The New Vexilar FL-8 Se

[SafeIce]

Hello, after meticulously researching flasher technology, I purchased the Vexilar FL-18 Dual Beam Pro Pac.Found this unit to be the best value for my money.But what I did find when looking for a flasher, was last year's left over FL-8's......... this is where you have to be careful last year's model no one is going to give you a price break and its yesterday's technology!!!! So before you spend $299.00 For a FL-8 take this in the consideration......... ............. This year's model is the FL-8 SE. The only difference between the two flasher's, and yes folks its night and day literally!!!  Is the brightness of the light emitting diode AKA "FLASHER".  So if you work hard for your money like I do then this bit of information I hope will help you!  The new FL-8 SE has the same super bight diode as the FL-18.  I was almost tricked into buying last year's FL-8 with no discount at all!! There is very little information pertaining to the new super bright diode available yet.  But I sat both side by side and there was a night and day difference!!  I had chances to buy used from $250-$300 ebay,friend,pawn shop,ect.................... spend the extra money and go with the new technology you won't regret it!!! Hope this helps someone! Thanks

[mngonefishing]

the main problem is that i all ready have last year model. I wonder what the other half would say if i spent 300 dollars for a brighter light. the dog house isn't that big.

[holeinhide]

Last year i compaired the fl8's with the fl18 the zoom feature and the brighter lights of the fl 18 greatly surpassed the fl8 if i had to do it over i would still spend the money for the fl18 it's worth the time in the dog house. the zoom of the fl18 is what realy makes the differance for bottem hugging fish such as walleye and yellow perch and is worth the extra cash!!

[Jam_Jam]

When the bright sun is shining directly on my Vex Fl18 display I have a bit of trouble making out the lights but can still do it okay...I definitely would not want a unit that was half as bright!  Definitely get the upgraded Fl8 if you don't get the FL18.  I'd rather have the brightness than the zoom.  Just my two cents.  

[Panfish2]

Okay folks, ya' got my attention with all this Vexilar Flasher sonar stuff. Too many positive reports to ignore the thing, but I must admit that I have somewhat of a problem understanding how one could detect a fish coming to the bait with a flasher unit. That one just blows me away! Not suggesting you can't, rather, I'm just saying that I do not understand how it works if there is a bunch of fish down there.

Let's take my situation for example. I'm a believer in electronics. I use an Eagle FishMark 320, and the Aqua-Vu underwater viewing system. Wouldn't think of going fishing without them.

I use the FishMark to locate structure and fish, and then I use the Aqua-Vu to identify the structure and the species and size of the fish holding on it.

Only when I find exactly what I'm looking for will I wet a line. And what I'm looking for is heavy concentrations of fish. And I do mean heavy, as I'm not interested in fishing any location which holds few fish. Yes, I am talking about soft water here, but I see no reason why the same principle would not apply to ice fishing.

Okay, let's say I have the Vexilar but no Aqua-Vu. I drill a hole, put the Vexilar transducer in the water and it lights up like a christmas tree. How do I know that the signal is not bouncing off of suspended tree limbs? Or if the signals are fish, how do I know what species they are. Or how large they are. Or how many are down there? Can this be done with a Vexilar flasher unit?

As to the neat idea that you can see the fish rise to your offering. Is that necessary? Or is finding large concentrations of fish the better deal? As it applies to ice fishing, I honestly don't know, so I'm just asking folks. But in soft water fishing I'll take the concentration of fish any day on the water.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Panfish2, if you know how to use a graph and a camera then a vexilar is not going to catch you more fish necessarily. On a flasher you can tell weeds from fish because the weeds dont bite or swim away. Unless you are accurate enough to drill vertically above the weed, it will also show up green and not red so you know it isnt an active fish. While it is possible to find concentrations of fish in winter I dont generally encounter large numbers. Fish tend to spread out a bit due to the fact that there is less to eat in the winter. I just plan on catching 90some% of the fish that wander through. I couldnt count the times that I have heard folks say that the fish just arent biting but in reality, there are just very few swimming by. Especially on very popular fishing spots. I tell species after I catch them.
How you tell if a fish is coming for the bait is by color. Green means a fish is off to the side of the cone. Orange means getting closer. Red means hes close. It doesnt matter what direction the fish comes from, the principle is the same.
If there is several fish the idea is to keep the bait above them. The active ones will rise to it no matter the species. I have seen perch come shooting 6 feet off bottom to hit your bait before the others can. Crappies will often only bite if the bait is above them.
Vexilars are great but they arent the only way to catch fish.

[Hard_H2O]

Exactly.

The size of the lines and the colors are really telling you the strength of the signal that is bounced back to you. A smaller object will return a weaker signal to you. A softer bottom and weeds will absorb signal and a hard bottom will return a lot of signal

Green is also weak signal. It can be a small jig or something on the edge of the cone. Yellow is a stronger signal or something comeing into the cone. Red is a strong signal or something right in the middle of the cone. You adjust so that your jig shows as green. Depending on the signal you might have it adjusted so you only see your jig as brief flashes when it is directly in the center of the cone. Sometimes you will see a huge red mark meaning either one large fish (or a bunch of fish). You can usually tell by the flicker if it is multiple fish. You might see a line going from thick to thin. that is usually a few fish swimming through or looking at your jig. You will also see a single line split into two or three lines. That is multiple fish.

Species is a bit harder. If you are into a bunch of smaller say perch and you all of a sudden see a huge mark then you can be reasonably sure it is a waleye or pike but you can't really tell untill you catch it. Sze of mark and color tellyou signal strength. A bigger signal is usually a bigger fish.

[shwung79]

What i believe is that you will never know til ya try it!!  And believe me my friend once you do you will never go back!!  My neighbor has both the cam. and the vex. If you were to ask him which one he likes more and could absolutely not be with out....well hell tell you the vex by far.  He does in fact like the camera, but you should see how agrevated he gets when he can see the fish just playing with his bait!

[Jam_Jam]

One of the complaints I have heard about the camera is that is is restricted to relatively clear water while the Vex can work in pretty much any conditions night or day.  Also the camera only gives you feedback on a very limited area at one time while the Vex scans the entire water column and in realtime too.  In clear conditions a camera will give you more detailed info like type of fish and size BUT I've heard complaints that the camera can be difficult to orientate and light can be an issue...ie camera lights scaring the fish or not enough light to see in cases where lights are not used.  A Vex is undetectable by the fish, has a good coverage area in all water regardless of conditions and gives you all the info you need to know to catch fish.  The fact that fish are there, whether they are taking the bait or swimming up looking and taking off.  I fished for suspended fish last year and you could not do what I was doing with a camera or LCD display.  I'd see a fish at 30' and my lure would be at 70'...I'd just start reeling in as fast as I could and bring my lure so that it was level or slightly above the fish and BAM.  Because it is realtime you know that if you see the fish on the Vex that it is very likely within visual range of your bait.  If you put the bait right in front of his face and it doesn't respond then you know to try another bait.  Talk about saving time!  You wouldn't have even known that fish was there with a camera set down at 70'.   You can tell the weeds and other objects from fish on the Vex because those structures don't move or they move in a very set pattern.  They become the baseline and you soon learn to interpret when something is different and a fish is around sometimes even when its within the weeds or structure.  The best thing I can suggest is that you get your hands on the instructional video that comes with the Vex.  It is done by Dave Genz and will show you the theory and features of the Vex in about 20 minutes.

The camera will have its moments when it performs better but from what I can gather the Vex outperforms all else when it comes to performance across a spectrum of situations.  At the start of last year I kinda laughed at all the guys that pumped up the Vex.  I couldn't believe what they were saying and thought a bunch of guys were just repeating the ol' sales line...well I ended up breaking down and getting one last year after doing a bunch of research on how it worked etc. (see Vexilar website) and as cheesy as it sounds I have to admit "I won't go fishing with my Vex".  I have fished for a long time and I'd still say my catch rate has improved 50% give or take depending on the situation.  Just my two cents

[BushMaster]

I do alot of deep water lake trout fishing and I have found that the FL-8's just don't have the punch needed for deep water probing. Does anyone have any experience with the FL-18 in deep water? I am ready to make the switch from my old Zercom clearwater to the FL-18 provided it has the punch I need.

[Panfish2]

Great job describing the pros of the Vexilar guys! If I was the sales manager for Vexilar, I think I'd contact a few of you to see if you might be interested in a sales job with Vexilar, that's how good some of those reports were.

Yes, I will indeed check out the Vexilar web site. I'd be a fool not to after reading some of those glowing reports. Question is, when the hell will I ever get caught up on the equipment I need? I've already spent a small fortune on this fishing deal, and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel yet.

Oh well, as much as I like to fish, I guess it's all worth it. The family is raised, so the nest is empty, and I sure couldn't imagine becoming one of those danged couch potatoes. I'll just leave this world a poor man is all.  

One note on the Aqua-Vu if I may. Very little natural light is needed for it to be effective. I was up on Mauch Chunk today, and I had it down in 20 feet of water just before total darkness set in and I could see gills and crappies without the light turned on.

As far as stained water goes, you can still see fish and structure even if the water is somewhat muddy, and the reason is that the camera does not see very far. The fish have to be quite close before you'll see them. A negative? Yes!

The light does not scare fish, it attracts them. If I see some blobs in the distance that I think are fish, I'll turn on the light and sure enough they'll come in to investigate. I've had bluegills almost kiss the camera with the light on. Crappies tend to swim back and forth sideways through the light, but very close to the camera.

The Aqua-Vu is a very good tool, and I wouldn't be without it, but it does have its problems. Unlike the sonar units, you cannot use it and fish at the same time. And the fact that you have to drop and retrieve it is a pain in the arsh.

But it sure is nice to put a visual image on the sonar signals of the fish finder. The Aqua-Vu taught me more about those sonar signals than anything I've ever read or heard.

[Jam_Jam]

Bushmaster it depends how deep your talking.  I was using my FL18 in an average of about 120' of water last year and it worked fine although most of the fish I was focusing on were hanging shallower so I often used the wide beam so I had max coverage area at shallower depths (i have the dual beam transducer) but the wide beam didn't pick stuff up very well if it was below 100'.  If I was focusing on fish below 70' I'd switch over to the narrow beam and it worked fine. I've used the narrow beam in water up to 180' and it seemed to pick up things fine although the dead spot in the center of the cone is bigger as you get that deep.  I would definitely suggest a dual beam transducer if your fishing deep and shallow otherwise go with the narrow beam for deep water.  You may be able to get another narrower beam or even a dual beam transducer (not sure what u use now) for your FL8 and have it work fine.  If you have a single beam 19 degree transducer definitely just get another narrow beam 9 or 12 degree and stick with the FL8.  I haven't found the zoom feature on the FL18 that handy in deep water situations.  IMO one cone angle just won't cover the full range from 10' - 200' as effectively as being able to switch between a couple of angles.  

[kenelz]

Nobody mentioned about the depth finding ability of the Vex. If I'm looking for a dropoff or a certain depth to fish, just clean the snow off the ice, splash some water out your minnow bucket (or even coffee) onto the ice and put the transducer on it. The vex will read right through the ice, saving the time of drilling unnessary holes.

[hollis]

I guess I'm still missing the point (s) here. I don't have a Vexilar, I did pick up a Colorpoint but haven't had a chance to use it much (I set  it up on a very cold but calm day last winter and within minutes the wind came up to about knock me off my feet and I had wished I had brought my GPS to guide me back a few thousand feet to the car as the cold/wind/whiteout made life almost unbearable) I was only planning to be out for an hour or two but this was unpredicted and terrible weather so I was glad to "find" the car! Anyway,.I HAVE used my Zercom LPG 2000. I know the usual claim is that LCD's are not real time, but this is so close that my eyes and reflexs can't seem to tell or react any faster. I also hear that LCD screens can freeeze in very cold weather but this one has a military grade screen that I have used at -19 with no problems. I believe it can go lower. It SEEMS TO ME to be able to be read /interpret a lot easier, I stand to be corrected, maybe I need some hours with a flasher ,..(or a better one?,)...but I just can't yet  see the reason to not use the LCD.over the flasher. I might agree that maybe its interesting to see the colors, maybe other LCDs don't work as well,..but its sure interesting how everyone really does love their Vexes  so I'm guessing that there is something I don't know yet about em...but I'm wondering what that is.

[crappieloo]

Panfish2 i didn't read all the previous posts so forgive me. All i know i have been using a HONDEX FL-8 for over 14 years and have been out fishin a lot of people with this low tech. unit. Yea they all laughed at me in the 80s when i bought it, then they asked me which hole i got the fish from?
The hole you just left ding-dong.
These guys are right about flashers, i know thats all i use and wont fish without one.
BTW why do you have to cut a hole with a Aqua-vu to see structure or active fish below the ICE
Also is a Aqua-vu omindirectional or do you have to point it where you want to look.?
Also if there is a 8 lb. laker on or near the bottom of 125 fow can you see a school of crappies 12 down at the same time?
I dont know about high tech stuff, i was wondering and still using my 80s dinosuar stuff.

[Panfish2]

You guys have convinced me crappieloo. After viewing the Vexilar web site, I guess I gotta' bite the bullet and get me one of those flasher units.

BTW, I'm very impressed with your fishing dedication. Fishing all night is something few of us are willing to do, so you have my full attention on anything you say.  

[Fishrmn]

Panfish2,

I agree with crappieloo, to a point.  A fishfinder is far superior to an underwater camera.  But I'll take a good LCD graph any day over a flasher.

Up to 10 times the power, 6 times the resolution, 1,000 times the number of depth ranges,  And before everyone jumps on the bandwagon and says that I can't, let me tell you, I can see my jig, see it move, in real time, see fish suspended and reel up to them or drop down to them, and tell if they are interested in my presentation or scared off by me jigging too much.

Fishrmn

[Jam_Jam]

I could see a good and I mean good (and probably just as expensive) LCD display doing as good a job (almost) even in winter and if you learn what your looking at then you can see things basically in real time too.  The leading edge of the display is real time and the rest of the screen is what happened (x) seconds ago.  If you understand that then your on your way.  The one definite strength I found with the Vex was determining with certainty what is noise and what is a fish.  With the Vex noise flashes on the screen and is gone in a flash whereas fish signals stay on the display longer and change in intensity etc.  On an LCD display the noise is displayed as a mark and remains on the screen until its bumped off the other side.  How do you figure out if its a fish or noise then?  I think that is a bigger issue when your fishing in open water where movement is more of a factor but it does come into play when icefishing as well depending on traffic and how noisy the ice is etc.  The nature of operation also means you will have more trouble seeing into weeds and other structure with an LCD display.  I'm not saying an LCD won't do the job but it still doesn't quite accomplish everything that a flasher does.  

The main advantage that the LCD display has is the memory.  You could look away for a few seconds and look back at the screen and see a fish went buy seconds ago whereas with the Vex if your not looking at the display when the fish is in the sonar cone then you have missed it.  The memory of LCD's is much more important in open water where you want to see the bottom contour as you move along.  With the vex you basically have to watch the screen and remember what depth and where as you go along.  I still like it in open water because I have learned to effectively filter out noise and truely recognize fish (something that most LCD users don't trust often) but if I were concentrating on structure and not fish in open water situations I would go to an LCD.  I'm not sure how much cold effects LCD displays but if your fishing in a shanty I guess that doesn't really matter anyways.  

One thing I learned from my research is that power is overrated and often peak power is quoted when that is not what matters.  The ability of a unit to do its job is the balance between power and transducer sensitivity, this balance varies depending on the application.  Of course a deep water application is going to require more power but for shallower applications it is better to have less power and more transducer sensitivity.  Nothing will ever be perfect in every situation.