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for Vexilar Ice Transducer ?
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Vexilar Ice Transducer ? - - -
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Msg 1 Posted: 08:41 AM 07/16/07 (CST)
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When looking for a ice tranducer, what degree of transducer should I be looking for? Most everything we fish around here is 35' or less for depth. Family is just getting into ice fishisg and we are purchasing some used vexilars. Would 12 degree or 19 degree be better, which one?
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Msg 2 Posted: 09:49 AM 07/16/07 (CST)
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The higher the degree, the wider the cone. If you are fishing primarly shallow water, I would recommend the wider cone.
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Msg 3 Posted: 09:51 AM 07/16/07 (CST)
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Some of new finders out there have switchable cones between 8 and 25 degress. Yopu might want to check some of these out.

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Msg 4 Posted: 09:53 AM 07/16/07 (CST)
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Wide, narrow, medium, or dual wide/narrow? Choosing a transducer beam angle can be important, or not. Most anglers would be very pleased with either one. But if you really want to get serious you should decide which one is best for your fishing. The wide beam, 19 degree, is the smallest in size. So that may be important for mounting. The dual beam transducers have a switch box in the cord that needs to be accessible. The wide beam is the most common, because of it's size, cost, and area of coverage. Narrow beams, however, are becoming more and more popular because of their precision and power. The new 12 degree transducers have very good performance for a range of applications.
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Msg 5 Posted: 10:08 AM 07/16/07 (CST)
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We will be fishing IA lakes which mostly are not very deep. Will be targeting gill, crappies and some walleye. Most of the depths will be mostly 25' or less with a few deeper, but mostly the shallower depths. We already have a FL-18 with 19 degree transducer and a FL-8 SLT with 12 degree transducer on it. We just purchased the 2 used, plus I need one more for the wife
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Msg 6 Posted: 11:31 AM 07/16/07 (CST)
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I have heard that the narrower cone is better for fishing in a crowd since it will over lap less with other units with in close range. Any thoughts on this, how true is it based on peoples experience?
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Msg 7 Posted: 12:11 PM 07/16/07 (CST)
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Thats true NoFish along with bottom structure a harder bottom with say Rocks the interference will travel greater distances where as mud or softer bottoms the problem is less likely.
I prefer the narrower cones so I know what is directly below my hole and to minimize interference.>

My Fishing Pals
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Msg 9 Posted: 03:08 PM 07/16/07 (CST)
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Choosing a Transducer Beam Angle Beam angle has a large effect on the performance of your depth finder. There is more to it than simply area of coverage. Most of our FL-8se and FL-12 units are sold with a wide beam, 19 degree, transducer. There are several reasons for this, but it does not mean that this angle is the best for you. Most fisherman, and the stores they buy from, believe that wider is better. If you have more area of coverage then you should be able to see more fish, right? The answer is a definite maybe.
The correct beam angle to use depends entirely on what you are trying to see with your sonar. If you are fishing for suspended Crappies then you probably would be very pleased with the performance of the wide beam. However, if you were going after Walleye that are hanging right on the bottom along a steep drop-off you may be disappointed. Here's why; DEAD ZONE - Dead Zone is the area within the transducers cone of sound that is blind to you. The wider the beam angle the greater the possible dead zone. The sonar will mark bottom as the nearest distance it sees. If you are fishing over a slope it may see the high side of the slope, at the edge of the cone, and mark that as bottom. The fish that are hanging on the bottom in the center of the cone will be invisible to you because they are actually within the bottom signal on your depth finder. A narrower beam angle will reduce this effect.
POWER - Your depth finder puts out a constant amount of power. It does not matter where you have the gain level set. Gain simply controls how much you amplify the signal that is bounced off of the bottom. Therefore, a narrow beam transducer will appear to be much more powerful than a wide beam transducer. This is because you are putting that same amount of power into a smaller area. This can be an advantage if you are fishing in deep water or a detriment if you are fishing shallow. A narrow beam transducer can be overpowering in shallow water. Switching to Low Power (LP), or the use of an S-Cable on an FL-8, will solve this problem, though.
ACTUAL vs. SPECIFIED CONE ANGLE Most people picture the cone of sound to be triangle shaped. This is true only for the specified cone angle. The actual cone of sound is shaped much like the drawing. As you can see there is a lot of area outside of the specified cone. You may or may not be able to see a target in this area. It depends on how well the target reflects the signal back to the depth finder. Good fisherman understand this and can actually identify schools of fish that are way off to the side of them. They look at the depth finder in the area beyond the bottom. If this area is normally clear, but suddenly a group signal appear, then its a good bet that there is something out there. Also, notice the side lobes of the actual cone of sound. This area is generally considered undesirable and a good transducer has minimal side lobes.
Choosing the correct beam angle is a difficult decision. That is why we have dual beam transducers. These have both the 9 and the 19 degree cones in one transducer. There is a switch box built into the cord so that you can switch between the angles. This is a great transducer for the fisherman who covering a wide range of depths and fishing for multiple species.
Taken from the Vexilar website
Iceman My Fishing Pals

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Msg 10 Posted: 03:44 PM 07/16/07 (CST)
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Thanks iceman. Seems like the ice fishing equipment talk starts earlier and earlier every year.
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Vexilar Ice Transducer ? - - -
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