Fishfinder or Flasher?

[smeltshack]

I would like all your advice on wether i should purchase a flasher or just go ahead and by a fishfinder which i can use all year round, and see bottom structure. If im going to fork over some cash i want to get the best thing i can which will benifit my fishin.
Thanks for the advice.

[fishboy899]

I have a Lowrance system on the boat.  You can take it off and buy the ice gear for it for like $70.  You can also press a button on it that shows a flasher on it.  Its like 3 in 1.

[LoveIce]

Get the lawrance ice machine its a flasher,and LCD the gest of both

[Da_Roc]

Buy A Vexalir CLC 200 boundry waters color LCD for the summer then get a marcum LX-3 for the winter or an FL-18 Vexalir .  You'll be real glad cause "no" machine works well in the cold and hot. None of them.
  Just buy a cheap humming bird for the summer.  The lowerance company has been ripping off its customers for long enough! The extreme prices of $1100 for a LCD is just really silly!   They are just fish finders.  They all do the same job.  The only difference in LCD's in reality is the number of pixels on the screen.  The more pixels the more detail it shows. You still have to catch the fish it will find.  The transducers are much the same and all just do one thing.  Send and recieve signals.  If you don't believe me look up the word sonars on your search and look under those topics.  More than one of them tells you in detail how every LCD and how Sonars work.  I was truely shocked and amazed how a $79.95 and $1100 LCD are. Just trying to save some of you summer guys a nickel.  Have fun cause thats what fishing is intended to do.  Not break your kids college fun!
  Later and Good will to you all!
Da-Roc

[LoveIce]

Come on does this guy have money to burn vex 300-400 houndred Marcum lx3 450 ok thats like  around $800-950 wright lowrance ice machine has 3 in one dud FLASHER+LCD+ GPS =$530.00 bucks  break it down Good LCD in my book $400.00 Flasher $450.00 Gps $200.00 =$1050.00  the ice machine $530.00 savings $520.00 GEEEEE

[ShackLife]

get the vex

[will]

get the zercom off ebay for bout 40 dollars. Its the only way to go if your not sure what yoiu want yet, you can learn alot using it and yoiu may even like it enough to keep it a few years. I think its fantastic but its all i have.

[LoveIce]

he hants a flasher and LCD GUYS

[billditrite]

from what i understand you want a lowrance but, i would ask the expert....loveice?

[fishboy899]

I agree with LoveIce it is a 3 in 1.  I think it is a better deal.

[LoveIce]

Dud I realy dont think you have seen a ice machine becouse it zooms in three ranges in flasher mode it is real time,and for LCD vex hasnt even whent there Lowrance has ben for years. its 3 in 1 vex is just 1 and thats a flasher,its not a LCD its not a GPS .If this guy is smart he will not listen to any one he will look at the icemachine LOWRANCE himself on there web.page ,and then go to the VEX web site compare the two look at how much money his wife will let him spend  and get what works best for him and him alone thats just smart. HEY trolling LCD is it ice fishing fasher. How many charter capt. out there are useing a flasher over a LCD.THEY ARNT.OK the top ice fishing guys that travel and make money at it are they using a flasher or LCD.They are useing a real time flasher.The ice machine to me is all of it Real time flasher,LCD,GPS this guy wants to have something he can ice fish with and us on his boat in the summer and this one has it all.If he was going just ice fishing I would say VEX 18 or marcom xl3 I like that Marcom zooms all levels the vex does not its all just info and what works for each person gooood luck bud 8)

[LoveIce]

doesnt the ice machine have like 800watts and the vex like 400watts please help me out how does the vex have more power, im not tring to be a jerk that is a real ?

[Thor]

This year, I bought a Lowrance Ice Machine.  I had never used electronics before, so I can't compare it to the Vex or Marcum.  However, before I decided to buy it, I looked all over the Internet for reviews and comments on it.  Some guys loved it and others preferred a traditional flasher.  However, just about every person who used it and also owned a Vex said that the Ice Machine outperformed the Vex when it comes to locating fish, especially those holding tight to the bottom.

Many of the arguments made against the Ice machine were obviously put forth by people who didn't know what they were talking about.  The said the Lowrance flasher was not "real-time".  They said it had a 10-15 second delay.  They touted the Vex's zoom feature, while not mentioning that the Lowrance has a zoom with many more options, etc.  Well, Lowrance invented the flasher in the 1950s and they say it is real time.  I know whose word I'm going to believe on this one.  When I use the color graph (which I greatly prefer to watch over the flasher) and set the ping speed to max, it provides instantaneous readings - I've seen it "live and in person" and Lowrance says it also.

The Vex may be better.  I don't know.  One thing I do know is that a lot of the criticisms regarding the Ice machine are not true (except for the transducer set-up, which I remedied by using a float). 

For anyone who's interested, if you do a search for posts under my name or under the topic x67c, you can read other posts were I've described my experience with the Lowrance.

[LoveIce]

thanks THOR nice post does your s have the GPS?

[Thor]

LoveIce,
 
I have the x67c Ice Machine, which does not have the GPS.  I believe the m68c Ice Machine is the model with the GPS, for $100 more ($399 vs. $499).  I already have a handheld GPS, so I thought I could do without it.  I must admit, it would be nice to have the GPS and sonar together, though. 

[Gamalot]

Wow, has this question been kicked around alot!
I have asked it myself and I have read just about all the replies and one conclusion has been as real as a cold wind, VEX lovers love their flashers and LCDs always seem to get an un deserved black balling.
MY TAKE, IF------ Money was not an issue, buy a Vex for winter and a LCD for soft water.
Since you are stationary on the ice the flasher works well and has a few positive features. Most important is the fact that it can usually be seen in bright sun and LCDs can be tough to see. Extreme cold can affect the LCD but the flasher seems to be unaffected.
IF----- Money is an issue and you can only afford one or the other, you should certainly get an LCD with a few very simple features, Zoom- Flasher Mode- narrow cone angle transducer 8-12 Degrees.
GPS if you need it is also a nice feature but has little to do with finding the fish other then getting you back to them.
A Flasher on soft water is, IMHO, an antique and the LCDs, even inexpensive ones will blow them away.
The argument of real time being present in flashers and not in LCDs is ignorant at best. My LCD shows the exact same information at the exact same time as my buddies VEX and he will be the first to confirm this. You just have to have the charts speed turned up and watch the incomming side of the screen. We tested this by sitting on the ice and dropping corn and split shots thru the hole.
One very nice benefit an LCD has all over any flasher is the ability to show HISTORY, as in, if you looked away for a few seconds and did not see the blip on the flasher, you will see the fish that was displayed on your LCD.
There should be no question about what to buy if you can only have one- get one that does it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
My fishing favorite is to have an LCD for hard and soft water and be able to see fish holding tight to the bottom instead of trying to translate alot of little lines and colors while I am trying to fish. When my buddy with the VEX fishes with me, he usually turns it off and watches my screen unless we are into a school of pearch or crapies and jigging them up.
His VEX works great and I have nothing against them and it does have some very good points but it does not and can not out perform my LCD until the temp goes below -5.

[LoveIce]

the lorance is good to -22 bellow they said for a LCD/Flasher

[billditrite]

that didnt seem that cold in january sorry i ran out tonight...kid had homework just didnt get back in time good chat though