edge3 color

looking for feedback on this unit?
how does it compare to lowrance and humminbird for performance?

[Davis Viehbeck]

I ran one of these units at my bow last year and was totally impressed for it's accuracy in marking fish. I'll be running the same unit with an LMS 520C at the bow and an X27C at the dash.

-DV

[LWinches]

I have used several Humminbird models, one Eagle, and a couple of Lowrance. The Edge3 that I have is the best of all them. I really don't think they have anybody else beat with the technology. Their implementation is different and for my fishing almost ideal. A 38 degree cone and a 10 degree cone side by side tells me much more than any of the fish finders I've used. I've not had the Humminbird 83Khz 60 degree cone do a good job showing me fish in deep water. Lowrance's 50 Khz and wide cone doesn't show me much either. Ive used these side by side with the Vexilar and it shows me fish the others miss. And yes I know how to adjust the sensitivity. The 107 Khz of the Vexilar performs perfectly. If a fish is in that cone, it is on the screen. The 400 Khz shows me the ones on steep dropoffs that all 200 Khz 20 degree cones miss if they are holding tight to structure.

Also not many people have them. It seems where ever I fish another boat has to pull in next to me. Most of these folks have Humminbird or Lowrance. I don't get any interference from them on the Vexilar.

The down side is the vertical pixel count. Quite often the Vexilar will show one fish where on my Humminbird 640 vertical pixels, it will separate them out and I can see it's two or three fish.

I can't tell you how it compares with the new Lowrance broadband. I have a HDS-5 ordered. I'll just have to wait and see.

The folks at Vexilar are great to work with. You can give them a call and talk to someone without much of a wait. They are the best.

L.Winchester

[whofan]

I have the Vexilar Edge II and it is 10 times the graph Lowrance is.

The Vexilar is pricey but you find out why when you see the build quality and performance.

I had a Lowrance x75 that was a good graph I then upgraded it to a x510c that had issues.

I went back to a monochrome Vexilar after being fed up with the 510c.

I thought Iwas taking a step backwards, The Edge II been out for quite a few years.
when I got it out on the water for the first time I had a big smile on my face.

Vexilar blows Lowrance right out of the water. I`m not looking back!

http://www.vexilar.com/pages/product...s_lc-507c.html

http://www.vexilar.com/pages/support...rt_videos.html

I bought one last year, I just love it. Great clarity, simple to use, great features and screen setup menus.

I always had Lowrance, bought the Edge 3 and never looking back. I still run a Lowrance GPS with it.

I recently purchased a Vexilar FL12 flasher and it is also fantastic. I am looking forward to puting this in my boat to replace my Lowrance flasher.

I think they make real good, sensible, no frills products that work !

Vexilar's website indicates they are sold out of the units. Are they going to make these units anymore? Reeds only had 1 in stock the last time I checked. Given the economy, that would be a concern of mine.

I have seen the Edge2 and Edge3 in action. Bear in mind that the technology is 5+ years old. While I think the transducer frequencies provide a slightly different look to anything else on the market, as others have noted, the pixel count does not show as much detail as one with a higher count. The vex is strong in comparison to similar older technology models, but I am not sure it will surpass units built in the last year. Before I would drop $800 on the vex, I would at least demo a HDS Lowrance model and a 700/900 series Humminbird.

Now if vex took its technology and put it into a higher pixel count model, then I think they would be positioned to better compete with the newer models.

BTW, do a search for WHOFAN. WHOFAN has an obvious bug up his butt regarding the Lowrance 500 series units so I would take his ideas with a grain of salt.

The Edge 3 is still being made. Vexilar is currently sold out as they do not manufacture thousands of them a year. They have limited production and I don't see them trying to convert the "masses" to their product like Humminbird and Lowrance. They will have more for the open water season. They are currently busy with ice flashers this time of year and they have a hard time keeping up with as flashers have made a huge resurgence recently. I know as I had to wait for my FL12.

Relative to the pixel count, how many pixels do you need to mark a fish in 10 to 50' of typical walleye water ? How much power and technology does one need. Seems to me not too long ago, 240 pixel count was top shelf and we all seemed to mark fish! If you really want to see what is down there, use an AquaVu.

I prefer a clear picture without all the surface clutter that is easy to use and reliable. This is what i found Vexilar provides. I don't want to sit on the computer downloading software programs for my fish locator.

I do not have anything against Lowrance, I have used them for years. I just found the Edge 3 to be a real good product for $800. The dual transducer is really cool. I don't think I am missing anything that a $2200 Lowrance would show me for where I fish. In fact, I think I see more because of the dual beam transducers.

Yes, Whofan is very outspoken about his experience with Lowrance. He may be biased. I don't blame him if he had a really poor experience after spending hard earned money on his Lowrance. The old adage goes "If you do something good for somebody, they tell someone. Do something bad, and they tell everyone !"

My opinion of Vexilar is simply based on my experience so far. Just my 3 cents.

[Dave C]

My experience has been very favorable with both the Edge 2 and 3. I have owned a few Lowrances and fish with others who use them. My Edges have always shown fish that others do not pick up. Plus the simplliticy of use is outstanding. Set it up for your most common 4 or 5 situations, and then all you have to do is push one button to change from situation to situation. With my old Lowrances, I had to go through too many menus to change each time. It really allows you to fish and not spend time messing with technology. Probably the biggest drawback is its lack of GPS, but I know many of you have separate units anyway. I fish out of a tiller boat, and (in addition to my eyesight getting poorer) it is much easier to read from a distance. And, I know you have heard this before, but customer service is just outstanding!

[Backwater Eddy]

I know a lot of "River Rats" who would not part with there Vexilar EDGE II or there EDGE III's.

My first experiences with them were in a River Pro jet boat and we found fish were the others could not, in very challenging river condition none the less. If you can clearly mark fish in tough clutter files rivers with complicated brush structure, that is impressive to me.

The simple pre-sets make key user preferances easy to manage on the fly, without surfing fustrating menues to get the proper sub-menues to acomplish basic tasks.

Easy to use, and paints a great sonar picture, not much to not like about the EDGE line.

[whofan]

"BTW, do a search for WHOFAN. WHOFAN has an obvious bug up his butt regarding the Lowrance 500 series units so I would take his ideas with a grain of salt."


If Lowrance still had rock solid products like the X75 I once had Id still have them on my boat.

I do rant a bit more than I should. I just want to tell people there other choices that today maybe be better than the perception of the many.

The nicest looking units you will see on any display are Lowrance units and their hardware is nice.
Out on the water with reliable operation and support for product at least four years down the road is were it counts for my $500+ dollars spent.

Vexilar might not be able to revamp their product line every other year but the product line they have is solid and simple.

Lowrance could have told me they didn`t have a fix for my graph instead of the try this try that solution.
Then just take your unit out of auto mode and keep changing depths manually to make it work.

I bought the X510c and 5200 Globalmap. Had them mounted side by side. Looked nice.
The Globalmap works good so far. I`ve read that people are having problems with the pucks going bad.
I hope mine don`t. Not looking forward to 45 minute phone calls again.

Lowrance got $1000 of my money last year. My retailer went to bat for Lowrance and gave me a refund on the x510c when I didn`t want to play the fix it game anymore.
Lowrance said no refund lets keep playing. Sorry I`d rather be fishing life is short.

Theres other choices out there. Humminbird looks good now days too.

Vexilar is amazing the way they laid out the menu on the Edge units. They realise you want to fish and not push buttons all day long