Marcum Fish Finders
Filed Under Ice Fishing Flashers | Leave a Comment
When it comes to ice fishing gear nothing has revolutionized the ice fishing game like ice fishing flashers. To that end, the standard has been Vexilar for its reliability and customer base. In fact, many looks especially to find a used vexilar for sale in order to defray the costs a bit. Given the way that these units hold their value however, it is often times a better idea to scrap the used talk and go with a brand new unit. Marcum fish finders are a great route to go if you decide to go new.
In comparison to the Vexilars, the Marcum stacks up very nicely. First and foremost the features on the Marcum’s are as good or better across the board as the Vexilar units. A good example of this is the bottom zoom feature that is standard on the baseline offering, the Marcum VX-1 fish finder. The zoom is not offered on the Vexilar line until you get up into their mid tier unit which costs $100 to $150 more than their baseline unit the Vexilar FL-8. In addition, the peak to peak power available on the Marcum units put them light years ahead of the Vexilars. Granted a low power setting on the Vexilars are nice when you are fishing in the weeds or for use in the open water under similar circumstances, but this is a pretty small degree of usage among ice anglers. The adjustable zoom available on the top of the line Marcum LX-5 is a great feature for those suspended crappies that are the target of many ice anglers around the world.
Going on the ice these days without a sonar unit is highly inadvisable. Experienced ice fishermen often refer to this type of fishing as “fishing blind” for the fact that they have no idea if there are actually fish below their hole. On top of that you can literally see your bait on the screen of the flasher and see how the fish are reacting to it. Paired with a St. Croix spring bobber the combination is deadly on many fish through the ice including crappies, sunfish, walleyes, perch and tullibee. In fact, using it while ice fishing tullibee proved very effective this year while ice fishing Mille Lacs Lake.
Marcum offers its fish finders in 3 varieties which range in price from just north of $200 to over $500 for its top of the line model. The baseline model is the Marcum VX-1 model which sports 3 color sonar and a zoom feature for the bottom 5 feet of the water column. Stepping up to the Marcum LX-3 allows for a more precise display of your bait and the fish (referred to as “target separation” by the ice fishing flasher industry). The top of the line model is the Marcum LX-5 flasher. This unit offers a ton of peak to peak capacity and an even finer “target separation” than the other models in the line.
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