vex fl8 vs fl18

[ranger620]

hey guys have a friend looking to buy a vex he cant decide 8 or 18. i gave my two cents i have a 18 so some feed back from the brotherhood may help him make up his tire kicking mind!

[WallyW]

Depends on depth he plans on fishing and $$$. I have fl 18 love it.

[Oldbear]

I have the 18 also and expecially like the Auto Zoom part which is basically the difference between the 8 an d the 18.

[prestonc]

I have the 22, but I will say when fishing less than 20' of water the 8 is more than adequate.  My dad just started using one last year and had an FL 12 in just over 50' of water this weekend.  He could see fish every time I did and easily see his lure.  Depends on the money you want to spend

[Joboo2334]

I have the 22 and I agree no need to spend the extra money unless you plan on fishing 30 + all the time.

[metalworkz]

I have a 8 , 18 and a 20. I like the 18 the best. But I ended up putting a dual beam on the fl8 and it works just as good in deep water as the other two. I run all mine on the 9deg cone. If he can find a fl8 with a 12deg ducer I think he would be happy. They have so many different packages available that you need to read the box to make sure on the ducer. Stay away from the 19 or 20 deg only ducer, in deep water you have to turn gain up so high to see jig that it gets a lot of clutter.

[Egts]

I respectfully disagree with the comments about an FL8 being sufficient in 20-30 ft of water.  I've had many times when perch an walleyes are hugging the bottom and my FL8 could not differentiate them from the bottom.  The other guys I was fishing with had FL18's and had no problem seeing them.  While not the norm, this is one case where zoom is invaluable.  Needless to say my FL8 went by by after the first time it happened to me.  I'm  a firm believer in getting the best you can, buy once cry once.  Your buddy will not regret an 18.

[Dylan-ICEFISHING]

Fl18

[hnd]

the fl8 is the one unit i'd never recommend to someone.  outside of that unit, everything else is preference.   guys catch plenty of fish with their fl8's to be sure, but its one of the least versatile units out there. 

if you fish for the most part 10-20 ft of weedless water, and fl8 will do everything you need it to.  where the fl8 is just flatout outshined by its bigger brothers or another brand is in shallow water 3-9'  or deeper water 25+. 

shallow water - your gain on the fl8 only goes down so far.  when you are fishing in this little water, even the tiniest jig returns a strong red signal.  if there are weeds in the water too?  yeesh.  its really hard to get a good representation of whats going on.  you can still fish this way and catch fish, its just not ideal.   the remedy to this is to purchase a supression cable that you have to screw in line and off.  this cuts the return in half i believe, allowing you the ability to dial down what you get on the screen allowing you to see much more of the column.   however, if you go fishing deeper water, you have to unscrew this thing off the unit.  its a pain.

deeper water - this is fairly easy to explain.  with out a zoom mode its essentially like trying to watch tv standing 50ft away from your television.  sure you can do it, but you'd like to be able to see whats going on down there on the bottom. 

i think the fl18 can be a lifetime unit.  every person i've known that has become an avid ice fisherman has upgraded from their fl8's to something else.   the guys who like to do it occasionally, an fl8 is all they need.

you have to figure out what how much X amount of dollars is worth via how much use it will get.

we started with fl8's for about 3 years, we quickly saw its disadvantages, realized the time we were investing into ice fishing and saved our pennies and upgraded.   luckily, flashers hold their value well and you can sell them with relative ease. 

[whlfxr]

I personally would debate between an FL-12 or an FL-20.   To me the flat screen is so much easier to see from all angles that the narrow 8 or 18.  I have a 22 and an 18 and prefer the 22 just because of the flat screen.

[T.ice]

If a 18 was his choice, Would you lean towards the 12 ice-ducer or the pro view ice-ducer? My understanding is the pro view is controlled by the gain and should work in all water depths according to Reeds customer service.

[jumbo chaser]

I have a fl 8 and FL 20 and FLX28 if you can afford it I would buy the 28 it blows all other vexilars units out of the water and has a lot of nice features just my .02

[cyclones30]

Out of those 2 options, get the 18.

[icyclone]

lookin to get a vex fl18, time is not an issue, when would be the best time to get one on sale?

[minimalist]

Being a minimalist, you would think that I would recommend an FL-8.  NOT!  Fl18 is the way to go, Bottom lock allows me to use it in open water when I go to Minn. in summer. Auto Zoom is great for finicky fish on the bottom, especially in deep water.  Spend a little more and you will never feel the need to upgrade later.

[toothfish]

I have had a number of Vex's .
   For me the important points are :
 1 Flat screen
 2 Zoom (mostly use 6')
 3 Dual cone

[toofuss]

I had an 18 on the original pro pack. I still regret selling that flasher even though I now have an fl-22. The 18 with a 12 degree ducer is a great unit.

[ranger620]

so while hes kicking tires i bought a flx-28! going to keep my 18 for my boys whats the word on the 28 i havent herd any neg yet?

[toofuss]

You will love it. Two friends of mine have them and they are an awesome unit. I just want a tri beam on one. I like keeping a solid cone angle instead of the variable. Just personal preferance nothing wrong with the pro veiw