Hey guys, I’ve never used a flasher but am thinking about investing in one. In the Hummingbird review there was negative feedback about the wider cone angle in deeper water. I would think that a wide cone angle in deeper water would be detrimental in that it might pick up fish that are out of your lures range. Is there advantages with a wide cone angle in deep water that I’m not understanding?
Any thoughts on the cone angles when ice fishing would be greatly appreciated.
I don’t like a wide cone angle. I want to know what’s under me, not what’s 5 or 8ft away from me.
Yes, I would highly recommend a flasher with a wide angle and narrow angle. Yes, there are some issues with the hummingbird units, but there aren’t any issues with the wide beam and narrow beam on the LX-5…
The advantage to a wide beam transducer is in search mode…locating fish, and more importantly locating active fish after finding the fish. Also using a wide beam to locate bait fish such as shad, when your drilling holes 15-20 feet apart I want my transducer to see as much of the water column as possible.
Here is the deal, when spending upwards of 500 dollars on a flasher, I want to have all of the advantages that flasher technology has to offer, and for them to work properly. With that said, I will take a dual beam transducer flasher, and my flasher is an Marcum LX-5! 
Hey I’m on IDO and it’s 130 in the morning- can’t sleep after all the evening egg nog:) Yeah, wide angles are nice for locating fish, narrow I hear are good for targeting on them- especially in deeper water- so you don’t get fish from 40 feet away. I don’t have a wide beam and I don’t know if they are necessary- I do know that a flasher is no matter what brand. Anyway, that’s my two cents, and Merry Christmas!!
I would highly recommend a flasher to improve your fishing experiences. By having a quality unit it gives you a “set of eyes” under the ice to see not only depth and/or active fish but bottom density as well. It further gives you the ability to see how those fish are reacting to your presentation.
Most of my fishing is done using a narrow 9 degree cone on the duel beam Vexilar transducer. The primary reason for this choice is because I fish a tremendous amount of sharp drop offs. With a wide angle transducer you will have a “dead spot” in which you will not get a clear bottom reading while fishing steep drops. By using a narrow beam transducer you will eliminate that issue by reducing how far out your unit is reading. I further use the narrow cone because I want to know what is happening right below me.
Knowing where and how you fish Brian tells me you are ready for the lx5. Fishing shallower areas that we do, the wide angle cone is perfect for reading as much water as possible on the flats. After you find the bait and fish, that’s where the fun begins with the fine line and zoom features.
Still learning with this unit but for an added shot of confidence this unit is a great place to start
You can always rent mine out in exchange for quality merchandise at the Anglers Nook too 
Im sure someone knows this. How wide is the cone on the wide and narrow transducers at say 10′ and 20′ or more? I would bet you would have to be in pretty deep water to see fish even 20′ away with a wide angle cone.
Do Marcum and Vex run the same cone angles.
Mike,
The LX5 runs a 20 degree wide angle and 8 degree narrow angle. The Vex FL 20 has a 19 degree wide angle and 9 degree narrow angle.
Thanks for the replies, I generally don’t rely on a flasher because I normally only fish water 5 feet deep or less. I am looking at exploring some areas that have water depths up to 10 feet. I know a flasher should make a big difference while fishing this deeper water.
There’s also a practical side of me that doesn’t like to buy “bells and whistles” if there not needed. (I don’t even have power windows or locks in my truck). From your replies it seems the narrow cone angle would be more efficient if the purpose is for fishing only. The zoom feature that was mentioned, would it be practical for water 10 feet of water or less? THanks
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Mike,
The LX5 runs a 20 degree wide angle and 8 degree narrow angle. The Vex FL 20 has a 19 degree wide angle and 9 degree narrow angle.
Thanks Dave. Any idea what those cone angles equal in size of the cones at certain depths. For some reason I thought an 19 or 20 degree cone angle in 10′ of water measured about 2′ across at the bottom. Not sure if this is correct or not.
With a wide angle – 20 degree transducer In 20′ feet of water you’ll be seeing approximately a 6.5′ diameter circle of water beneath your hole. Put your lure in the center of that circle and you’re not seeing all that much territory on either side of your bait. Figure a little over 3 feet on either side of your lure in 20′ of water. If I have a walleye 3′ away from my jigging spoon… I want to know about it. Cut that circle in half in narrow beam.
I fish with the wide beam transducer setting about 90% of the time. There are times when the narrow beam transducer option is the absolute cat’s meow (steep breaks, fishing pockets in heavy vegetation and in super deep water when bait clutters the screen to name a few) but most of the time I want to know if a fish is 3′ – 5′ off from my bait and hanging on the edges out away from my bait waiting for me to get the jig stroke right or to change baits.
My advice is to only fish with the narrow beam transducer when the situation calls for it. I listed some of those situations earlier in this post. Fishing exclusively in narrow beam limits the information you’re able to gather from fish that may be only a few feet off to the sides of your bait and undetected in a narrow beam mode.
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I don’t like a wide cone angle. I want to know what’s under me, not what’s 5 or 8ft away from me.
You spend a lot of time fishing in 30 – 48 foot of water, Herb?
You better smile, mister! Yep, I did a poor job explaining my position didn’t I. 
Currently running an lx3 with the color upgrade, (thanks scott steil) an fl8st and a fl8se, Both vex machines have the dual beam 9/19 degree ducers with S cables attached in line. The vexilars never get switched to the 19 degree side unless I’m in water depths of 8ft or less. Most of the time I’m fishing flooded timber so the S cable is very handy for reducing clutter that comes with this situation. And most of the water depth where I fish is on average 18 to 27ft.
By the way, I have absolutely no problem with the marcums or vexilars. Even when I go alone both makes are with me.
Thanks James.
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You better smile, mister! Yep, I did a poor job explaining my position didn’t I.
Merry Christmas, Herb. I should know better than to poke at my elders, shouldn’t I?
Here is the formula for determining the distance across the cone. You will need a decent calculator for this
Take ½ the cone angle hit the Tangent (TAN) button times the depth of the water column times 2
So if you were using the 20 degree ducer in 15 feet of water the equation would be:
10 tan x 15 x 2 = 5.28
Or… roughly 1/3 the depth.
I know this is old, but I didnt want to start a new post. Im trying to decide whether to get a marcum or vex. I have fished with an fl-18 for a few years and never had any problems with it, and it has a 12 degree cone. Now correct me if im wrong, but if i buy an lx-1 or lx-3 isnt the only cone angle that i can get a 20 degree? I’m worried that 20 degrees might be too wide, I wish they offered a 12 like the vexilar which seems to be a pretty good medium range cone. And unless somebody can help me find a good deal on an lx-5, I dont think I can dish out that kind of cash just so I can have a dual beam transducer.
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