VX-1 Pro Disappointment

This is my first post, so with that, hello everyone! I recently did some research in hopes of finding a solid decision on my first flasher. I wasn’t sure how zoom worked with flashers, but it seemed to be a nice option, so I went with the VX-1. When the unit worked, it was great! Zoom works awesome! Sadly though, it didn’t work for long. I was trying to jig for crappies with jig and minnow. To turn up the gain enough to see my jig and minnow, there was so much garbage on the bottom part of the screen(where the fish would be) I couldn’t find my jig in the mess. it was like I was getting interference from another flasher, but no one was around me. Then my friend showed up with his 12 year old FL8. He had no problems at all. So I made the 40 minute trip back to Gander Mountain, disappointed, to get another one. This one worked for a couple hours, the had the same issues as the first. I checked the power and had 12.22V, so that wasnt the issue. All while my friend with his old vexilar had no problems at all. Sorry Marcum, we’re through.
I got spoiled by the zoom. It looks like I’ll be digging deeper for the FL18 unless someone has a better recommendation

How deep of water were you in? Was the transducer below the ice and clean? I love my VX-1, it makes my old FL-8 look terrible in comparison.

Call Marcum customer service, if its a bad unit they will replace it ASAP, they will also be able to walk you through different checks, I switched from Vex to Marcum last year and wont go back until Vex comes up with something better, I still have a Vex FL-22 but will be selling that, now have LX-5 and LX-7 both awesome machines.

Some specific details would be nice. I doubt you would end up with 2 bad units in one day.

Depth, area, bottom, weeds, structure etc? Did this happen no matter where you went or fish? Did it only happen in zoom?

I find it odd that the FL8 worked great yet two VX1 units failed. You sure the zoom wasnt showing you weeds, structure or fish that the FL8 couldnt see?

I was in 17′ of water, and the transducer was below the ice and clean. I guess maybe I’ll call marcum. The VX-1 has a great looking display, especially compared to that old Vexilar, however, that vex was looking a lot better, when it was marking his jig and fish, and I just had a bunch of garbage on my screen. The lake has few weeds. This was fishing from a permanent structure. The flasher worked great for a while, with a clean, nice display, then it went to crap.

Welcome to the sit.

Would be more than will to trade you my old fl-8 for the VX-1. My fl-8 served me well for many years but it just doesnt get any ice time anymore since the marcum moved in. Let me know where you are at and Ill run my Vex right over.

1st post haters not taken seriously here.

I’m more disappointed, than hating. I called Marcum. Had top leave a message, hopefully they call back soon. Maybe they had a bad batch of transducers come through.

Cool story bro! Welcome to IDO

watched a buddy using his fl8 this saturday in about 15 feet of water.

his vex showed weeds/brush and about 12 feet of water. gain at 0.

“a big fish is coming in, this is a huge mark”

“dude, your tiny jig is 1/4″ red mark, that fish is probably small”

“i can’t turn the gain down anymore”

after a while of hopping i put my marcum down that same hole and i was reading 15 ft of water with a little bit of weeds

yipes. glad i made the switch.

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watched a buddy using his fl8 this saturday in about 15 feet of water.

his vex showed weeds/brush and about 12 feet of water. gain at 0.

“a big fish is coming in, this is a huge mark”

“dude, your tiny jig is 1/4″ red mark, that fish is probably small”

“i can’t turn the gain down anymore”

after a while of hopping i put my marcum down that same hole and i was reading 15 ft of water with a little bit of weeds

yipes. glad i made the switch.

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I’d like to keep the unit. I hope it’s a mistake I’m making. This isn’t rocket science though. The thing works perfect for a while, then just goes to crap. I try playing with the gain, without any luck. I played with the IR, no luck. Had my friend turn off his Vex, nothing changed. I could tell he was envying my VX1 at fist. Not so much after a couple hours. Lots of people seem to like their VX1. Had I known this is a Marcum sponsored site, I would have know I’d get bashed for posting this. That sucks. Was hoping for some ideas on what the problem might be

the site is full of vex owners as well. your best bet is to call marcum. it however seems weird that your 2nd one did the same thing as well. also if you ran to gander and got another one and ran right back, chances are the battery the 2nd one was not charged. i would give it a good charging and then give it another shot. i think in 80% of all flasher problems, a battery either being shot or not charged is the culprit.

Sure sounds like what my older VX-1 will do when the battery gets really low, or there’s a bad connection somewhere. Seems doubtful that you would get 2 bad tranducers.

I’ve never had to deal with Marcum customer service, but I’m sure you will get it resolved.

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the site is full of vex owners as well. your best bet is to call marcum. it however seems weird that your 2nd one did the same thing as well. also if you ran to gander and got another one and ran right back, chances are the battery the 2nd one was not charged. i would give it a good charging and then give it another shot. i think in 80% of all flasher problems, a battery either being shot or not charged is the culprit.

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I did take it right out to the lake fishing. The owner’s manual says the battery comes fully charged so you can to that. Both worked will for a couple hours, then got bad. I suspected the battery but I tested it and had 12.2V.

12.2 is charged….but nowhere close to full..12.7
Your symptoms (it mess’s up after 2 hrs)do indicate a low charge…
Try a full charge and see what happens…

do you have the battery gauge on it to tell you how much % of power is left? I bought one (yes spendy at around 40 or 50.00) but then you definately know what you are working with and how much power is left. could be a bad battery also. a bad battery defiantely has influence on performance and marking jigs and such. battery does come charged i am sure, but who knows how long sitting before sent and probably not at peak chare a few hours probably. a good drain to the battery and good overnight full charge should cheer you up hopefully. good luck and let us know the out come.

broncs

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the site is full of vex owners as well. your best bet is to call marcum. it however seems weird that your 2nd one did the same thing as well. also if you ran to gander and got another one and ran right back, chances are the battery the 2nd one was not charged. i would give it a good charging and then give it another shot. i think in 80% of all flasher problems, a battery either being shot or not charged is the culprit.

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I did take it right out to the lake fishing. The owner’s manual says the battery comes fully charged so you can to that. Both worked will for a couple hours, then got bad. I suspected the battery but I tested it and had 12.2V.

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who knows how long it sat after its initial charge though. they’ll lose charge over time.

I bought one of these units yesterday for my boy to use. I just got off the phone with Marcum as it has been charging for 22 hrs and the light still shows red. The customer service rep said they have been finding that it may take 36-48 hrs. to fully charge. We will see.

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12.2 is charged….but nowhere close to full..12.7
Your symptoms (it mess’s up after 2 hrs)do indicate a low charge…
Try a full charge and see what happens…

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Actually, mine is charging now. The red light is still on. I unplugged it for a reading, its at 13.66V. It’s not uncommon for a 12V battery to charge a little higher. I had these problems when by battery was at 12.2V. I always charged the first one I got after every time out. It seems that as soon as the power gets a little low(12.2V in a 12V battery is not low) the problems start. That’s only after about 2 hours of fishing. That’s not acceptable.

Post deleted by Chad777

I would bet you were seeing baitfish down there on your unit, and your friend with the old vex was not because his is not as sensitive. If you would have told him to turn his gain up to half way he would probably have seen it too.

If your gain was over 2-3 you had it way too high. Make sure the cord is not kinked and the transducer is below the ice. You should be able to see your minnow in 20 feet of water on about 2-2.5 gain. Minnows can be tricky though, they will swim out of the cone of your sounder and make you turn up the gain to see them, then you start picking up baitfish or plankton (like you did).

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12.2 is charged….but nowhere close to full..12.7
Your symptoms (it mess’s up after 2 hrs)do indicate a low charge…
Try a full charge and see what happens…

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Actually, mine is charging now. The red light is still on. I unplugged it for a reading, its at 13.66V. It’s not uncommon for a 12V battery to charge a little higher. I had these problems when by battery was at 12.2V. I always charged the first one I got after every time out. It seems that as soon as the power gets a little low(12.2V in a 12V battery is not low) the problems start. That’s only after about 2 hours of fishing. That’s not acceptable.

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I’m starting to think your voltmeter is bad if its showing you charged a SLA to 13.66V and its not charged yet. Would also explain why you got 12.22V on a used battery that was never charged off the shelf. When I got mine it was on 11.1V right out of the box.

Called again and talked to a guy there. He said I shouldn’t have performance issues til the battery gets down to 11V or so. We talked about the problems I’ve had, and he said normally the user is doing something wrong. I explained to him that it’s perfect for the first couple hours, but then my jig starts to fade and in order to see it I have to adjust my gain up to a point it mucks up the screen. He recommended I send it to them or take it back to where I got it since it’s only a couple days old. He said he had just been telling someone how few problems they have with the VX-1. I apparently have [censored] luck. On a good note, it sounds like they have really fast turn around in case you do need service work done.

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I would bet you were seeing baitfish down there on your unit, and your friend with the old vex was not because his is not as sensitive. If you would have told him to turn his gain up to half way he would probably have seen it too.

I only adjusted my gain enough so see my jig. He could see his jig, so his gain was right. The unit worked great for a while. Then I couldn’t see my jig anymore and had to adjust that gain to see it. by the time I adjusted my gain enough to see my jig, the screen was a mess.
If your gain was over 2-3 you had it way too high. Make sure the cord is not kinked and the transducer is below the ice. You should be able to see your minnow in 20 feet of water on about 2-2.5 gain. Minnows can be tricky though, they will swim out of the cone of your sounder and make you turn up the gain to see them, then you start picking up baitfish or plankton (like you did).

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I only adjusted my gain enough so see my jig. He could see his jig, so his gain was right. The unit worked great for a while. Then I couldn’t see my jig anymore and had to adjust that gain to see it. by the time I adjusted my gain enough to see my jig, the screen was a mess.

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The customer service rep said they have been finding that it may take 36-48 hrs. to fully charge.

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Considering the chargers are low amp-trickle type this is no surprise.

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The customer service rep said they have been finding that it may take 36-48 hrs. to fully charge.

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Considering the chargers are low amp-trickle type this is no surprise.

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The vx-1P used to come with a 500mah charger. Should take 18 hours to fully charge a 9ah battery. If you are bringing from dead it will struggle a bit and take up to 20-22 hours.

If you have the charger with the little LED light, that one is a 1amp charger and should take around 9 hours to charge a 9ah battery, 7 hours for a 7ah and so on. Add an hour or two for a dead battery to recover before charging. No battery (9ah or 7ah) should take 48 hours to charge, even after being ran dry and needing to recover.

That is what I thought B BK. Hence, we will wait and see if it will be fully functional tomorrow.

My Marcum charger never has turned green even after a year, I just plug it in and forget it till I fish again….

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The customer service rep said they have been finding that it may take 36-48 hrs. to fully charge.

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Considering the chargers are low amp-trickle type this is no surprise.

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The vx-1P used to come with a 500mah charger. Should take 18 hours to fully charge a 9ah battery. If you are bringing from dead it will struggle a bit and take up to 20-22 hours.

If you have the charger with the little LED light, that one is a 1amp charger and should take around 9 hours to charge a 9ah battery, 7 hours for a 7ah and so on. Add an hour or two for a dead battery to recover before charging. No battery (9ah or 7ah) should take 48 hours to charge, even after being ran dry and needing to recover.

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That sounds about right.

If you guys are looking for a good charger with a float, I suggest a battery tender jr. I have one and it is SWEET. Used my vx-1p for about 2.5 hours today. Came home, hooked it up to the charger, and in 1 hour 45 minutes it was fully charged and in maintenance mode where it will stay until I need it. Best $25 I have ever spent.