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I've had my FL18 since '04... reading through here I started looking at the refurbs, seem like a pretty good deal and if they have the warranty it seems even better. May have to pick up a refurb 28 "for the wife"
Thanks!! Very helpful!! I ended up getting a Reconditioned Vexilar FLX 28 from Vexilar just now but now the problem of twittling my thumbs and waiting kicks in haha.
Congrats! They will have it in the mail today...I ordered mine at 3pm on a Thursday and got it 9am Friday morning!
In my experience I would buy a reconditioned Vexilar and plan on it being more reliable than a new any other brand piece of equipment. There is a known FLX28 Screen Freeze issue they are addressing http://www.vexilar.com/pages/flx-28An FL20 or FL22 (max 60ft deep) are great units and about $100 cheaper even.
Screen Freeze issue was some of the units last year and has since been corrected. I would be very surprised if any of those would still be at the realtors. IMHO
I usually charge mine after every outing, but I know I had a three day stretch last season where I ran it roughly 20 - 22 hours without a recharge. Of course there are many factors that will play into battery performance, so every users experience is probably a little different.
It is really important to recharge after every outing! Greatly extends the life of the battery. Also a good idea to charge it monthly during the off season. I actually keep the battery maintainer on it all year, but I also use my fl-18 for open water fishing as well. One other thing let the battery come up to room temperature before charging.Keep it safe! JDL
Not my first rodeo sir I know to recharge after every outing. The 3 day stretch was a one time occurrence that won't be happening again. It goes on the charger once a month during the off season & is always at room temperature when put on the charger. Have a great season & play safe out there !!
Just got mine today. Ordered right from Vexilar had it here in 3 days.
When we camp on the ice we take a spare marine battery and converter to keep the flx'same charged.
I got mine today too!! I order mine last Thursday though but I can't use it until this weekend anyway. She's charged and ready to go though . My buddy I'm going with bought a Hummingbird ice 45 and will be using it for the first time as well so we'll so who catches more fish haha.
That's like comparing a gun to a nuke. Good luck with your new unit.
We do some winter camping as well except we camp in lean-tos in our tents. Hopefully it doesn't take to much of a toll on the battery over nights.
Read up on the modes and play with it. It's a super flexible unit but needs some tweaking with the proview ducker to really shine. Don't be discouraged at first. Take note of the color pallet you want to use. Color #4 is full information with no computer filter so you will see absolutely everything that the sonar recognizes and can show too much. But on the same note, you see it all. Colors 1,2,3,& 5 are computer regulated and filter out what it believes to be false signals.Learn to use low power mode and how to activate low power mode in any zoom or weed mode.Make sure it is displaying in feet not meters if that's you preference. (Changing that is a major pain in the arse, as you have to have a battery voltage below something like 11.4 volts to change the setting)Good luck, enjoy the flasher, and outfish your buddy! (My wife got a flx28 last year and I was on a ice55, she started to outfish me in two weeks. Now I have a flx28!)
I just watched the video that came with it so I have an idea of what you're talking about. I'm bringing the manual for ****s and giggles to read up on as well. Haha yeah well I don't know how everyone else's luck is when fishing with a lady but when I got with one they always outfish the guy and they rarely fish and know barely anything about fishing which is annoying lol. I don't know if they are catching male fish and they are attracted to the women or what but when they start bragging you pretty much know the relationship is over haha.
My goal is to get my wife to ice as many fish as possible. I also feed her as many beers as possible. This helps me out when we get home.
Ok so I use my Vexilar yesterday and it worked great!! Today turned it on and worked fine for a couple hours then randomly went from reading the depth we were at 65ft to 6 ft and idk why. I turned it on and off, change the gain thinking my buddy's hummingbird was messing with it whixh it has the last couple days. Right now it's on normal, auto and gain 1. I've tried to change to zoom and stuff but still says 6 ft.. anyone with this issue?
