Dave maze wrote:

What is the deal with the vexilar hate? They make a few innovations and add features every 5 years or so. But wait, it doesn’t have a GPS, play dvds, or bake my hot pocket? Pfft. What a piece of junk… I have all the GPS and lake maps on my phone. They are pretty dang good too. The vex is for looking at my jig and fish. It needs to work and I don’t want any screen lag or other bs updates that the helix has. They are dead reliable and the battery life is great. That’s why I use them.

What in the world are you going off about? I do not see any Vexilar hate in this thread. I see a bunch of Vexilar fans who are perplexed at why anyone would spend $800 USD on Pro Pack Elite FLX-38 w LI and BB Ice Ducer. If that unit is worth it to you, more power to you.

You are the first one here to mention GPS or maps. Playing DVDs – huh? Was this supposed to be some kind of clever retort? What was posted here that compelled you to defend Vexilar’s reliability? It had not been challenged on this thread. I specifically stated that I still run my ~23 year old Vexilar – the presumed implication being that it has been incredibly reliable.

You are coming across as oddly defensive on matters which were not prompted by this thread.

buckybadger wrote:

Hard pass.
This unit doesn’t do anything for me that something half the price can’t do.

That’s not a rip on Vexilar either. I love the durability, affordability, and simplicity. If they want to continue to exist they will have to lean into those 3 strengths because they are not at the cusp of anything new whatsoever. Pumping out “new” more expensive units with the same relative technology seems like a lackluster move

Well said – all of it. My 2001 FL-18 is likely going in the ground along with me and my Browning Gold Fusion someday. I now have other ice fishing electronics, including my LVS34 rig, but I still run my Vexilar in certain situations.

As a longtime Vex fan, this direction they embarked on seemingly to grasp at the market is off-putting. It makes me wonder how much of a factor the Valiant Wealth Management acquisition from ~one year ago plays into this.

castle-rock-clown wrote:

Interesting. I saw a video where the Pro View was suspended and a lure that would fall into the outer edge of a 12 degree cone and was invisible at low gain became visible when the gain was turned up.

This can happen with any of these transducers. The “cone angle” is not a true cone and it seemingly changes shape/angle with gain adjustment – at least, from operator’s perspective reading the signal on the head unit. The Vexilar Pro-View Ice-Ducer [TB0051] is 9-degree.

In what IMO was an asinine decision, Vexilar really leaned into this ‘feature’ for marketing appeal when they rolled out the “Pro-View” unit. From what I have seen, Vexilar has since abandoned this practice.

From the current Vexilar website –> “The 9-degree (TB0051), also known as the Pro-View Ice-Ducer, delivers the best target ID and is great for all depth applications. It is also very good at limiting interference from other sonar systems. The Pro-View comes standard on the FLX-28 but can be used on all Vexilar FL flasher systems.

Ice-Ducers have revolutionized the way anglers use sonar for ice fishing. The ease of use along with the reliable performance took away much of the former problems with seeing the bait, a most important requirement for ice anglers. Additionally, anglers can easily jump from hole to hole in an effort to find and catch fish on the move. Vexilar offers the Ice-Ducer in three beam angles; 19 degree, 12 degree and the 9 degree (Pro-View).”

IMO the Eskimo Outbreak XD series are the best hubs on the market. I own an OUTBREAK 450XD and an OUTBREAK 250XD [both purchased in DEC 2021]. The “no trip” door was a game-changer. The overall build quality is great and the StormShield™ fabric performs well. I have had no issues with either unit.

My thought process was I would run the 250XD on solo runs – I used it 1X. I end up taking the 450XD even when fishing alone. Be sure to pay attention to the collapsed size and weight specs of these units as you shop. These are not small or light shelters – be sure you can handle loading, unloading, transporting to & from the lake, as well as traveling over the ice.

One of the regulars in my ice fishing group bought a new Otter Vortex Pro Lodge last season. It is nice, but I would rank it a bit behind my 450 XD in terms of workmanship and material quality. Not sure which is the 3rd best hub series out there (after Eskimo Outbreak XD and Otter Vortex Pro), but IMO it is a very distant 3rd.