vex,marcum or ice machine

None of the above buy some barrels and fill them with FUEL

This was my first year with a flasher. Mine is a Marcum LX-5. You wont be dissapointed with any of em , but the Marcum is at this point in time "the" best unit on the market today. You'll love it.

I use  the fl18, worth every penny!

i have the fl-8 se. its simple and works just as good at the fl18 only problem is they arent making the 8's anymore so they are hard to find. i only fish in water thats 23-25 max but fish shallower so i cant see getting the fl 18 with the advance zoom on the bottom and more things to confused you with. If you know what kinda fishing y ou will be doing buy whats sorta best for you. the 8's are the simpilest to understand. but if you need it then get a modle from 12 to 18 i guess. i just cant see spending 500 dollars. (i live in pa our ice season is at max 6 weeks on a great year...)

so that would mean you have or havent used a vex? and i know everyone thinks their flasher is the best...
http://www.fishfever.com/node/202/play  good video on the thing, but to me i dont need all that, and really i would probably never use the zoom. All those buttons and options to me, does not make it better. And like I mentioned..my vex was 300 works great. compaired to 500..
honestly its confusing, but im sure i could learn how to use it though.
i wouldnt buy one unless i was most likely fishing over 30 foot of water all the time.

ORIGINAL: chauncy

Well, post the facts, Ma'm, so we all can see why your choice is the best. I might be interested in selling my 18 and spending $500 on one..... NAH.  My vex gets the job done just fine for me. But seriously, whats it do that a vex wont?

 
well ma'm i know your smarter than that because i know this aint the only site for ice fishing you and most of us visit and this topic has been beat till almost death and back again, and I dont care if you use a vex a marcum, lowarance the bottom line is crazy4ice wanted an opinion...i gave mine...nuff said...i'm done on this topic

Never used it in water deeper than 17 ft yet. I did use the zoom for a while just to see what it was like. It was okay but i really didn't need it for that depth. I only made it up to PI a few times but didn't trust the ice on those days where i would go out to the channel to fish for the perch. Hopefully, next season we'll get a more consistent freeze. If you're not going to fish the deep water consistently you wont need the zoom model. I got the 18 from a guy in Texas. It was in the dash on his boat and he never used it. Sold it to me without the transducer for a fraction of what its worth. They're all good. Get what you can afford.

Found this and thought it might help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW4fo9ilm40&feature=related

Chauncy,I have watched people using flashers and they are slick. One is on my must have lists for next  ice season. I am just unsure on the need to buy one with a bottom zoom or not. Can you turn the zoom feature off, and if so will the unit work just like the non zoom model? I think that I will opt for the dual angle transducer. As it might be useful when trying to fish shallow water to have the 19deg & in deeper water the 9deg. I am probably overthinking this whole thing and an old used Fl-8 would be all I'd need.

Treesparrow the old fl8-s work just fine. they make an fl8-se(pretty colors and i personally belive alittle more accurate, less interferrance too) they have deeper water settings..if your really not fishing over 30 foot i cant see the total need to have the zoom..but i can see where the bottom might come in more clearly, although if you really watch your flasher you will notice when the bottom is changing when a fish comes there. Many of times when im fishing 20 foot, when im not seeing fishin in the clear water column ill just keep my jig in what i call the "red zone" where your jig and the bottom meet. and just watch my rod basically intil i see maybe fish coming in high or learn what fish are under the whole, example..perch are generally at the bottom...so i could see the zoom alright for deeper waterfishing. But like i said you usually can see the bottom "moving" when a fish comes by, instead of red you'll get the yellow/green bars come threw the red. I'd say if your strickly deep water fishing 90% of the time you might want the zoom...but if you switch it up about 50/50 i'd say save a few hundred bucks, try out one, if you dont like it..you can always find a buyer and you're not gonna take a total bath on it so an upgrade would seem easier to purchase then dumping out 500 first then to figure out you didnt need it.

I don't own either one of these yet, however my research indicates that the Marcum's are better if your fishing around other flashers, they don't seem to pick up the interference as much as the vex's do. I have a buddy who has a vex and says that he does have interference problems from time to time.