flashers vs. fish finders

[yonderfishin]

Possibly someone on here has the experience to give me some advice. I have read that many fisherman prefer using a portable flasher on the ice instead of the other type fish finder. As a newbie on a strict budget I am wondering what would be the best choice for me between a modern low end portable "fish finder" and an old portable "flasher" like the Lowrance fish lo-k-tor green box. I have no idea how to use or read a flasher so I dont know what I should be looking for in buying one but there must be some advantages of using flashers over the fish finders right ?  Any help is greatly appreciated.

[icejunky]

A flasher is the way to go...not knowing your budget, your can get some nice prodcuts for under $300 on Ebay if you watch. You can also sometimes get refurb's from vex right on there site, still warrentied. The New Showdown finder is also an option as they are reasonably prices and from reviews on this site they have come along way in the last few years.

If you need to put some cash away for a season or two, it will save you time and money down the road to spend that little extra and get a good machine.

Flasher are easy to read once you spend some time with one on the ice. If you have a good local shop they might even spend some time getting you started.

[Irish Jigger]

I agree. I started with an Eagle 128 portable fish finder and found it hard to line up the transducer to see my bait and most of my small baits wouldnt even appear on it. Go to the Vexilar web site and they have a few videos you can watch to get a feel on how flashers work.I wont fish without it, it makes a huge difference between spending time in a dead hole and finding fish.

[deebsey]

Go with the flasher they are the best bet for ice.  Look around on the web you can find them cheap.

[sarniajeff]

As stated earlier, go to the Vexilar web site and you'll find some great informative videos.
You'll see how easy they are to use and understand.
They will increase your catch and understanding of fish behavior. You'll never fish a fishless hole again!!!!!
I won't go fishin without my Vex!!!!

[yonderfishin]

Atleast short term, I am limited to buying probably one of the really old green box fish lo-k-tor flashers I have been seeing on ebay for $50 or less, I even seen one at the local goodwill store ( though its a safe bet that its gone ) , and as old as they are I dont know how they work compared to newer ones like the vex. I just cant find any good information on those old ones specifically and their use on the net. I will have to keep a look out for a good deal on one.  thanks

[Bellybuster]

I use a standard fish finder while ice fishing (humminbird 220) I can't afford a flasher as well. It works very good and lets me know when fish are in the area. I has a dual cone transducer and tells you if fish are directly below or on the peripheral. I understand that flashers are real time but once you understand how the finder works you can use as effectively as a flasher. I have no problems watching my jig in 100+ feet of water.
   I have found that watching your jig rise and fall is the best way to understand ow a fishfinder shows what's happening

the 220 reguarily goes n sale for $99

[Indiana_Lou]

Atleast short term, I am limited to buying probably one of the really old green box fish lo-k-tor flashers I have been seeing on ebay for $50 or less, I even seen one at the local goodwill store ( though its a safe bet that its gone ) , and as old as they are I dont know how they work compared to newer ones like the vex. I just cant find any good information on those old ones specifically and their use on the net. I will have to keep a look out for a good deal on one.  thanks

Yonder, My buddy uses one of the old Si-Tex flashers. It works similar to their newer technology Vex's. The big difference is there is only one color, "red." The wide red indicates the bottom. Any small red flecks in between the bottom and the surface are fish or possibly your lure. I watched him drop two maggots in the hole and it tracked them clear down to the bottom in 20 fow. This unit is probably no less than thirty years old. You can walk, you can drive a Model T, or you can drive a Mercedes. All of those will get you to your destination. Slower/faster, ruffled/comfortably, you make the choice. What's the best you can afford? How important is it to catch fish, etc.     Lou

[Fish-N-Adventures]

Flasher, auger, jig pole and bucket to set on, is all you need. 

FLASHER, FLASHER, FLASHER or SONAR, SONAR, SONAR, lol, lol, lol.  8)

for ice fishing that is. 

[iluvcrappie]

Possibly someone on here has the experience to give me some advice. I have read that many fisherman prefer using a portable flasher on the ice instead of the other type fish finder. As a newbie on a strict budget I am wondering what would be the best choice for me between a modern low end portable "fish finder" and an old portable "flasher" like the Lowrance fish lo-k-tor green box. I have no idea how to use or read a flasher so I dont know what I should be looking for in buying one but there must be some advantages of using flashers over the fish finders right ?  Any help is greatly appreciated.

the best alternative for you would be to go out and buy yourself the lowrance x67c ice machine it has a flasher mode as well as a graph mode built into the same unit for use in the summer it also has a split screen zoom and a setting on it for ice mode only.........for the 300 bucks its well worth the money......mine went for a short swim last summer off the boat and it still works A-1.........hope this may help your decision a little bit

[scjustin2002]

i also say that go with the lowrance when you can get the cash, it has the flasher mode, fishinder mode, and you can zoom to any part of the water colum. and there is NO lag what so ever. its worth the money because you can use it year round and it has a self leveling ducer so all you do is drop it down the hole. its the best chunk of change i spent for sure

here are a couple videos of the x67

flasher mode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlpTSLHTwHQ

and this one is not the x67 but it operates the same in fish finder mode, his lure is at 28 feet and you can see the fish coming in and see him jigging its awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrxuWEp5WrI&feature=related

[viciouscircle]

i also have the Lowrance X67c. I love it.

I use it on my boat in summer, and bought the "ice transducer" (about $60) and used it all last winter on the ice. You dont even have to buy the ice transducer....i had the normal transducer bolted onto a hockey stick which i just put down the hole...worked great...just bulkier.

[Drifter_016]

I run an old Lowrance 2460 flasher with a portable pack.
You can purchase older flashers on ebay and make your own portable pack and save $$$$.
I picked up a spare Lowrance flasher for $45 shipped on ebay. I bought it as a spare in case my current one kicks the bucket.




See this post on Macgivering up your non-portable into a portable.

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=87807.0

[filetandrelease]

my first was a ez4400 bottom line specie select off my boat still have it have an fl 8 fl 18 and x67c which I have not used yet but seen one used last year and was quite impressed .they all work well

[ih772]

Go with a Lowrance X67 unit. I have a Vexilar FL-18 and a Lowrance M68C (its just an X67 with built in GPS)

I have used both units side by side and the Vex stays home now. The Lowrance unit outperforms the mechanical "spinning wheel" flashers by a long shot.

Here's a write up of a  "S & G" test I did between both of my sonar units (fl-18 and M68C) last winter.


I've been playing with a M68C and my trusty old FL-18 side by side for the past three weeks now. There isn't a bit of difference between the units in any real time movement of your jigs. Make sure the ping speed and chart speed are set at 100% on the M68C. Bottom line is there isn't any lag or difference between the two in real time motion!

I do notice a difference in bottom separation. When I lower my jig to the bottom and the line goes slack, the M68C shows the jig on the bottom at the precise moment the line goes slack. On the Vex, there is about a 6" zone in which it shows the jig is on the bottom but it isn't really there yet.

You can really adjust the zoom options on the M68C a lot more than the FL-18. It's nice for fishing for suspended fish like smelt. Play around with the Upper and lower limits.

You can do some fun things with it in flasher mode. For example, say I'm fishing in 9FOW. I set my lower limit to 9FOW and my upper limit to 4 FOW. This actually gives you the entire flasher dial to watch what's going on in that region of the water. This is way better resolution over the split zoom the unit has in flasher mode. You can see very tiny (about 1/8") changes in depth of your targets this way. I wasn't concerned with fish higher than 4' in the water column at the place and time I was fishing. You can even use this method with split zoom turned on and compare how much resolution you get. The units split zoom in flasher mode is 6', where using upper and lower limit you can get 5' of zoom.


You can also do the same thing with it in the "Full sonar chart" soft water mode. Zoom in to 4X and you will see from the bottom to 18" off the bottom, spread out on the entire vertical part of the screen. That really shows the bottom hugging fish and if they are slightly moving toward or away from your jig depending on the presentation. So what you basically get this way is zooming in on the bottom 5' with the upper and lower limits set at 9' and 4' respectively. At 2x zoom in you get the bottom 2 1/2' and at 4x you get the bottom 18" of water. It does beat out the FL-18 by far in zoom resolution.


Having the GPS and sonar in one unit is nice. I just set the unit under the windshield on my snowmobile and follow the map out to my waypoints. Now I don't have to keep pulling out my smaller handheld GPS and try and look at it while trying to get to my waypoint in the dark.


I don't have any stake in either company.

[yonderfishin]

Really needing to do something to improve my odds of catching anything but also trying to squeeze a nickle and make two dimes pop out ,...I will probably go with whatever one I see at the best price and try to convert it to a portable one ( to use short term since Im sure I will upgrade later ). Just depends probly on what I find on ebay or locally here in the next few weeks. I already missed a couple great deals since I didnt know anything about them but I am sure I will find something. Thanks for all the great info guys

[yonderfishin]

I just bid on an old model Lowrance lfp-250 with what looks to be a yellow or tan plastic box. I see that some of you have mounted the transducer to a stick/pole of some kind. Do you just set it into the water ? Do you secure the stick to something somehow at a certain depth ? I dont understand how its secured at the hole. Do you fish at the same hole the transducer is in or does it require a different hole ?

[yonderfishin]

I just bid on an old model Lowrance lfp-250 with what looks to be a yellow or tan plastic box. I see that some of you have mounted the transducer to a stick/pole of some kind. Do you just set it into the water ? Do you secure the stick to something somehow at a certain depth ? I dont understand how its secured at the hole. Do you fish at the same hole the transducer is in or does it require a different hole ?

Does anybody know of a puck style transducer that will work with these older ones ?

[Haywood]

I have a LX3 and an X67 and most of the time I have my x67 with and its on in graph mode.  I started out only using it in flasher, but started screwing around and enjoy graph mode more

[viciouscircle]

at last.....someone sticking up for X67c....lol....i thought i was missing something with the whole flasher thing. ive seen both working on the ice and went with the x67c....WAY BETTER than a flasher...imho. And i have had it out in minus 30 celcius....no lag, screen not frozen.....and cheaper than a top range flasher, and i use it on my boat in the summer...has flasher mode and graph mode......i dont work for the company either...lol