which vexilar do i need

[Adam Gibbs]

or should i even get a vexilar? been thinking about the camera type video monitors too. my fishing is mostly 10 feet deep for bluegill. but i would like to try walleye fishing and perch fishing. for now though, it is mainly panfish, in relativly shallow water. how easy are they to use? thanks
adam

[woodie slayer]

any of the vex's will work in 10 foot.

[1fish]

Start with a Vexilar (or other flasher/finder). Cameras are neat toys and useful at times, but Vex's are tools.

Any of the Vex's will work great, I'd recommend buying the best one you can afford. I (as have most that own one) have progessed from the FL-8, to the 18, to the 20. The 20 does have more options than the 8, but in all reality, the 8 does the basic job just as well. Just depends on if you want zoom, built in power suppression, etc.

[hardwaterfan]

imo you need a vexilar 8SE pro pack with a 19 deg. transducer. they are very easy to use. i use the same, for the same type of fishing. if you get a 12 then you get signal suppresion built in. i havent found that to be necessary. if you get a 18/20 you get zoom mode. i also havent found it necessary for the waters i fish. the one thing about the 12 i dont like, is there is no 30' mode like there is on an 8. the shallower the water, the wider you want your transducer angle to be.

good luck with whatever you get. sonar is more practical than cameras.

[jbird68]

I got the Aqua-Vu VPG(showdown) last year and would't overlook that. For $229 it's a geat deal.

[LXHunter]

I had the Vexilar FL-8SE and graduated to a Marcum LX-5. You can't go wrong with any brand of flasher and I would never, ever consider being on the ice without one.:)

[boatless]

got my fl12 last year and it did help me catch a lot more wallys expecillay the 1s that are suspened 10 to15 ft of the bottom see em on the graph bring it up to them and bam the suspened fish seem to always hit but alot of the fish right one the bottom could not get to bite. definantly worth the $$

[BassFisher91]

There are also the Marcums. Got mine last year and absolutely love the thing. It helped so much in catching suspended crappie. I'd much rather go radar over camera.

[Gutz]

If you're only going to fish 10-12 feet, the FL-8 will be fine but you might want to add the S-cable to reduce the gain. 19 degree transducer would be best for those depths. If you could, I would spend a little extra on the FL-18 which you make up a little of the cost on by not needing to buy an S-cable because that feature is built-in. You might (probably will) decide that you really like it and want to try deeper stuff now that you have the ability to see what's going on. In that case, I would definitely recommend the FL-18 which has a bottom zoom. I don't think the FL-20 is that much of an improvement on the FL-18. It's got a 6' and a 12' bottom zoom (as opposed to just a 6' with the FL-18) but the bottom 6' is all I really look at. The only other differences that I know of are extra labels on the display and variable light intensity, neither of which I personally find worth the extra $ but some guys might. I have a dual 9/19 degree ice-ducer on mine which is nice for switching between shallow and deeper water but you could easily get away with picking a 12 or 19 (I wouldn't get the 9 if you weren't going to get a dual and you primarily fish shallow). I use a 9/19 a lot in the summer with an electric trolling motor transducer that mounts really easily with a zip-tie.

Hope this helps,

-Gutz