Marcum M1 or M3

[Conley1993]

Been debating a flasher for quite sometime and I'm going to pull the trigger soon. I've done quite a bit of online research and I've narrowed it down (I think) to the M1 or M3. Where these are new this year it's tough to find reviews. I fish all different depths and species. Ideally, I want my flasher to pickup fish in 70-100' of water when jigging togue (this is the main reason I want a flasher so I need one that is capable) and also be able to pick up lake smelts in 10-20' of water. I'm sure they all work fine when panfishing in relatively shallow water. Do you think the M1 or M3 would work for the togue and smelt fishing? Also, would a 20 degree transducer be useless when fishing 70-100' of water? Any advice would be awesome.

[hnd]

the biggest difference for me with those 2 units would be adjustable zoom.  if you fish for fish up in the water column in over 30-40' of water, i'd go the m3.  otherwise the m1 will suit you.

i know the m3 has more power and better seperation and all that jazz but the differences in what i've seen (in vx1p vs lx3 tc) is negligible to where only that movable zoom is the deciding factor in my mind.

[slipperybob]

Why would 20 degree be useless in deep water, I smelt fish 100+ feet just fine.

If there's a red band school of fish...it's solid red for several feet, maybe 20+ feet school throughout the column.

...for smelt fishing, I think the higher power unit with better target separation will have better refined display.

I've used my old LX5 for years.  I've got the M1 now too, cuz at times, I'd rather have more time with unit.  Lower power draw = more time.