Recommendations for Ice Flasher

Greenhorn

Honored Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2020
Posts
281
Likes
119
Points
122
Location
Bismarck
Looks like nobody has suggested Marcum units yet. I have owned an LX-3 (now M3), LX-5 (now M5), and LX-7 and they have all worked great.
 


snow

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2015
Posts
4,839
Likes
581
Points
358
What issues do you have with your FL-8? if ya only get out a few times/year on ice,your 8 will do the job,most rookie ice fisher folks fail to read instructions on our flashers,just charge up the battery and let'er buck,most rookies just crank up the gain so a tiny ice jig looks red (3 colors on target)on a vex,hell your 8 will tell you if you have hard or soft bottom,a bottom hugging walleye using your 8 will display a little red movement along the bottom when gain is set right,

Your older fl-8 has a 18 degree ice ducer cone and 2.75"target seperation,making soft bottom hard to detect bottom hugging fish for the novice,the fl-18 has bottom zoom 6' with .75" target seperation which is great for walleyes,20,22 amd 28 zoom has 12' which really isn't needed as 98% of walleye come thru on a belly crawl.

I used the garmin live scope last winter,takes icefishing to the next level for $2500 but a pain for guyz to be mobil,not my deal a good gps with updated mapping data in 1' contours a good auger for speed drilling allows one to find and keep on fish relating to structure.

this MPO only no offense to anyone intended.
 
Last edited:

Migrator Man

★★★★★ Legendary Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Posts
3,961
Likes
22
Points
226
Looks like nobody has suggested Marcum units yet. I have owned an LX-3 (now M3), LX-5 (now M5), and LX-7 and they have all worked great.
The marcum lx-1 is the best deal in flashers. Same features as the fl18 but for way less
 

Sluggo

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
May 14, 2015
Posts
2,574
Likes
415
Points
333
Location
Bismarck
I have had a FL-8, 18 and now a 28. Obviously I like Vex but I have never tried anything else either. That being said, if I could get the performance of the Vex with something that had GPS capabilities, I think that would be ideal. I will probably look at something like that the next time I am shopping.
 
Last edited:

lunkerslayer

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Posts
18,956
Likes
2,960
Points
748
Location
Cavalier, ND
Maybe take a double vision bracket made by vexilar add your flx28 and buy a bird that has an internal GPS and just connect the two to a lithium battery. Wolla!
 


Sluggo

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
May 14, 2015
Posts
2,574
Likes
415
Points
333
Location
Bismarck
Maybe take a double vision bracket made by vexilar add your flx28 and buy a bird that has an internal GPS and just connect the two to a lithium battery. Wolla!

That would probably work. A few years ago I bought a Garmin handheld gps so I use that for now. I think both Helix and Marcum make units with them together.
 

lunkerslayer

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Posts
18,956
Likes
2,960
Points
748
Location
Cavalier, ND
Thats correct about the other units and I also just use a handheld unit Magellan or my phone. These newer android phone s20 have a better battery life compared to my old s7, I was checking out my phone when I was in my stand today battery was good usually the older phones my s7 or earlier models as soon as they got cold the battery would drain with in minutes not the s20. Must have better battery technology
 

snow

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2015
Posts
4,839
Likes
581
Points
358
years back when marcum was stepping in to the flasher world for icefishing ,the business owned by vexliar,not sure how marcum didn't get sued for copy rights? I TOOK A lx-5 for a test drive,nothing new or exciting compared to the vex,othar than 5 color flasher display(so what),push button rather than dial tweaking,later found out marcum's poor customer service,but after one day on the ice Iput the marcum back in the box and brought out my vex.

after researching and comparing spec's marcum vs vex I found out why its nearly impossible fishing near a marcum with a vex flasher,marcum lx-5 uses 2000 watts of power,vex uses 400 watts,however both vex and marcum use the same ice ducer 400 crystal power,further reseach claimed the 2000 watts in water less than 40 feet would spook the fish,as fish are senitive to this much like they (fish) pick up boat motor vibration in shallow water and foot traffic vibration walking along shoreline or a stream At the time vexliar fl-18 sold for $350,marcum lx-5 was $500,not sure how prices compare today?
 

5575

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Posts
3,725
Likes
587
Points
423
I'll have a Humminbird Helix 7 Gen 2 ice pack for sale soon.
 

espringers

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
May 18, 2015
Posts
8,173
Likes
880
Points
428
Location
Devils Lake
to answer your question snow... i assume the basic 21 year initial underlying patent for a flasher sonar had long since run its life before vex or marcum ever got involved in that business.

my dad had a si-tex flasher with the boat ducer mounted on a T-stick for ice fishing way back in the late 70s probably.

i also owned what i assume was an even older than si-tex; lowrance fish lo-k-tor that i bought from a rummage sale. that thing never saw the ice though. looked cool in a box. wish i would have kept it. i think it went in the garbage during a move.
 
Last edited:


Vollmers

★★★★★ Legendary Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2016
Posts
618
Likes
2
Points
138
Location
Bismarck
I still have an Fl8 I bought in 1993 & it works flawlessly. My son now uses it & I bought a helix ice bundle which is amazing. The GPS built in is the "bees knees".
 

snow

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2015
Posts
4,839
Likes
581
Points
358
to answer your question snow... i assume the basic 21 year initial underlying patent for a flasher sonar had long since run its life before vex or marcum ever got involved in that business.

my dad had a si-tex flasher with the boat ducer mounted on a T-stick for ice fishing way back in the late 70s probably.

Agreed,didn't know there was a time out on invention's,however with that said I have my dad's old 12v portable green box flasher we used back in the late 70's early 80's for open water fishing,pretty sure we weren't smart enough to use it for locating fish(dumb swedes) rather just for marking structure.
 

Sluggo

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
May 14, 2015
Posts
2,574
Likes
415
Points
333
Location
Bismarck
I still have an Fl8 I bought in 1993 & it works flawlessly. My son now uses it & I bought a helix ice bundle which is amazing. The GPS built in is the "bees knees".

So if you had to go to one unit and your choices were the Helix or a Vex 28, which do you go with? And which model Helix if you choose that.
 

3Roosters

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Posts
4,706
Likes
694
Points
343
Location
Devils Lake
to answer your question snow... i assume the basic 21 year initial underlying patent for a flasher sonar had long since run its life before vex or marcum ever got involved in that business.

my dad had a si-tex flasher with the boat ducer mounted on a T-stick for ice fishing way back in the late 70s probably.

i also owned what i assume was an even older than si-tex; lowrance fish lo-k-tor that i bought from a rummage sale. that thing never saw the ice though. looked cool in a box. wish i would have kept it. i think it went in the garbage during a move.

My dad had one of those old lowrance fish lo k tor a million years ago when us kids were snot nosed little tykes. It was all the rage at the time. Little green box ruled. I actually saw one at a moving sale just this past weekend so snapped it up for $10. No battery. Sent a text pic to my 92yr old dad and asked him if he remembered using the little green box. He immediately responded with a text of his own. Saying yep, sure do remember it. He told me to remind him to tell the story of him using it up in Canada one year with one of his friends. He said it is a funny story so I plan to ask him about it. Im gonna try and get my purchase to work. If nothing else it will be in my man cave as a conversation piece. :;:cheers

s-l1600.jpg
 
Last edited:

risingsun

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
Posts
2,125
Likes
682
Points
378
My dad had one of those old lowrance fish lo k tor a million years ago when us kids were snot nosed little tykes. It was all the rage at the time. Little green box ruled. I actually saw one at a moving sale just this past weekend so snapped it up for $10. No battery. Sent a text pic to my 92yr old dad and asked him if he remembered using the little green box. He immediately responded with a text of his own. Saying yep, sure do remember it. He told me to remind him to tell the story of him using it up in Canada one year with one of his friends. He said it is a funny story so I plan to ask him about it. Im gonna try and get my purchase to work. If nothing else it will be in my man cave as a conversation piece. :;:cheers

s-l1600.jpg

I have one also, that is in crazy good shape. The transducer I have is different though. It has a suction cup to put on transom.
 


Migrator Man

★★★★★ Legendary Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Posts
3,961
Likes
22
Points
226
Marcum M1 is $269 at Fleet Farm with free shipping. Not bad for a model with zoom.
 

Recent Posts

Friends of NDA

Top Posters of the Month

  • This month: 159
  • This month: 135
  • This month: 119
  • This month: 110
  • This month: 105
  • This month: 87
  • This month: 84
  • This month: 76
  • This month: 75
  • This month: 75
Top Bottom