine...

[JuJu]

Ok I have had my LX-3 for about a month now and my buddy who I enter all the tournaments with has the FL-18, we fish side by side all the time and for me, this is what it boils down to:

MarCum has much better definition in zoom mode, there is no mistaking seperate fish schooled up, where Marcum has harder edge definition and Vexilar is more difficult to seperate a group of fish (3 or more), doesn't matter what they claim target seperation or target I.D. is Vexilar's display is one solid block of three colors off the bottom, and only when you pull a fish away from the group are you able to distinguish it.

In 60' of water, with his gain up to 10, he can vaguely see his lure with the vexilar, unless he is using a big spoon or other big lure, where I don't have much trouble with anything like that.

As I said we fish together and have not had any real problem with interference, I can knock all of his out, and he can knock out most of mine.

I am in the pacific NW and fish cold and warm water species, mainly perch, lake trout, and perch.

[bassislife]

I had a marcum and in the first couple of days the nobs fell off so I returned it. My dad has had an FL-8 for 15 years and never had a problem with it. As for me, just got a new Fl-18 and I love it.