Joel have you used a Garmin yet?
What makes you say they are behind Birds and Lowrance?
The Echomap line (touchscreen) is closer to the Solix and HDS3 line, and for less money.
They are definitely ahead of the Helix and Hook units (I own a couple Helix’s and have owned a Hook7).
The detail a 2D Garmin provides is better than Humminbird and Lowrance. It also blows any flasher out of the water. It’s not even fair to compare them (imo)
I’m still of the age where I don’t fish from wheelhouses or in crowded areas.
If I sat in a wheelhouse or skid shack that I drove to, waiting for fish to come to me… I’d probably go with a newer set-up with a big screen in 2d. On second thought, if that was the style of ice fishing I did I probably wouldn’t enjoy it and would just find a new winter hobby. To each their own.
You are still young bucky, first baby on the way?
Wait 30 years and hopefully you won’t still be saying that.
Back when I was young, I never thought much about what it’d be like when I’m my age now. Well here I am and I haven’t lost my fishing “desires”, but I find where… “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” 
But yes, I can still do a few things…just not like I used to. 
And some things matter more and some things matter less.
My point? Hopefully in 30 years you won’t have found another winter hobby and you’ll enjoy every minute of fishing stationary in a wheelhouse or skid shack. 
And BTW, I’m just as content to stare at my FL-8 in the fish house. Life is simple that way too…
I think Vexilar is fine with letting other companies have all the bells and whistles. They aren’t flashy units, but they work and darn near ALWAYS work. Whether they are brand new or 20 years old. Don’t have to worry about software updates or anything like that. Just plain reliable and I think they have a strong base that only needs that kind of unit.
I have a Humminbird Helix 7 that I love because of the mapping and 2d sonar but I’ve had a helluva time getting it to pick up my jigs/lures and reduce clutter enough to where I can actually see it. With my Vex I turn it on and start fishing. Every time.
I’ve got a flx-28, humminbird ice-55, helix 5 and lowrance hook 5. I’ve used them all for ice fishing and will grab my 28 every time. The helix and lowrance are only used for mapping. I’ve found navionics to be wrong 80% of the time. I suction cup the helix/ hook to my windshield or ram mount it on my wheeler.
I’ve also recently heard a rumor that marcum is wanting to split from rapala. If it’s true maybe they will come out with something new.
My how the Marcum love has faded on this site. As for me a Vexilar is more than good enough for me. Like others if I want GPS I just use my phone. To be honest I have not tried any other units other than the Vexilar’s and Marcum’s. It only took me a short time of fishing a Marcum LX-5 to return to Vexilar. I upgraded to the 28 last year and it is by far the best yet. Maybe someday I’ll take a look at one of the other fancy units but it wont be anytime soon.
My how the Marcum love has faded on this site
I think the love was warranted 4-5 years ago when the Digital LX line was in its hayday, but the last few years they have been passed in the fast lane by Humminbird and Garmin….
The digitals worked merely ok when first out IMO. They worked well for bottom oriented fish in +/- 20′. It took them years to get the signal path to work ok shallow or near the transducer while out deep. I personally lost interest once I realized the minimal effort they were willing and able to invest in timely improvements.
It only took me a short time of fishing a Marcum LX-5 to return to Vexilar.
i was the exact opposite, it only took me 5 minutes of VX1 usage to throw my FL18 on the by/sell boards. the new flx series flashers are great though when paired with a tribeam. I fished with a 28 one weekend and really liked it.
I love my LX6 and my Recon5+ has worked flawlessly.
BTW –
Excited for the upcoming ice season!? SO ARE WE! MarCum Technologies will be at the JT Winter Reveal on October 26th from 10am-3pm at the Lakeville Heritage Center. Located at 20110 Holyoke Ave in Lakeville, MN. We will be showing off all the NEW Lithium Shuttle accessories, power options for powering your systems and all of your favorite sonar and camera systems. Come check out all products, talk ice fishing with industry reps and enter the FREE raffle for prizes.
Watch Now
We will be showing off all the NEW Lithium Shuttle accessories
They want people to get hyped over a few flexible camera/phone holders and a usb light wand they purchased for pennies on the dollar from oversea factories and then markup 1000%? That’s just laughable…
Got ideas on what we will be looking at (features and price) as far as fishfinder/GPS/camera/etc. units in 10-15 years? Maybe all of the brands have something mind blowing in the design stage? Or maybe not?
If the head unit is only so so you can always brag about the battery pack. Thats dumb reasoning, get a vexilar and go fishing!
Moved into a Helix 7 dual season. I love it. My boat marks many new potential ice fishing spots with the exact same unit I will use to ice fish with. The locator is head and shoulders above the Lowarance Gen 3 for detail in standard locator sonar side by side. This plus the gps makes it a no brainer. Almost time to pull it off my boat and turn it back into an ice fishing machine.
Got ideas on what we will be looking at (features and price) as far as fishfinder/GPS/camera/etc. units in 10-15 years? Maybe all of the brands have something mind blowing in the design stage? Or maybe not?
Maybe some sort of virtual reality generated from a scanning sonar that can be shot through the ice? Minimally, a 3d holographic projection system. 3k-15k
Some sort of heads up display that is projected onto the lens of glasses-type thing. You know, because google glass worked out so well….
I still don’t ice fish with any fish finder and walk to all areas. Always seemed to do well with fish, but always think catch rate would be even better with a fish finder and I love electronics.
This year considering getting a LX6 or LX7 Lithium or Humminbird 7 Ice Package, but the Garmin 7 looks good too. I do use my garmin 450 for marking spots and phone for that too.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
We will be showing off all the NEW Lithium Shuttle accessoriesThey want people to get hyped over a few flexible camera/phone holders and a usb light wand they purchased for pennies on the dollar from oversea factories and then markup 1000%? That’s just laughable…
yeah this is the kind of stuff they used to give vexilar a hard time for and are now doing basically the same thing. that picture of the unit with a phone and go pro hanging off of the flasher are hilarious.
when their motors starting going bad in the lx mechanicals a handful of years ago, and then all of these update issues with the 6 and 7’s. I was leery that rapala was turning them into Clam on the quality side of things. I think those issues have been fixed but I’m still not sure Rapala has done right by the brand. My pre marcum flashers are pretty much rock solid and have never had an issue.
If Vexilar is the great end all. Why was any improvement needed over the original FL-8 ?
Being a former diehard Vex owner myself. I understand the loyalty. The Vex is as trouble free as a sundial. It took a trip to Wisconsin to convince me. Met a guy on the internet and after awhile developed a friendship. All based on the ice fishing addiction. We debated constantly. He in favor of his Humminbird with a quadrabeam as opposed to my FL-18.
First day on the lake. He was onto fish a lot faster than I. Understandable as it was his home lake. But I could not deny the advantages when demonstrated. His quadrabeam was able to see in a 40′ side to side as we were in 20′ of water. I had a maybe 6′ search on my ducer.To use an analogy he was looking with a floodlight while I was using a flashlight.
Today I have since graduated to the Panoptix using a PS22. Which is a quantum leap over the Quadrabeam. If you can walk out on the ice and find fish with you Vex every trip. It is no wonder this tech does not impress you. I am not that good.
Believe me I get that not all of us can afford the latest greatest. I can’t afford the upgrade to Livescope myself. But the 9inch Echomap and PS 22 transducer I have is a whale of a fishfinding setup.
My present setup was all purchased as used. Which helped me on the affordability issue. I also fabricated a shuttle and the panoptix mount instead of purchasing the factory made devices.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
It only took me a short time of fishing a Marcum LX-5 to return to Vexilar.i was the exact opposite, it only took me 5 minutes of VX1 usage to throw my FL18 on the by/sell boards. the new flx series flashers are great though when paired with a tribeam. I fished with a 28 one weekend and really liked it.
My LX-5 never worked correct right from the start. It was probably my fault for not resolving the issue right away. The transducer melted into the rubber/foam piece they had in the transducer area. They thought this was the cause of it not working correct. After they replaced the transducer ( For Free – Not problem with that ) It still did not work great. They said I should send it in and they would check to see if it had a issue they were aware of with some of the LX-5 units and if so repair it. I just never got around to sending it in. I have fished with other peoples LX-5 units as well and they didn’t seem to be all that good either. I went back to my FL-18 and never looked back. Now that I have the FL-28 and the FL-18 for a backup its just collecting dust. I will most likely sell it on craigslist this year.
yeah the foam holder is another marcum gaff imo. i sit mine on the side. i ran a buddies lx5 he bought new in 2016ish and i didn’t think it was as good as mine either. his bottom would rise and lower (another sign i believe of shoddy motors)
i sold all my flashers to pay for my upgrades. and regret it. so a few years ago i bought an older vx1 pro as well as have an ice kit for my bird 798.
we introduce a ton of people to ice fishing and i don’t think many of them would enjoy it without the flasher. i know i’d do something else in the winter if there weren’t flashers.
What ever happened to just looking at a lake map and go fishing. Yes I am old fasion, but to me all of these new electrics are just fancy toys. You spend more time playing/adjusting than you do with hooks in the wate. Are you out there to catch fish or to snag them using the electrics? Isn’t the fun trying outwit the fish and trying to find them?
You spend more time playing/adjusting than you do with hooks in the water.
You couldn’t be further from the truth. Within 5 minutes, I have about 10-15 holes punched and checked with my vex or hbird. You still have to FIND the fish. You still have to see which holes have the fish. While you’re watching your rod tip wondering if anything is down there I’m already sitting on the fish.
I get the old school mentality, not knocking it at all. But it is just so much more effective with electronics.
What ever happened to just looking at a lake map and go fishing. Yes I am old fasion, but to me all of these new electrics are just fancy toys. You spend more time playing/adjusting than you do with hooks in the wate. Are you out there to catch fish or to snag them using the electrics? Isn’t the fun trying outwit the fish and trying to find them?
I suppose you rode your horse to the lake?
I kid. Nothing wrong with going primitive. I bow hunt when a gun would be a billion times more effective. To each their own but you couldn’t be more wrong with this statement ” You spend more time playing/adjusting than you do with hooks in the wate.”
Would be interesting at the next ice fishing GTG to see what everyone runs for an Ice fishing setup and see what more people prefer.
Sorry, I miss spoke. Not playing with instead of using all the functions to which looks best. Yes poking several holes then looking to see which has a fish, then quick drilling second hole for camera so you can watch fish take the bate you put next to its mouth. Then also mark with GPS so that next week you can drill hole in same spot and hope the fish have not moved? Old fashioned and just think we have gone overboard with all the electrics.
What ever happened to just looking at a lake map and go fishing. Yes I am old fasion, but to me all of these new electrics are just fancy toys. You spend more time playing/adjusting than you do with hooks in the wate. Are you out there to catch fish or to snag them using the electrics? Isn’t the fun trying outwit the fish and trying to find them?
All the Electronics and Toys still don’t make the fish bite. The main purpose of the flasher to me is to just verify that there are fish there to catch. The fun is then to figure out how to get them to bite. I enjoy catching fish. To me nothing would be worse that spending a few hours fishing and catching nothing and not even knowing if there is fish below you to catch. If the flasher shows there are fish there and I cant catch them then its all on me. Even the Worlds best fishermen can’t catch fish that are not there !!! I can get by or work around not having some equipment – A flasher when ice fishing is not one of them.
Sometimes it’s just the anticipation of waiting for something to show up on your flasher or 2D. Just that alone can cause excitement before you even caught a thing.
Much better than just staring at a bobber or rod tip.
Curious how the Marcum RT-9 2.0 upgrade will go? Free Navionics chip, lithium battery upgrade, improved circuitry etc.?
Curious how the Marcum RT-9 2.0 upgrade will go? Free Navionics chip, lithium battery upgrade, improved circuitry etc.?
And a $1,000 price tag for just a winter graph 
Yikes….too rich for my blood (for what it is), but it does look like a nice unit!
Curious how the Marcum RT-9 2.0 upgrade will go? Free Navionics chip, lithium battery upgrade, improved circuitry etc.?
Interesting. I wonder if it is a lot better than RT-9 1.0. Must be lighter with a Lithium battery now.
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