Vexilar transducer help

So apparently my 12 year old vexilar 12 degree transducer on my FL-20 went on the fritz. Looks like a frayed wired inside the cable where it goes into the puck.
Looking online, I’ve got options: replace with another 12 degree; or go with the PRO View Transducer- which apparently has 9,12, and 19 degree that automatically picks one for you depending upon depth. Yet it also says “adjustable by turning your GAIN knob or up to 30 degrees.” It also states it will work with “any Vexilar ever made.”
Any suggestions? Anybody have experience with the PRO View Transducer?
Thanks! 😎

Do they still have one that’s selectable for 9, 12, and 20? That’s what I bought for my fl8 years back when the original ducer got weak.

At the time I remember reading some mixed reviews on the Proview, but I bet that was nearly 10 years ago.

The vexilar pro ducer is pretty much a 9 degree with some characteristics you can utilize in limited situations. If you crank the gain, as expected, dispalayed signals get fat, but it also displays a wider area near the transducer.

So, if you’re fishing a shallow weedless area, or deep and fish are coming into your area suspended, you can crank the gain and display a wider area near your hole.

First we need to know what kind of depths you want to use it in.

If you are fishing shallow water panfish in the weeds, you’ll want the proview for sure. You’ll use the narrow beam to shoot through the weeds.

Otherwise you can get by just fine with the 12deg but the proview will definitely be a little more versatile.

I personally can’t say that I’m totally sold the proview is the best ducer they’ve ever made. I still have a dual beam on my backup unit and like it better. With the proview, in order to open up the cone angle you have to turn up the gain. Sometimes that just isn’t helpful to have a higher gain when you only want a larger cone angle.

With the dual and tri-beam ducers, it was as simple as flipping a switch and you knew what you were getting. A wider cone angle with reduced sensitivity or a narrower cone angle with improved sensitivity.

I have a 28 with the Pro View. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is the lack of interference with the Pro View. This past weekend I was in a hub with a friend that had an LX3. Zero interference for both units.

I own and use MarCum, Vex and a Helix. If I am going to be fishing in a house with others I will always grab the 28 with Pro View.

I believe your gain controls what degree your using and l hated it because trying to clean up interference you would always be changing your degrees. I had it on an older fl8 se so that might have been the problem.

The gain knob only applies amplification to the signal recieved (for display purposes). When you turn up the gain, you will additionally display secondary harmonics that are wider than the primary harmonic displayed at low gain. The proview’s shtick is that the 9 degree has such a hi fidelity primary signal output, you can use the secondary aspects also.

Vexilar has a lot of low quality information about the proview that IMO only cause confusion. It’s not like you can turn the gain knob and get a useful wider beam of the bottom in 20′ of water. The beam isn’t adjustable, it’s fixed. You only change what portions of the return are being displayed through brute force amplification.

Fishwasher and Gino your comments both have helped me make the decision to go for the 12 degree transducer. Thanks everyone, very valid points made!

2 or 3 times out with my 28 when they first came out I went and bought a 12 degree TD for it. There are lots that like the Producer but I’m not one of them.

Just out of curiosity does anyone know why they went away from the dual/tri-beam transducers? I’ve got an older FL12 with the tri-beam, and a buddy has one with the dual beam. Sure seems like it was a pretty darn good idea. I know I had to have my tri-beam replaced once, but I’m not sure if that was because that system had some inherent flaws, or simply because sometimes (unfortunately) transducers go bad.

I just bought the FLX-20 and went with the 12 degree, not sold on the proview.

I’ve gotten used to the Proview now. It took some time, but I’ve gotten comfortable now. If I were to replace it I would go 12 degree, or I have been looking for a Tri-Beam for a while now. That would be best case.

When I got my producer my 9 has gone bad, and I wanted to make the machine better. I looked at the twelve and the pro, the pro seemed like a great idea I could get more features so I got it. I remember now what the problem was. When I would fish in deep water I could never see my jig ( small panfish jig ) so as I was used to i would crank up my gain but then the whole dial would light up and it was very hard to tell where anything was. So I wished I had gotten the 12, but just spending money on the pro for a old flasher I put it on ebay and created a bidding war. Sold it for enough money to by a helix 5 gen 1 . Never going back to a flasher.

So I decided on the 12 degree transducer; you think I could find one locally or IN STORE-NOPE!!! Ordered online, on sale and will get on Friday

Thanks to auto-spell I apologize to you Mr.Fishwater

Gino wrote:

I remember now what the problem was. When I would fish in deep water I could never see my jig ( small <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>panfish jig ) so as I was used to i would crank up my gain but then the whole dial would light up

Sounds like your initial bad 9 degree was replaced by another bad 9 degree? I’ve fished 200+’ with no issues and have four of the ‘proview’, all can perform deep easily. The only difference between the old 9 degree and proview is the blue bottom, that’s what Tom Z. told me anyhow.

waldo9190 wrote:

Just out of curiosity does anyone know why they went away from the dual/tri-beam transducers?

Not sure about the dual, I know lots of folks with older ones that lasted for years and love them. I never used one, but I know from my experience, both generations of tri’s had erratic performance in regards to noise susceptibility, cone shape and return signal baseline levels between the three options. I hated all four I tried. I use jigging raps a lot and each had dead spots that i found annoying.

waldo9190 wrote:

Just out of curiosity does anyone know why they went away from the dual/tri-beam transducers? I’ve got an older FL12 with the tri-beam, and a buddy has one with the dual beam. Sure seems like it was a pretty darn good idea. I know I had to have my tri-beam replaced once, but I’m not sure if that was because that system had some inherent flaws, or simply because sometimes (unfortunately) transducers go bad.

I just bought the FLX-20 and went with the 12 degree, not sold on the proview.

because only 1 of a dozen ever worked right. If you had a good one you were lucky, if not you were pissed. Vexilar gave up on them and rightfully so.