OK……Those of you who know me know I’ve ALWAYS been a huge believer in flashers. I’ve use the Green box (Before Flashers were cool), the original Hummingbird, the Fl8, and then the Fl18. Really in all honesty every single one of these flashers enabled me to catch more fish than I would have without one.
I believe that when your new to the flasher world you start by simply seeing a fish, and matching your bait up. As you progress as an angler this technological break through allows anglers to identify the mood of the fish. I believe this to be the critical component of any flasher. Lastly marking fish outside the cone before they enter, or giving the angler the chance to draw that fish directly beneath them is CRITICAL.
Now I have nothing bad to say about any other company. They all have worked well for me. There have been little problems, but that is to be expected with a device as complicated as these are. I own a few Marcums, and I use a LX-5 for myself. I am going to tell you the freakishly high power of these Marcums is ridiculous. I’m a guy that likes the GAIN WAY UP. Nothing is sneaking past me!! Drives some people crazy, but I’m telling you that you can easily define the movements of the fish, and even see that big girls tail as it is down flashing as the body moves upwards. The pulsation of the mark allows me to identify the mood of the fish as it is swimming around. I probably stare at a flasher more in a year than anyone. Once you become familiar with your Marcum you will quickly be able to determine the size of the fish that you are working. That too is important. For bigger vs. smaller fish I work them entirely different. Same as aggressive vs. nuetral.
Lastly I like to scan the entire water column while fishing deeper haunts. Since we have a predominately suspended baitfish population often times the biggest and baddest will be found on the prowl higher in the water column. Trust me when these fish come through they are on the move, and EATING. Not the time to be wondering “IS THAT SOMETHING”? It is critical to be able to mark these fish BEFORE they swim through your area. You catch fish that are swimming towards you, and DO NOT catch fish that swim away from you……..PERIOD……ADVANTAGE ANGLER!! Seems simple, but if you are a slow on getting up on good fish you’ll catch far less than if you are quick. Don’t think power makes a difference?? THINK AGAIN.
The last thing I will touch on is the zoom lock. There is no question in my mind that when fishing super freak Crappies that moving this lock up to 3-4 feet off the bottom in our case will tilt the advantage to us when the big slabs roll in. That is almost ALWAYS where the bigger fish come in, and in the past I have always had to work without a zoom on the BIGGEST fish. I’ve found that big panfish will suspend seperate themselves and suspend higher than the smaller fish.
Marcum……..YOU GET AN A from Rainydaze Guide Service.
Almost forgot……Lack of interference?? REALLY?? WOW. when fishing with customers I used to always fight with whirly bird junk or something wierd. ghost blobs floating off the bottom I’d work for 10 minutes before hitting my IR, and they would disappear!! NICE!!! “Oh False alarm boys” LOL!! Not anymore. 
I love my Marcum 