No, Skip Christman and Steve Baumann were not industry heavy hitters. That is when our current president and his partner stepped in and took over. Ironically, the technology that we introduced brought us to the brink of extinction. As a small company we could not compete with the “big guys”. Then came the flood of LCRs and LCGs from the competition that spelled trouble for us. The models 481 and 482 followed with the additions of on-screen speed and temp as well as dual frequency transmitters. It had 128 x 64 resolution and a very good sonar behind it. This unit was the first in the LCD graph market that we see today. In 1981 we introduced the first Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) depth finder with the model 480. And we still provide paper, parts, and service for them. In the late sixties and early seventies we had some of the best units on the market, including the models 155 and 555. Vexilar was also very popular in the sport fishing paper graphs. Now, an alarm would sound to let you know. No longer did the fisherman need to look at the screen to see if he was running into shallower water or if he was going over fish. This was the first unit to provide an audible alarm. In the late 1960′s, when neon flashers were the latest in fishing electronics, Vexilar introduced the model 120 S.O.S. In the years that followed Vexilar introduced many “firsts” for the sport fishing market. The product was the model 104 Deptherm and it is still in our product line today, over 50+ years later.
It also gave the temperature of the water at that depth. Our first product was a small clear tube that, when lowered under the surface of the water, gave the depth that it was lowered to. Our goal has simply been to offer the sportsman innovative and quality products at affordable prices. We have always been a small company with good hard working employees. Vexilar has been in the marine business since 1960. Let's take a look at who we are and where we came from. We at Vexilar have a long and proud history of innovation in fishing products.