I am buying a flasher for my son and was originally thinking of the Vexilar FL-18 since I have fished one for years and it has never failed me. I love the unit. I am really not familiar with a Marcum equivalent and am wondering if anyone has direct experience with one. Which way would you go and why? Budget is about $400 give or take.
stick with the fl-18. I have nothing against Marcums and believe they are good units. The reason why I would stick with a vexilar is because I have heard marcums and vexilars dont get along very well and interfere with each other a good amount. So when you two fish together you can still be close to each other if you both have vexliars and not worry too much about interference.
Marcum LX-3tc about $389.99 or something close to that, its going to have advantages against the vexilar one being the Interference Rejection, its going to block out your vexilar. That being said you may want to buy 2 LX-3tc’s and sell your vexilar because I’ve heard 2 vexilars don’t always fish good side by side. I have a LX-3tc and my dad has a VX-1Pro and we can fish side by side without a problem!
A few weeks ago I was fishing in 20-24 feet of clear water with a couple of guys, my LX6 and their FL20 and FLX28. I had a fish under me that just wouldn’t commit so I called my buddy over to see if his presentation would win the big mark’s commitment. He dropped his ducer in the hole while the one from my Marcum was still in the hole and jiminy crickets there wasn’t a shred of interference on either of our screens. With the way all of the major electronics companies are developing Interference Rejection into their sonars, interference is pretty much a thing of the past.
But to answer the OP, after 15 years of running a Vex and 1 Year running a Marcum, I couldn’t imagine going back. For me, it would be like picking up a typewriter to write a college paper over a computer with a word processor. They both work Just fine, but I prefer the computer!
I must have heard that for someone that did not know much then. Good to know that fishing them next to each other won’t be a big deal!
the only units that can’t handle other units around them are old fl8’s and those showdowns. other than that you shouldn’t have a problem. for your son, pick up a vx1 pro. less than 3 hundo and will do everything he needs it to.
On sale at L and m fleet supply for 279 shipped I think.
The main difference between the VX-1 Pro and LX-3tc is going to be variable zoom so if you fish deeper water or suspended fish its well worth the extra money IMO! It also has a lot brighter display. Good luck! I also work at Mills Fleet Farm and I end up selling more Marcums than Vexilars because I’m able to talk them into it! I would never use a Vexilar after owning a Marcum!
Marcum. The LX3tc has the adjustable zoom. You can move the zoom window up or down in the water column. This is a great feature. Like others are saying the technology in the marcums is just better. Like owning a computer instead of a typewriter. Vexilar continues to update their models, without really updating the technology to go with it. Marcum, is on top of their game.
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I like my Vex but haven’t used a Marcum.
To me as a only-used-one-flasher user I’d say I like what I’ve got.
As an FL-20 Double-Vision owner I’d say I like what I sunk a chunk-o-coin into.
Asking Vex or Marcum in my opinion is like asking do you prefer Coke or Pepsi; both work, which do you prefer or which do you already own.
I don’t want to start any passionate discussions here, I only wanted to give the only opinion I’ve got. My Vexilar helps me see fish on bottom or in the column, I can see when I’ve lost my wax-worm on the flasher, and I catch fish with it.
You can do all those things with a Marcum, with a Hummingbird, with a Lowrance and an ice ducer in the really-lousy “flasher” mode. What matters to me is I know how to use what I have and if/until it dies it’s what will alert me to fish being below my hole.
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I will second that the FL18 and a Lx7 can run with each other and play nice.
My brother uses the FL18, he is always trying to borrow my LX7. It is amazing the difference.
I still really like the FL18 his is a great unit and he has had it for a few years with no issues.
I have the LX6 my cousin has the FL18, I smoked him on LOW last year.
Its really not comparing apples with apples. LX6 is digital, FL18 is a flasher. I use 3 screens, water column, zoom, and graph. Love the graph because you can see the bait fish well.
Actually I went to the show 2 years ago with every intention of buying the Vex, after comparing the two it was an easy decision.
“you can’t catch em if you don’t Marcum” My cousin hates that line. LOL!
My understanding of the difference between the 2 products is the clarity / sharpness of the return signals at your price range. It’s very hard to explain without having used both personally. If you move to the top of the line of each brand, the differences are minimal.
You can’t go wrong with either sonar, and I have a hard time believing that one sonar will help put more fish onto the ice. Both have a decent resale value, so pick one and don’t look back!
ec1 – You are totally correct. Can’t go wrong with either one.
Its just a whole lot more fun fishing when you pull one onto the ice and look at the other guy and explain to them that they should have gotten what you have. Ford Chevy kind of thing.
my brother catches more than anyone in our group and he doesn’t have any flasher, I just tell him how far off the bottom to be. So no, having a better flasher doesn’t mean you catch more fish. If you and your son have learned the Vex, stay with it. Any flasher can show you just about the same thing, it’s how we learn to interpret the information given to us. Yes I know, before I get clubbed to death by the Marcum fans, a $700 unit should out perform a $300 unit, duh! But any unit will help show you where the fish are in relation to the bottom, how they react to your presentation, and if your wax worm is still on the jig.
I also like to see individual fish in a school and not a big blob… Size of fish is also very easy to tell. Marcum is crisp
I’ve both a Lx tc3 and a FL12. Both work well. I do like the zoom on the Marcum on sunfish. I heard that the Vex uses less power and that doesn’t spook the fish as much. I’ve not been able to prove or disprove that though. I can say I’ve had tough bites on both but that’s probably my ineptness.
Anybody that knows me, knows I do a ton of Hands On research before spending my hard earned $$$… I can honestly say I “seen em all” 2 years ago. I went with the LX9… if it wouldn’t have been the 9, it would have been the LX6… if not the 6 then the LX5… if not the 5… then the 3… well you probably get it by now. Vexilar was not even close with any of their units, comparable to the Marcum offering. The guy above who eluded to the typewriter or the PC… BINGO.
I never fished a flasher EVER! then 2 years ago I decided to see what the fuss was all about so I went and picked up a cheap $35 Zarcom Clearwater Classic it was grayscale and it had a big goofy transducer but after catching all the fish I was not seeing with it I was hooked so I wanted to get a nicer newer unit and with out ever asking your question on a forum like this I did a years worth of research comparing all of the flashers on the market there capability’s what they had to offer I watched videos I messed around with other peoples on the ice when they would let me I mean I dug deep to see why someone would spend money one way or another one because I was extremely broke two because I didnt want to regret what I spent so much money on so long story short after all is said and done if your looking for baseline units they all hold there own but as soon as you step up one Marcum makes the other units look like a joke and its kind of said watching people defend there bad buys just because they like “their unit” I was never going to be sold one way or another unless it meant more function per dollar and now thankfully I have an LX-5 that I plan on keeping as a back up when I buy a nice new LX-7 Because in the world of flashers anything els is just old news…
Sorry for the rant but I have a load of cousins that think there Vex’s are top shelf tell they seen my LX-5 work now I have to fight to keep it to my self 
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