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I used a vex fl8 for 20yrs... I now have a marcum m1/vx1...and love it and it has bottom zoom and sells for around $300
Why don't you check out the Garmin striker 4 I'm very impressed I won't use my flasher anymore.i have a marcum m1 the Garmin has a flasher..split screen and regular screen..the flasher works just as good as my marcum.split screen is awesome has lots of features very easy to use I got the portable package for 167 from northern Marine free shipping.you tube it you won't be disappointed battery charger carry case comes ready to fish..
For me it’s pretty simple. Dedicated ice units for ice fishing and boat units for boats. If it don’t have an IR button right on the front it’s just a repackaged boat unit that takes forever to boot up and adjustments are so far buried in sub menus it’s not worth my time.
Last year I had my FLX28 and the Garmin Echomap 73sv CHIRP with the GT10HN-IF 7-16° transducer and I hated using the Garmin due to the fact that gain adjustments took several button presses. This year I upgraded to the Echomap Plus 93sv, which is a touch screen, which made a world of difference. I'm selling my Vexilar and not looking back. Adjusting the range or gain on my Garmin is now just matter of a quick tap of the finger. Panoptix is also incredibly useful
I wish I had your budget for sonars I'd have a lot more options
I also got a new Garmin 93sv plus for my small boat, but when on the ice it’s usually my LX5 or LX7 and a Showdown for a loaner. GPS is a Garmin 62s with chip in it. I prefer not to have a GPS constantly sucking battery power. We fish brush piles in KS so a dual beam is a must IMO. 20 degrees to find em and 9 degrees to cut clutter.I’d say go for the FL18Guess it all depends on a persons budget, all of my ice units where bought used.
Another thing I was wondering is how something like a Lowrance functions in shallow water and how well it can read through weeds vs a flasher. The other day when I was out bluegill fishing the only place I could find fish was in 8' and in heavy weeds (I do still know the depths I'm fishing even without a sonar in thanks to Navionics and I know how weedy it was because I snagged some) so how can I expect something like the Lowrace hook2 4x to preform compared to a flasher?