Flasher, info, suggestions, experience ?

[roscoe]

I've been toying around with the idea of getting a flasher unit.
Looking for something to supplement my cheap sonar unit in the boat. (cuda )
I know nothing about them except that my dad had an old green box back in the 70's.

These things sure are pricey compared to an LCD sonar unit.

Have any input on how well these work on a boat?
Will they give me enough info to justify the expense.
Looking to "see" the bottom 3 feet of water, where the walleyes hide when they aren't real active.
Do you think they will help locate fish in stump or boulder fields?

Any info or experiences you would like to relate, would be appreciated.

 

[heycods]

Re: Flasher, info, suggestions, experience ?

My lowarance 102C has flasher capabilitys, but why would you spent the high bucks for a good flasher when you could buy a decent sonar for the same money?

 

[roscoe]

Re: Flasher, info, suggestions, experience ?

I don't know, thats why I'm asking.

Ooops, I can't even remember what I have. I had a Cuda on the boat I sold last fall.

Now I have an Eagle FishEasy 245 DS, that has the dual frequency - dual search, with 60* and 120* cone angles. This is what had me concerned when I bought it. But I found it at a "going out of business" sale for $57, I figured that was a bargain, so I bought it.

I am used to using a finder with a 19* cone angle, so it was pretty much telling me what was directly under my boat, where I was jigging.

I also have an Eagle 502c igps chartplotter.

So, should I sell the one I have now (still in box) and get a bigger Lowrance with the Fastrak flasher?

Or should I keep what I have and get a Vexilar.

Or should I just be happy with what I have?

 

[Bass-A-Holic]

Re: Flasher, info, suggestions, experience ?

all i know is that when i use the vex ice fishing i can see if my spike falls off my jig in 10ft of water

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Flasher, info, suggestions, experience ?

Top of the line flashers like a Marcum LX5 of vexlar FL18 or 20 offer a lot that conventional LCDs dont offer. Mainly real time action with zoom anywhere within the water column down to under 5 ft anywhere from 0 to 160 ft. I got an LX5 for xmas this year ($470 plus tax) which will actually show 3/4 " separation and with zoom on the bottom will show that walleye coming up to your jig. The flash will change from yellow to green to red and with enough experience you can actually tell the size of the fish. When entering zoom mode the right side of the flasher still shows the entire water column and the left side will show the zoom area and with 2000 watts power you can actually get it to read distance in the air. High end flashers have dual cones so you can switch between 9 degree and 19 degree. Both the marcum and the vex can be set up with high speed transducers so they will work in the boat. Here is a link that will go a lot more indepth about flashers.