FL-18 vs. FL-20

[WalleyeWarrior]

The wife surprised me with my choice of Vexilar for Christmas. Other than the obvious, flat-screen vs old style look, what other differences are there? Anyone have a preference that has tried both? Also, I normally fish for walleyes and crappies, so I'm guessing the 12 deg. would suffice. Any opinion on cone angle would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[cjromano]

WWarrior -

I started off with the OLD Fl-8 (the one with the fish alarm) and have moved up to the Fl-18. A buddy of mine was looking for a new unit this year and considered the Fl-20.

Far as I can tell, there is a difference in screen design. I am not sold that this will be seen as a good thing in the long run. Vexilar says that the new design eliminates snow/water from gathering on the face of the unit. That never really bothered me, and if it did, I just dump it out. I am concerned that the new design will not allow for as good viewing in bright weather (there was a post about this a couple of weeks ago).

There is also an adjustable zoom (the Fl-18 zooms the bottom 6 feet - the Fl-20 allows you to zoom six feet about that - between 6 and 12 feet from the bottom). I could see this working for suspended crappies - although when I have been on suspended crappies they have just about always been active, and there was little need for the precision that comes with the zoom.

I think those are then main differences.

If you aren't going to spring for the dual beam tranducer - get the 12 degree. Unless you do virtually all your fishing in really shallow water, or exclusively along deep breaks.