# Flasher vs graph



## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

Looking at a elite 5 chirp or a Fl22, or fl28 . Can't decide . I love using a flasher ....but some of the functions the lowrance look great . wow


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## OHsportsman (Mar 29, 2014)

I got my first flasher for last ice season, it was a hummingbird ICE-55. I love it and it's a whole new game rather than sitting over a hole hoping there fish below you. If I had a boat I may have got the lowrance because they sell a kit with the carry case and transducer. So in the spring just take it out of the back and throw it on the boat. The only drawback with the graph I can think of would be if you could not see your jig like you could on a flasher.
My dad has the elite 5 on his pontoon and it is a very nice unit. There are people on here with a lot more experience and all but my opinion would be to go with the flasher


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## drl149 (Nov 23, 2014)

It seems lots of guys with the evolution of ice fishing today are tending to want to go with graph type electronics. I agree with this evolution you can watch the history on your graph and can help in some situations. But myself in understanding the cone under the ice on flashers I prefer the flasher. This being said is understanding the cone and interpreting whats going in such a system such as a vexilar. The cone as it travelers from your hole to the bottom of the lake widens out. Lets say 2 feet wide at 3 foot depth, but at lets say at 10 fow the cone width extends to 5 or 7 feet. Now using that logic and the color differences on your flasher, the usual red, yellow, green patterns. Where red denotes a strong signal hence right by your bait, yellow a medium signal maybe 2 feet from your bait, and a green signal weak 5 to 7 feet away from your bait. This in turn tells me how close the fish is to my bait and how they are reacting to it. Now the graph systems do do this somewhat in a vertical column next to the history of the graph being plotted but haven't seen it as well as the flashers show.

I shouldn't say this but I am hard on my flashers such as in travel when they are in my ice shanty in travel. With that being said I want reliability and less chance of cracking a screen. Think of an i phone screen cracking and computer updates to software. Lots of graphs want or need an update to function at optimal speed. Flashers dont need this. I love technology and where it is going but love the simplistic features with the dependability of a flasher.


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## Steelhauler (Apr 7, 2004)

The elite 5 Chirp has a flasher option. I bought one in Novemeber but haven't used it yet. I can tell you that I have been using the flasher option on my Lowrance M68c for the past 5 years and it's comparable to a standard flasher. If you go the route of the Chirp 5, you will need to purchase an transducer for ice fishing to get the best results. You can get the ice fishing package for it (transducer, carrying case, storage boxes,) for around $125.

Wes


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## Another Fisherman (Feb 3, 2011)

Steelhauler said:


> The elite 5 Chirp has a flasher option. I bought one in Novemeber but haven't used it yet. I can tell you that I have been using the flasher option on my Lowrance M68c for the past 5 years and it's comparable to a standard flasher. If you go the route of the Chirp 5, you will need to purchase an transducer for ice fishing to get the best results. You can get the ice fishing package for it (transducer, carrying case, storage boxes,) for around $125.
> 
> Wes


Just a warning on the ice packs for the Lowrance units. I read it in some forums or maybe in reviews of the product that the ice pack doesn't work with all the Elite 5 units. And again those people could have got a ice pack for the older units (x67c).

That being said I use the X67c unit and love it. Most of my buddies have flashers and all these electronics do the same thing. What I did for my first electronic purchase I went on Utube and watched videos of the ones I was interested in to help me decide on what I would rather have.


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## backfar (Sep 24, 2014)

I got a fl18 last year and love it.....im getting the transducer kit for the boat next year....i trust my vexilar more for perch than i do a graph....just my opinion


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

I have used both and prefer the vexilar for ice fishing. The lowrance units are nice but don't seem to have the battery longevity of just a flasher unit. Too many bells and whistles just complicate things and drain battery power. I can fish 24hours straight with a single charge on my vex. I keep my vex off the ice to avoid it from sitting on the ice directly. I always have two batteries and have never needed my second one unless I'm also running my camera during daylight hours.


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## capt j-rod (Feb 14, 2008)

I use a marcum lx-7. I know it's not listed as a choice, but it does much of what is being asked. I went to the marcum from a hummingbird 35. First impressions is too much info at once. There were so many things going on that I literally forgot to set the hook. The graph is nice for jigging because it lets you see the cadence that attracts the fish. It also helps to separate multiple targets at the same time. Sadly after all of the money it has been back to the factory twice. In their defense, they always made it better than new and covered shipping both ways, but the trusty hummingbird always comes back out. It is noisy and primitive, but it still works. My buddies from Michigan swear their allegiance to vexilar, and they are very dependable. Ice is hard on gear. If I had it to do over again.... I would have done either a hummingbird 55 flasher ot the vexilar. I love the marcum, but I still take two flashers in the truck... And the hummingbird still gets its use.


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## walleyeRod (Jan 24, 2011)

vexilar and that's all I got to say about that


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

Marcum depends too much on software and things that don't really matter in the world of ice fishing. A flasher with zoom that just works is my choice and vexilar is the winner. I have put my vexilar through hell bouncing around on airboats and pulled behind snowmobiles and a Yamaha rhino and it always works just fine. I may upgrade to a 28 soon but I won't venture away from the vexilar


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

I don't need my unit to have a built in gps or lake map to zap my battery power. I have a gps and maps of lakes I need my flasher to work for an entire day no questions asked. When I fish it's not for a couple hours it's all day even when the fish are negative. They will eat at some point and I will be waiting


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## RStock521 (Jul 17, 2008)

I use my Elite 5 HDI all day long from 5am to 5pm and have never run out on my 9AH battery. Love the GPS functionality for getting around, I bungee the unit on the front rack of teh ATV. I built my own "ice kit" and just bought a Trophy Angler flasher bag and the ice transducer from Lowrance. I take it out and use it on my boat in the summer with the regular skimmer transducer mounted on my boat.


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## capt j-rod (Feb 14, 2008)

Soft water electronics don't like the cold. Gps doesn't work in a white out (don't ask how I know). Flashers like vexilar, hummingbird, and marcum are proven warriors. My phone, handheld gps, and old boat chart plotter don't like bitter cold. Screens lock up and batteries die. LX-7 is proven down to -10 with a wicked windchill. A few shake up hand warmers in the case help battery life on all of this stuff.


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## OHsportsman (Mar 29, 2014)

Not exactly what I would want but the "deeper sonar" looks cool. It floats in the hole and uses Bluetooth to connect to a phone or tablet where you can see the graph or flasher. I've heard it works good for both hard and soft water


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## Frickster (Jan 1, 2015)

I've been using the elite 3x portable and like it. I use it on my kayak during soft water months. I have my settings to manual and can see my small panfish jig on the sonar. On auto mode you can't see it so you have to get use to what your seeing on manual mode. So the fish come in as a line. I can pick up the fish coming after my jig. I got so good at it that I take my ice rod kayak fishing and can see fish come up and down at my bait. Like anything you just have to get use to it. If you think you can use it for soft water as well than its a bonus. If you like I might have some pics of my unit when I was on the ice I could post. 
Good luck,
Frickster


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

I have a fl-8 that I've used the last few yrs, and I really like the the flasher . Just wasn't sure if some of the graph funtions would be useful. I'll most likely end up with a fl-20 or Fl-22


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

Somewhere I have an open water ducer for the 8 and it was pretty fun to fish with all season. I never got one for the 20


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## ErieRider (Mar 23, 2010)

I know there is much debate on this topic. Several years back I used a lowrance but can't remember the model, like x65 or something. I was impressed but swore by my vex at the time. Like them so much I upgraded to a fl-18. Then used a friend's lowrance elite series on Saginaw bay. It had the flasher mode and regular sonar screen. Found myself slowly going to the sonar over the flasher screen. By the end of the weekend, I really got the hang of it then stumbled across a humminbird 597 ci HD with built in GPS. After reviewing on ice shanty from guys who use them way more than I do during their much longer season and their reviews I pulled the trigger on the HB and have not looked back. The only complaints I have is the HB connectors and detecting fish in very dense weeds in shallow water. In lake St. Clair in thick weeds, it takes some adjustments to get it tuned in but will pick up fish. I do believe that the vex excels in that area over a sonar. As far as the connectors, once I found the best way to secure them on my Sled I have been pleased with using the unit on my Sled for gps and then as a sonar. The separation is awesome, the sensitivity is great and the fact that you can use in real time and see the history for how the fish is reacting is great. Once you hone in to figure out the real time window and the history my HB had been nothing short of amazing for me. The vex was good and durable but I love this screen. My HB had zero issue in lag time, battery life (fish sun up till sundown) durability or screen slowness in cold weather. I have used it in near zero temperatures outside of the shanty for several hours and the thing kept running. The sensitivity is great. The attached picture is of shiners I dumped down the hole at the end of the day. Pretty good in my book. Where it also worked good is fish very tight to the bottom.


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