I have the fl-18 and enjoy the bottom zoom when fishing weeds. I would second that the vex is the only one that I would get. My wife bought me a lowrance elite 5 ice machine for Xmas and it will be nice to have the gps but I will be fishing with my vex. My buddies or kids can use the elite 5. The vex is very simple to adjust and really easy to read and I have had it for 12 years without an issue.

I looked at the showdown this weekend that a guy was using and in my opinion not even close to the vex. With The colors on the vex you will learn to see fish size better and if your in weeds the vex really gives you what you need. I would put a vex right up there with auger and license...