fish finder or fl-18

[Skeeter41]

It seems as though everyone is saying to go with a fl18.  I have never used one of these, but this past weekend I went with a freind who had a Eagle fish easy,  and that was the neetest thing,  we could see our baits on the screen and we could see the fish.  Then we could see the fish swimming right up to the bait, and within a second we had a bite.  We marked fish at 5 ft. depth so we just watched the screen and moved our baits up to them and pretty soon we had a bite,  so what is so much better with the Fl 18???

[Thor]

I can't speak for the FL-18, but I can share my experience with the Lowrance X67c Ice Machine, which has both a graph mode and a flasher mode.

The first time that I used the unit, I was catching perch right on the bottom in 40 feet of water.  To me, at that depth, the flasher seemed to give me a better heads-up that there were fish hiding on the bottom.  The learning curve was not very steep in that I quickly began to recognize the "bottom" on the flasher mode in split zoom start to quiver or flicker ever so subtly when a fish was present.  This subtlety wasn't as evident in the graph mode, at least to me.

I've since used the unit at shallower depths between 10-20 feet, and there the graph mode seems to be as effective as the flasher mode, and it is more enjoyable to watch, IMO.  When the ping speed is set at maximum, I would say that the graph mode is virtually as "real-time" as the flasher mode, which is another argument you hear against graphs.  I can not detect any lapse between when I jig my lure and when it moves on the graph screen.

 

[ComplexSimon]

I'm in the virtually the same camp as Thor on this one.  I have modified my summer rig for ice fishing use, and have had great success the past 3 years with it.  Now I'm not saying that it's perfect, as there are real-time differences between an LCD and a flasher.  I just recently was given a crash course on how the flasher works, and it was amazingly simple.  There was no lapse between the fish rising from the bottom and the strike that was observed.  I agree that the graph is more fun to watch, but I did notice (at least with my unit) that at very cold temperatures the function pad will freeze up and make the unit inoperable.  I see advantages to both sides now, and would probably be as comfortable using a flasher as I am with my graph.

Hope this is somewhat helpful.

[Fat Boy]

Technology is bridging the gap between LCDs and flashers.  Some day there will be absolutely no difference in performance, and it sounds like that day is here (at least almost if not already).  The old argument was that flashers show real time and LCDs didn't because of a microprocessor that converts the sonar data received into little fish and bottom pictures, at least that seems to be what I remember.  I could be wrong.  Anyway, it's good to have eyes down there and if you can see fish, and you can see your lure, you have an advantage over the person that doesn't see them.  Great thread and great posts above.

[Thor]

I had a tough time convincing myself to go with the X67c over a flasher.  The fact that I plan to use it on open water, coupled with the FREE summer transducer being offered by Thorne Bros at the time, gave me the added courage to buy it.

There's not a lot of feedback out there yet on the X67c.  Weather permitting, if anyone is interested in checking out the Lowrance on the ice, I would be willing to meet somewhere so that people who may be interested in the unit can check it out to see whether they like it.

This is the first time that I've used electronics , so I can't offer much advice other than letting people decide for themselves.   

[Van_Cleaver]

Yeah, that FL-18 technology kept me out an extra  hr. last night. Finally jigged up a small crappie on a red(glow) Fat Boy. A great moral victory! Actually my brother didn't want to leave anyway; something about getting skunked..... Have to point out that it is a killer aid for tip-up fishermen. Normally I don't leave them in a hole for over an hr., but when you check your depth and mark fish under the minnow you may as well wait for the bite. Just keep lifting and dropping your rigs occaisionally. Eventually  the fish did bite and the tip-ups saved my a_ _ again.

[ComplexSimon]

Always a good feeling not to get skunked...even when you catch that little 3" gill at least you can say that you didn't get skunked!   

There have been days when the electronics has been a great advantage, however, the disadvantage is the extra weight that you have to carry when you are on the hard water.  Most lakes lend themselves to short walks from strategic parking locations, but if you a sweet spot that is 3/4 or a mile hike to get too I'm looking to limit the amount of gear I'm pulling behind me.  Of course if there is a nice light layer of snow the sled moves much nicer, but I can remember times when there is heavy 3-4" of snow cover that does not make the hike much fun.  Still a poor day on the hard water ALWAYS beats a good day at work...

[twistedlimb]

WHO MAKES THE FL-18? NEVER SAW ONE BEFORE AND ARE THEY ONLY FOR ICE FISHING?

[Van_Cleaver]

The FL-18 and 8 are made by Vexilar, and there are a  variety of trasducer options available to convert your ice fishing rig to an open water unit.