Vexilar Tri Beam

[spoofhoundicefisher]

have been dragging my feet too much and looking for a tri beam ice ducer for my fl22.  anybody have any ideas.  called vexilar and they said it is a discontinued item.

[dlbaily]

I just got one last week from Reeds Family sporting goods.

[lunkerslayer]

Discontinued the tri beam that is craziness

[DR.SPECKLER]

Discontinued the tri beam that is craziness

they discontinued the dual beam too years ago.

[ship of fools]

have been dragging my feet too much and looking for a tri beam ice ducer for my fl22.  anybody have any ideas.  called vexilar and they said it is a discontinued item.

I'm not sure how much a tri beam would benefit you with a 22. Isn't that limited to 60' of water? The tri beam is 8,12 and 20 degrees I believe and with the shallow water the 20 should be adequate. I only use the 8 or 12 degree setting when I am in 80 plus feet of water.

I could certainly be missing something but thought i would mention it.

[spoofhoundicefisher]

I just got one last week from Reeds Family sporting goods.

did you get it online or at a specific store.  i have been looking on their web site and they do not seem to have anymore. 

[Scooby31]

I also looked on reeds and couldn’t find it.

[lunkerslayer]

https://www.dowdlesports.com/Vexilar-Inc-Tri-Beam-Ice-Ducer-_p_12603.html?lt_c=1&quickcart=1
I ordered one from these guys since vexilar discontinued the best ice ducer for deep water

[dlbaily]

I got it online from the store in Minnesota. Looked on their website and don’t see anymore. I must of lucked out and got one of the last ones.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

have been dragging my feet too much and looking for a tri beam ice ducer for my fl22.  anybody have any ideas.  called vexilar and they said it is a discontinued item.

Well I hope vexilar gets their head out of their @$$. If vexilar does not have at least a dual beam or tri beam.....I'll be moving on from vexilar when my Tribeams quit. That pro view can go right up their rear too.....it is a POS.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

they discontinued the dual beam too years ago.

Yeah to move to the tri beam.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I'm not sure how much a tri beam would benefit you with a 22. Isn't that limited to 60' of water? The tri beam is 8,12 and 20 degrees I believe and with the shallow water the 20 should be adequate. I only use the 8 or 12 degree setting when I am in 80 plus feet of water.

I could certainly be missing something but thought i would mention it.

I have Tribeams on all my vexilars....the FL22HD with a tribeam is perfect. In fact I think when the FL22HD came out was about the time the tribeam did.

[ship of fools]

I have Tribeams on all my vexilars....the FL22HD with a tribeam is perfect. In fact I think when the FL22HD came out was about the time the tribeam did.

Interesting. What setting do you normally use with the 22?  My old Lowrance had a 20 degree ducer and i had no issues until i got to about 80'. What is the advantage of the 8 or 12 degree setting in water where the 20 does a good job? You obviously have a smaller area of the water you are seeing correct?


I'm not arguing by any means .....  just trying to learn so thanks for the input and education!

[DTro]

I specifically sold my 28 due to me hating the Proview ducer.   Sure I could have messed around with the low power and weed mode and all that other nonsense, but I'd rather just turn the thing on and pick a frequency that works for the depth i'm in.  Marcum and HB seem to do dual beam just fine with their flashers, why not Vex?

[hnd]

and its not like they dont' work well.  Vexilar is so hung up on this proview garbage though.   

if i was a vexilar guy, and didn't want to switch i would heard some tribeams.

[Light liner]

Tri beam on FL 18?

[ship of fools]

Tri beam on FL 18?

I had a tri beam on my 18. Just sold it and bought a 20 and kept my tri beam

[hardwater diehard]

Tri beam on FL 18?

Works well ..all Vexilar transducers will work on each/every Vexilar ..not a fan of the Proview ...hope they reconsider the Tri Beam availability .

[lunkerslayer]

The reason for the narrow cone angle is a must when ice fishing in devils lake going after deep schools of perch. Christmas trees with a 20 degree angle looks like one big red blob when the perch swim under your hole. The narrower the angle the greater the detail when trying to get perch to commit when they are literally scooping up your bait off the bottom. You cant see that with a wide angle beam my 28 is deadly with the tri beam. Vexilar was at one time letting its customers send in their pro view ice ducers for a tri beam which was what I did. I did like the red bottom on the old tri beam becuase it was much easier to make sure the ducer cone was just a little bit below the bottom of the ice, Which helps with incredible target separation.

[lunkerslayer]

Bummer I thought I lucked out in getting a spare tri beam but nope no dice

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Interesting. What setting do you normally use with the 22?  My old Lowrance had a 20 degree ducer and i had no issues until i got to about 80'. What is the advantage of the 8 or 12 degree setting in water where the 20 does a good job? You obviously have a smaller area of the water you are seeing correct?


I'm not arguing by any means .....  just trying to learn so thanks for the input and education!

So I have an FL18 tribeam, FL20 dual beam, FL22HD tri beam, and FLX28 double vision with tri beam.

The reason you want a tri beam is because it allows you to adjust your cone angle to the depths and conditions you fish.

Here is a somewhat simple example.

Take two guys fishing side by side in a flip over.  When fishing you want to see the most area you can below your sonar, but you don't want to see your buddy jigging his lure on your screen. So in shallow water you fish a 19*..........however if you get to say 12-15ft to keep your buddies lure off the screen you might need to go to a 12* cone. Then in say deeper water like 30ft you would need to go to the 9* cone.

If I'm fishing by myself I tend to want to see a decent size area. So I'll run a 19* cone then has you get into deeper water I'll switch to a 12* cone then in deep water over to a 9* cone. That way I show a decent area with decent return signals.

Now let's say a guy is fishing a sharp drop off, or say an underwater ditch or hole, or areas with structure like brush piles. The narrow cone will read bottom closer to want it is without having near the blind spots or picking up has much clutter in a brush pile.

The reason the Pro View is dislike IMO is that it is a 9* cone. In order to "widen" the cone you need to turn up the gain. So when fishing in shallow water in which a wider cone helps you would need to turn the gain up to get the wider cone.....however when doing this the screen becomes very blobby and difficult to get a clear screen with. Claims have been made that using LP & weed mode and doing some magical setting that takes forever to find can get the screen cleared up. I tried the tribeam and the pro view and found it much easier to use and find the correct setting with a tribeam in shallow water hole jumping......I couldn't get it set for crap with the proview.

Then on the flip side Fishing on Bitter lake in 30ft of water, my buddy had an FL22HD with a proview I had my tribeam. In my narrow setting I could keep his lure off of my screen....he could not keep mine off his screen.

On another note the pro view is supose to be an adjustable cone angle.....here is the problem.........how would you ever really know ruffly what the cone angle was with the gain setting without testing it every time?

I'll try to add some charts on transducers to help you picture stuff.

[ship of fools]

That all makes perfect sense - thanks to both of you.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

That all makes perfect sense - thanks to both of you.

No problem. I remember the first time I bought and tried to use a flasher. Nobody I knew really ice fished or new how to use one. So, I actually returned it to the store. Then after researching and learning about it I bought my FL20 50th anniversary edition and started  using it. It is kinda amazing just how much you can figure out and learn with them.

Every year I learn more and get better using them, and I can say that the tribeam gives a guy so much flexibility when setting and tuning in your sonar for fishing that I can't believe vexilar is dropping it.

 From Zenako him self.

Thanks for your request to know about  future transducers designs.  At present we are offering Three beam angles to choose from: 19, 12 or 9 degree,  We are always looking into new transducer designs and innovative ways to make Vexilar Flashers even better. I cannot say when new transducer designs will be available, but do not expect to see one this season.
 
Thanks for the question
 
Tom Zenanko
Vexilar     

[lunkerslayer]

Did vexilar say why they are discontinuing the tri beam ice ducer

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Did vexilar say why they are discontinuing the tri beam ice ducer

No. The tri beam they had was solid. M