FLX-28 Bottom and Zoom Issues

Anyone with an FLX-28 having issues not finding bottom at times? No interference, no jig down, adjusting gain up and down and nothing. Without the FLX-28 finding and marking bottom depth, the auto zoom does not work…When it doesn’t read the bottom correctly, it will zoom the TOP of the water column…Also, without it reading and marking bottom when it’s in auto depth, it will change back and forth from the correct depth to 300′ very sporadically.

Happens in all depths from 6-40′. Tried adjusting gain back and forth, low power mode, weed mode and everything in-between. Only thing I have not tried is unplugging the suppression cable which, IMO, is absolutely needed with the FLX in any depth with the proview…

Please no “buy a Marcum” or “buy a Bird” comments. I own 2 birds and even with this issue, it’s still a superior piece of equipment.

Is there a manual depth mode? Probably have to use that. Alot of these new fancy features have glitches no matter what brand.

Try just turning the unit off, then back on.
See if that resets it.

Turn everything off (zoom) or down (gain) before you power up. When it powers up should find bottom right away, the choose your zoom and adjust gain/IR as needed
Be sure there is no ice on bottom of transducer

I’d guess bad ducer.

Turn it on put the transducer to your ear and listen to hear a clicking noise if you do not hear a clicking noise chances are there is a broken cable or bad connection

Manual depth mode is what I have to use to keep it from going to 300′ range but it still does not always find bottom. When I say find bottom, I mean the digital readout does not say the depth, the flasher functions perfectly fine otherwise. Without the digital readout showing depth, it will not auto zoom to the bottom.

I’ve tried turning it off and on multiple times and it still has issues with reading the correct depth, yet the flasher function works fine. This isn’t a problem when fishing shallow without zoom, it’s only an issue when using the zoom function. Without the digital readout showing correct depth, it will not zoom properly, even if the flasher is clearly showing bottom and working just fine.

I believe it’s a known issue and is covered under warranty. They may even cover it if its outside its warranty. Contact vex.

It’s my understanding that they’ll fix it on the spot.

I would unplug the suppression cable, it my be interfering with the depth reading. I use the Proview and the 12 on my 28 and both work fine in any depth. Call Vexilar and talk to the service department. Really don’t know why you would need a the suppression cable, try turning the gain down. Under 20 ft. I use Low Power a lot.

I don’t have experience with the pro-ducer, but I’m questioning the need for the suppression cable as well. That’s made for Vex’s that don’t have a low power mode. I would try it without the suppression cable and see if you are still having issues. Otherwise I’d give Vexilar a call as their customer service is top notch.

Crappy Fisherman wrote:

Really don’t know why you would need a the suppression cable, try turning the gain down. Under 20 ft. I use Low Power a lot.

I fish a lot in 4-8′. There is absolutely zero chance to get a jig smaller than red/white in low power with my unit, even with gain at the lowest in that depth. With the cable installed, I’m still well under 1 for gain with panfish jigs…In 30′, normal mode with a suppression cable installed, I’m still under 1 again for gain with a large sized tumbler spoon. Previously, the gain was all the way down and still too large without the cable. It really is a necessity for my unit, but I agree that it could be the cause of this issue.

I’ll un-hook it this week and go from there. But even if it fixes the zoom problem, the unnecessarily strong readings without the cable will ultimately be worse than having no zoom…

Sorry to hear you having this problem. Maybe the Marcum would be a better choise with its Fine Line setting. I’ve always been a Vexilar guy so the bigger marks don’t bother me. Each has its good and bad points. I’m not in love with the Proview but I’m learning to like it a little more every time I use it. It has a learning curve. Hope you find something that works for you.

404 ERROR wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Crappy Fisherman wrote:</div>
Really don’t know why you would need a the suppression cable, try turning the gain down. Under 20 ft. I use Low Power a lot.

I fish a lot in 4-8′. There is absolutely zero chance to get a jig smaller than red/white in low power with my unit, even with gain at the lowest in that depth. With the cable installed, I’m still well under 1 for gain with panfish jigs…In 30′, normal mode with a suppression cable installed, I’m still under 1 again for gain with a large sized tumbler spoon. Previously, the gain was all the way down and still too large without the cable. It really is a necessity for my unit, but I agree that it could be the cause of this issue.

I’ll un-hook it this week and go from there. But even if it fixes the zoom problem, the unnecessarily strong readings without the cable will ultimately be worse than having no zoom…

Maybe give vex a call and be done with it?

Maybe this link to Vexilar will help

http://www.vexilar.com/pages/flx-281

Troy Hoernemann wrote:

Maybe this link to Vexilar will help

http://www.vexilar.com/pages/flx-281

Thank you. I’ll update my finding this week when I’m on the ice.

Sounds similar to what mine was doing. The way I fixed it? I’ll be that guy…I bought an LX7. I had nothing but headaches with it and was advised by the company to run a suppression cable on the thing. That was the final straw. A unit like that shouldn’t need a dang s-cable. There were other issues as well. I hope it works out for you…I really do. It worked out well for me by switching to a different set up.

Buy a Garmin.

Kidding. I ran into an issue with mine in deep water, 120’+. It would all of a sudden go into 10’ auto depth range. It appeared to me it was picking up the surface clutter and using that to display the depth and select a depth range.

I called Vex today and they were familiar with the issue. Apparently I am correct and it is most likely to happen over thick ice and soft bottom in very deep water. They if you need it for deep water they will take it and program a manual depth selection option. That way it will be hard set on your depth and not use the auto-depth mode.

They will do this for free.

biggill wrote:

Buy a Garmin.

Kidding. I ran into an issue with mine in deep water, 120’+. It would all of a sudden go into 10’ auto depth range. It appeared to me it was picking up the surface clutter and using that to display the depth and select a depth range.

I called Vex today and they were familiar with the issue. Apparently I am correct and it is most likely to happen over thick ice and soft bottom in very deep water. They if you need it for deep water they will take it and program a manual depth selection option. That way it will be hard set on your depth and not use the auto-depth mode.

They will do this for free.

You can have them set a depth setting for let’s say 120 and 140?
Mine on superior auto range would give me 160 when I was fishing in 120 wondered why thought it could range 5ft at a time

I highly doubt it. I’m guessing it’ll have the same ranges. It’ll probably still be 160’ range if you’re fishing in 120’.

I don’t find that inconvenient anyway. Lake trout move so fast that a lower resolution like that doesn’t cause any issues.

Sent my unit in last spring and it made it SLIGHTLY better, but it was still wigging out. I ended up buying a 19 degree transducer and my problem was fixed…

The 19 would obviously make your situation worse, BG. Glad you resolved it. I really wish I would have dumped the proview years ago for how I use my flasher…