Vexilar or Marcum?

Cade-Don’t overlook the Guide Series flashers at Gander They are made by Marcum and from the display in the store, they are awesome. I run a vex but I would strongly encourage checking the Marcums out. They are selling for $299. That is with a nice soft carrying case as well.
But, either one will work wonders for you. Once you play with one for a little while, you will see how easy they are to run If you are catching the fish you do now without a vex, I can’t imagine the results you will have when you do get one

thanks wats…i really do take that as a compliment. It feels good knowing i have done my homework!

Very good point Wats. Gander and Cabalas each have name brand units. I ran both units in testing and they have many similar features to the Vexilar FL-18 and are designed to meet the needs of the average ice angler and are priced accordingly. With those units you get the 3 color display, the standard 20 degree transducer, charger, soft pack, Zoom and IR..they are nice units.

The Zoom feature is a little different, as you get either a 5ft or 10 ft zoom window that is locked on the bottom. If you want an adjustable zoom you will have to step up the the LX-3 atleast.

Got my FL18 Ultra yesterday from Wade…>WOW talk about service.

Will be dipping it in lake Vermilion Saturday….can’t wait

I took grandpa out fishing with me the other day. I let him use my FL-18 some, and he decided he needs a flasher.

Anyway, we went to cabelas and I helped him pick one out on Monday. We decided on the Cabelas/Marcum VXR. For 299 it seemed like a decent price, and had some good features.

Well, we got it home and went to set it up…….The handle was broken on the unit. Oh well we thought, we’ll try it out and go exchange it tomorow.

Anyway, onto the fishing, we tried it out in a sand pit, fishing in about 24′ of water. I was not impressed at all with this unit. There was numerous times we struggled to find jigs with it, and I’d bring over my FL-18 and drop it in and it would show up just fine. Also, it seemed like the display wasn’t as quick or crisp as my Fl-18, the three colors seemed to blend together making target seperation tough.

He went back to cabelas to exchange it today. Should be interesting to see what he tries next, maybe the X67?

Daver,

you know I have been using the Vex FL-18 also and have had great success with it…

but,

with the two units your comparing, it’s not apples to apples..I am going to check out the Marcum LX-5 along side my FL-18 up on Mille Lacs and when I get back the story will be told

susperdave, one thing to consider is with a broken handle that unit may have been dropped in shipping. Not that they can’t handle a drop, but if it was hard enough to break the handle you can bet that some contacts were damaged as well as the transducer. I would take it back and try a new one first.

I have run the same unit you are using and they actually work really well. Your unit is obviously damaged.

As Koonce said, if you want to compare units, get and LX-2 and compare it to the FL-18, they are very similar in function.

Is there only one kind of FL-18 or is there one that has more featurs

There are three “Packs” that come standard with the vexilar flashers. Each one has a different price. The “Genz” pack is the cheapest and comes in a hard plastic blue case. The Pro pack is next and is round and fits in a plastic bucket..this pack includes a little tackle box as well. The ultra pack is really nice, it has a cup holder, rod holder all kinds of other stuff….but keep in mind you are paying probably 30-40 dollars extra just to get those few extra features, when the unit is exactly the same Plus, the vexilars do not come with a soft case, you have to pay extra $$ to get one of those. With the marcum, you get the great unit, and you get an awesome carrying case, with storage room on the side which i have found is great for pliers, fishing line, and waxie containers.
Here are the websites for both companies.
VEXILAR
MARCUM
I have fished on an fl-8, and i own a marcum Lx-3…Trust me, they both do a great job marking fish and they are both awesome units.

Hey Gang,

Found this site recently looking for the answer to just what flasher to buy.

Even after 4 pages I am still a little confuzed as to what will fit my needs. I plan on fishing pike, rainbows, char, whitefish, and lakers. After reading 4 pages of this and a few other sites the Marcum LX 3 sounded like the right flasher. Even went to our local sportsmens warehouse to pick the stinker up today knowing they had the Marcum line. Here’s my position, they only have the LX 5 and the Vex Fl-18’s.

I’ve never owned a flasher however have fished with an old humingbird growing up though it’s been years. This is a one time hopefully purchase for me for years to come.

Helluva position eh, what would you do given those criteria, Vex 18 or the Marcum LX 5?

Thanks from Alaska

Welcome to IDA AKDan!

Thanks for registering and asking the question.

Either units are fine…and you’ll be impressed over what you’ve used in the past.

Flashers are just about as bad as computers….1 year from now…what ever you by will be out dated.

Today, I feel the best technology is in the MarCum LX-5…just got mine a few days ago, had the LX-3 prior.. and a Vex prior to that.

If I was a betting man…I would bet a quarter that Vex will be coming out with a better unit by next year…(better as in newer than what MarCum has today)….

I’m just a user…and giving you “my opinion”…which certainly doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong…it’s just my opinion.

What apart of AK are you in?

Thanks again for joining IDA!

Well huh, Here I thought I posted a reply to you Brian, guess I missed the enter button

Anyways, I am in Fairbanks, originally from Forest Lake Mn area. Still have family scattered throughout MN.

Thanks for the reply.

Btw, we went chasing pike today. Buddy had two flags, landed both of his fish. I had 6 flags, landed two fish, lost one really nice one. Fun day over all, a balmy -15 out.

-15? I thought it got cold up there! Must be a pinnapple express coming through!

We’ve been in the high 20’s low 30’s for a while…I’ve been fishing out of a boat just as much as ice fishing!

By the way…MarCum’s or Vex’s don’t work real good for tipups!

Welcome to IDA Akdan
-15 is that Celsius or Fahrenheit We are wishing we could get a little colder so we can start to get some better ice. Sounds like you have quite the mixed bag to fish for up there

Welcome to IDA AkDan!!!

That would be F not C.

Thanks for the welcome Steve.

We are just to the bottom of the auger part on our Eskimo. Another 8″es and we’ll need to start adding exstensions, happy joy. Just glad my partner bought an auger so we can stop hand drilling the holes.

Definatly a mixed bag of fish, even some early (or late if you will) salmon runs are going on up till late dec under the ice though I hate being on the rivers in winter. Also shee-fish are a possibility. My main goal is some big pike and some lunker lakers. Lakers are something I’ve wanted to do since I arrived however getting outfitted to specifically target them was spendy for a young under paid GI at the time. Finally found a guy with a similar desire to bend a rod year round as I and he already has some of the goodies.

I am going to post in a different post so as not to adhoc this one on some quick strike rig questions specifically for pike in this instance if any of you could help I’d greatly appreciate.

Again thanks for the help and the welcome!

Dan

A quick side note……….

A LX-5 magically found it’s way into my home today. Gonna go out for a couple hours of hammer handle action to see how it goes.

Was able to run a fl-18 side by side with the LX-5 today. The 5 picked up some interference from the 18 that was positioned 2 feet away, however with one push of the IR feature that was gone. The 18 is definatly brighter, the LX-5 is crisper and noticably quieter. Pumped like a kid again……….I’m goin fishn

Dan