11-23-2009, 02:59 AM
I have owned a Vexilar, a Showdown and now own a Marcum.
I owned a Vexilar FL-8se with a dual cone. The unit worked great in water from 20' to about 45'. In water under 20' I had to put on a short cord (can't remember the name of it) in order to decrease the power so that it wouldn't show my jig and everything else as a bright red mark. Putting the cord on and taking it off was a big pain, especially if I moved back and forth in different depths. The dual cone was a nice feature. It was entirely useless fishing deeper water (approximately 60' or deeper as I recall) for macks, because it didn't have enough power to show my jig or a fish on the bottom and it lacked the zoom feature.
I owned a Showdown. The first unit got returned because it fired up fine at home and then wouldn't turn on at all when I took it fishing. I tried using the unit when I got it back, but it was next to useless. I couldn't see my jig most of the time, unless I actively jigged it and it would only show my jig down to about 40' deep. I then returned it again and got a new unit with the new software. Showdown purchased the Marcum company, so they were able to use many of the programming features that were owned by Marcum and it made a huge difference. The only problem (which was a major one in my opinion) I had with the new unit was that if I was fishing next to certain other fish finders I would get interference from the other finder. This was despite trying all of the various reject settings.
I now own a Marcum LX-3TC. I purchased it used this fall and have already put it to good use on several trips fishing from a boat. It has a zoom feature (which I often use while vertically fishing) which can be set at two different widths and can be moved anywhere in the water column. Being able to move the zoom up and down in the water column can be extremely useful at times. I believe the Vexilar zooms are always fixed to the bottom. Most of the time that is fine, but there are times when the fish are suspended too high off of the bottom to show on a bottom zoom.
I also use my Lowrance fishfinder with a color display on the ice that I also have mounted to my boat. It does a great job on the ice and can easily handle any depth of water. The one thing I don't like about it is sometimes when I jerk to set the hook the screen looks like there are fish everywhere. I have talked to at least one other Lowrance owner who has had the same problem.
I have found that I prefer a flasher-type unit for ice fishing and one that has the zoom feature and two or more colors to distinguish my jig from the fish.
[signature]
I owned a Vexilar FL-8se with a dual cone. The unit worked great in water from 20' to about 45'. In water under 20' I had to put on a short cord (can't remember the name of it) in order to decrease the power so that it wouldn't show my jig and everything else as a bright red mark. Putting the cord on and taking it off was a big pain, especially if I moved back and forth in different depths. The dual cone was a nice feature. It was entirely useless fishing deeper water (approximately 60' or deeper as I recall) for macks, because it didn't have enough power to show my jig or a fish on the bottom and it lacked the zoom feature.
I owned a Showdown. The first unit got returned because it fired up fine at home and then wouldn't turn on at all when I took it fishing. I tried using the unit when I got it back, but it was next to useless. I couldn't see my jig most of the time, unless I actively jigged it and it would only show my jig down to about 40' deep. I then returned it again and got a new unit with the new software. Showdown purchased the Marcum company, so they were able to use many of the programming features that were owned by Marcum and it made a huge difference. The only problem (which was a major one in my opinion) I had with the new unit was that if I was fishing next to certain other fish finders I would get interference from the other finder. This was despite trying all of the various reject settings.
I now own a Marcum LX-3TC. I purchased it used this fall and have already put it to good use on several trips fishing from a boat. It has a zoom feature (which I often use while vertically fishing) which can be set at two different widths and can be moved anywhere in the water column. Being able to move the zoom up and down in the water column can be extremely useful at times. I believe the Vexilar zooms are always fixed to the bottom. Most of the time that is fine, but there are times when the fish are suspended too high off of the bottom to show on a bottom zoom.
I also use my Lowrance fishfinder with a color display on the ice that I also have mounted to my boat. It does a great job on the ice and can easily handle any depth of water. The one thing I don't like about it is sometimes when I jerk to set the hook the screen looks like there are fish everywhere. I have talked to at least one other Lowrance owner who has had the same problem.
I have found that I prefer a flasher-type unit for ice fishing and one that has the zoom feature and two or more colors to distinguish my jig from the fish.
[signature]