Benefits of a Dual Beam Transducer

High guys and gals out there on IDO. I am currently without a flasher for the upcoming ice season. I sold my Vexilar FL-8 to my friend and I wanted to put the money down and buy something a little more advanced. I have been trying to look at units- Marcum and Vexilar- that have a dual beam transducer- 8/20 or 9/19 respectively. I was wondering what is the advantage of the dual beam and do you really need it? Another feature is the zoom/bottom lock that interests me as well. Finally, and I hate to bring up the Marcum- Vexilar debate, but I am wondering if anyone has any information on the Peak-to-Peak watts and how important they are. Basically, any help you could give me would be very appreciated. STeve.

I wouldn’t be without my dual beam now that I’ve had one for years. If I fish real shallow water, it’s on 19, deep water it’s on 9, generally. Crappie fishing over deep water, suspended fish half way down…I’m on 19 till the school moves in and creates lots of clutter on the screen, flip to 9 quick and work the stack of fish. The biggest positive…Fishing with 2-3 other guys in the shack, 6 lines down causing clutter on 19, flip to 9.

The rest of the debate?

BIRDDOG

Well being as how I was in the same market you find yourself in currently I was going back and forth between Power, Dual vs. single beam, and Zoom.

I ended up right where I started out. With the MarcumVX-1P. I know what which one to get wasn’t you question, but I’ll explain how I got back to it after flipping back and forth about 1800 times. ( drove the wife nuts)

I started at Power. For starters I’m a “the more power the better” type of guy. If you start out with any Marcum you will automatically have more power than the comparible flasher of any brand. So that “Helped” my search. Plus after seeing the VX-1 laster year @ 600 Watts P2P side by side with a Fl-20 and all 400 watts of it’s P2P I thought the marcums had hands down better signal returns which I could only chalk up to power.

The Dual beam single beam was probably the thing I had the hardest time deciding on. I was in the market for a entry level flasher, unless a deal I couldn’t refuse came along. With a new kid I have a budget now, and had to really think about how I was going to be using my newest toy. I look at it this way, and James did a great job of explaining it in their 1st episode this season, If you take say a 20 degree angle the further out it goes the more ground it covers. So if you are fishing in 100 feet of water your flasher @ 20 degrees will have more clutter than it will at 9 degrees. When you start getting out towards the bottom, just because they are on your screen doesn’t mean they are interested in what you have because they could be 30′ away. So with me not fishing deep water all that often I really didn’t see the NEED to have a dual beam ( yet). It sure would be nice for when I do get out deep, but right now I didn’t need it. (this single vs. dual beam had me flip between the Hummin’bird ice series, and the Marcums every 5 minutes)

Since I just finished eating look at it like a regular sugar cone( 9 degree) and a large Waffle cone (20 degree) Now I want some ice cream!!!

My big thing was actually the zoom. I used a few Marcums last year, and I don’t know if I ever fished them with out using the zoom. So for me that was really a must have feature. (also the easiest since again I wasn’t going to be spending enough money to get all 3 options)

there were also some other things that entered my mind, but I would say my next unit will just be a Marcum where I can get a high powered, dual beam, zooming flasher, and sacrifice nothing!

I’m continually finding new uses for the dual beam feature on my LX5.

When fishing steep breaks the narrow beam is very useful for eliminating much of the “bottom dead zone” you’ll experience using a wide angle cone on a steep break.

When fishing in THICK weeds or wood in shallow water the option to go to narrow beam is fantastic for eliminating weeds and tree branches out on the edges of the cone angle that show up as signal returns.

Could I fish without the narrow beam option? Sure I could. I just don’t want to.

To directly answer Steve’s Questions:

The dual beam is used most effectly when on breaks. Your cone may be picking up 6 ft of area. Within that 6 feet, it may be 15ft deep on one side and 20ft deep on the other. By narrowing the cone, you eliminate this error in your reading of the bottom.

Power is good for 2 basic things. Interference rejection and target separation resolution. MarCum uses its power to reject interference, where as Competitors use a series of filters. With more power, you’ll be able to eliminate interference with one inference setting, and get a crisp clean display.

All of the above plus, I use the narrow beam when fishing deeper waters (30feet) on pool 8 holding schooling shad. One hit of the NBT button clears up a lot of the cluster on the screen.

All of the above info is spot on. If you are going from a FL-8 to something with zoom features you will wonder how you ever lived without. I bought the VX-1 when it first came out as my first (and only so far) flasher and the zoom is a fantastic feature for a ‘budget’ unit. The zoom gives you that better target seperation. I fished next to a number of FL-8’s and they are good units but it was night and day when trying to see bottom hugging walleyes in 20+ fow.

Steve, if you want to hit first ice somewhere with me, I can let you borrow an lx-5 for a day- and you can see if you like the features-

Most of the benefits of a dual-beam ducer have been well-covered. I’d also recommend that if you fish in a hardside with other anglers a majority of the time, it can be very helpful in keeping a clutter-free screen. This is doubly true in rocky bottom conditions and/or deep water.

In regards to the comments on the VX-1, the features on it are meant to compare-to, and exceed, the features on an FL-18……for a fraction of the cost!

High power has been a tenet of efficient sonar operation since it’s origination. More sound transmitted into the environment, more sound returned back to the receiver for better:

-target separation
-interference rejection capability
-overall sensitivity of the sonar unit

Joel

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In regards to the comments on the VX-1, the features on it are meant to compare-to, and exceed, the features on an FL-18……for a fraction of the cost!

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Seen that when comparing units and that’s exactly why I bought it! No brainer for me

One more comment, the power head is very quiet on my Marcum. I couldn’t get any more for my $200, NEW!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the great feedback and I will have to put all things into consideration. Luke, I may have to take you up on your offer! I’d really like to see what an LX-5 can do. But anyway, thanks everyone for all your information and help!