If you’re like me; you don’t head out to the lake ice fishing without a good fish finder. That’s why it’s a good idea to check out my Vexilar ice fishing finder reviews.
It sucks fishing one hole for hours not getting a single nibble. If you’re not a patient person; you end up wrecking your auger blade drilling a ton of holes trying to find where the fish are. And at the end of the day, you go home tired, cranky, cold, wet, and fishless!
You start asking yourself why in the hell do I bother going ice fishing? But if you have an ice fishing finder, you don’t have to go through all that. Ice fishing can be enjoyable and exciting again!
If you’re searching for that ‘just right’ fish finder for ice fishing you’re in luck! I have three Vexilar ice fishing finder reviews for you to look over and see which one is the best for your situation.
Vexilar, Who Are They?
Vexilar is a top-notch ice fish finder manufacturer based in Minneapolis Minnesota. They invented the three-color flash sonar technology. Testing every single fish finder, they produce before shipping it out into the world. Vexilar is considered the best ice fishing finder company in the world.
Their failure rate is impeccable. Only one-tenth of one percent of Vexilar fish finders fail in the first two years of ownership. That is a crazy statistic that makes them the best in the industry when it comes to manufacturing fish finders for ice fishing.
The ice fish finders from Vexilar last more than ten years on average. And listen to this… You can resell their products after five years for about what you originally paid for it. To me that’s amazing it’s like an investment of sorts and a tangible one at that.
Now let’s get on with the Ice fishing finder reviews.
Vexilar Ice Fishing Finder Reviews
3 Ice Packs By Vexilar
There are three what they call ice packs that Vexilar has in their arsenal.
- The Genz Pack
- The Pro Pack 2
- The Ultra Pack
The Genz Pack
The Genz pack was designed by Dave Genz founder of the Clam ice fishing company. There are five different units the Genz pack come in, They are:
- FL-8
- FL-12
- FL-18
- FL-20
- FL-22 HD
All of these come with one AMP charger and a 7 AMP battery. You can leave the charger on 24/7 without ruining the battery. FL stands for flasher for the Flasher Sonar Systems. I don’t know why they just went with an abbreviation of the first word flasher? I would have called these FSS for short, but that’s just me. On with the ice fishing finder reviews lol.
I will give you a brief rundown of what these flash sonar systems do.
FL-8
First, we have the FL-8 which is widely popular around the world. It’s a great working unit that can be used for ice fishing and open water fishing as well. The only thing it doesn’t have come with is a zoom feature, so it’s hard to find those fish that are on the bottom of the lake or hiding in the weeds. But it has six different depth options so you can get better readings.
FL-12
Second, we have the FL-12 that is an upgrade of the version FL-8. It has a different shape and has an interference rejection system that helps cut the crosstalk from other Vexilar units that might be in the vicinity.
FL-18
The FL-18 is one of the ones I will be reviewing in this article. This one is a very advanced fish finder. It’s also easy to use. It has an on/off range mode controller. You can change your settings from high to low with a turn of the knob. This is great for when you change the depths of fishing. It is an excellent unit with a very clear signal. One of the top picks of the Genz ice packs if you are an abide ice angler.
FL-20
The FL-20 has two zoom zones, and the FL-18 only has one but who’s counting. Another feature it has is a night mode. It will also automatically change your power settings if you’re under 10 feet of water. That way you don’t have to change it yourself manually. You can catch a lot of fish with all the features this unit has to offer.
FL-22 HD
Last but not least we have the FL-22 HD fishfinder — this one made for shallow fishing. Only detecting to a maximum of 60 feet of water. In this unit, the fish will look like they are alive and in person, or should I say fishson. 🙂
The following is the first of the ice fishing finder reviews.
Vexilar GP1812 FL-18 Genz Pack 12 Degree Ice-Ducer
Product: Vexilar FL-18 Genz Pack
Cheapest Place to Buy: Amazon.com
Size of container: 4.4″H x 6″W x 2.5″D
My Rating: 9.3 out of 10
The Vexilar FL-18 fits perfectly on a five-gallon bucket. Ideal when you are out ice fishing. It has built-in transducer which fits all ice-ducers. Capable of zooming into the bottom six feet of water.
Specs:
- 6 Depth Ranges
- A frequency of 200 kHz
- Power Output 400 W Peak to Peak
- Weatherproof case
- Three color display
- Backlight depth scale for easy visibility in little light
>>Buy Now on Amazon
Vexilar FLX-12 Pro Pack II w/12 Ice Ducer
Product: Vexilar Pro Pack 2
Cheapest Place to Buy: Amazon.com
Size of Container: 12 x 11 x 10 inches
My Rating: 9.1 out of 10
The Vexilar FLX-12 fits right in a 5-gallon bucket, so it’s easy to carry around. It comes with a tackle box and rod holder. You can see down to 120 feet with this unit because of its brushless data transfer technology. It has a 12-degree ice duce transducer on it.
>>Buy Now on Amazon
Vexilar FLX-28 Ice ProPack II Locator with Pro View Ice Ducer
Product: Vexilar FLX-28
Cheapest Place to Buy: Amazon.com
Size of Container: 2.5 x 6 x 4.4 inches
My Rating: 9.5 out of 10
The Vexilar FLX-28 Ice Pro Pack 2 comes with more features than all of the other ice fish finders by Vexilar.
- 5 Color Palettes
- Five-foot depth range adjustments with a total range of 300 feet
- Brightness settings for day and night
- Two Zoom Zones
- Digital Depth
- Auto Range
- Battery Status
- Low Power Options for fishing in weedy shallow areas
- Weed Mode
>>Buy Now on Amazon
By far this one is the best of all three. At least in my opinion. Now it’s up to you to decide which one you want to go with. I hope this article on ice fishing finder reviews helped you find what you were looking for. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them below.
Hey Cory! Yeah, I agree with you! There is nothing quite disgusting than to return home tired, wet and fishless! 🙂
I have certainly heard about Vexilar. And those stats you provide are amazing.
I believe in these Ice fishing finders. And I have made up my mind already. I want the Vexilar FLX-28 Ice ProPack II Locator with Pro View Ice Ducer because it has really important features that suit me well! Thank you very much for the time you put into these reviews.
Thanks for the article.
I have to admit I have never tried ice fishing before. But these fish finders look absolutely amazing if for nothing else than the incredible amount of technology they have stuffed into them.
My question is this though, how do you get started in ice fishing? Are there any pieces of basic gear that you would need to get, other than the obvious items, to really get started with it?
And How difficult is it to get into for the first time, seems like a lot of preparation and learning would be required before you could go out on your own.
You basically just need to get out there and learn as you go. The more time you spend ice fishing the more knowledge you will gain. The basic gear you need is bait, rod and reel an ice auger or something to pick through the ice with, warm clothing and I recommend a 5 gallon bucket that can be used to haul all your gear and sit on when you are fishing.
I had very little knowledge about ice fishing and the methods in which one can achieve it. I love learning about new things and I was very impressed reading your post. The invention of the three colour flash sonar technology and success rate of Vexilar seems unparalleled. Where are the most common places that ice fishing takes place and how long does a season of ice fishing usually last? I feel like it is something I want to explore further and I am pleased to learn that such a product exists to do so! Thank you for the engaging and inspiring post!
You can ice fish anywhere the lakes freeze over in the winter season. Click on ice thickness safety loads this will bring to a page explaining how thick the ice should be before you go out onto it. Most states recommend you get your ice shacks off the ice around the end of March depending on how much ice thickness is left on the lake.
To be honest I have never tried fishig with a fish finder, always thouht they never worked and are just waste of money, Honestly thanks for the wonderful review now i have a brand i can trust for my future fishing conquest, the Vexilar Brand.
And i think i would also try the Vexilar GP1812 FL-18 Genz Pack 12 Degree Ice-Ducer, love the Backlight depth scale for easy visibility in little light