I have an Fl-18, and i love it. In my opinion the vex and Marcum's are far superior to the humminbirds. The only feature my fl-18 doesnt have is zoom, which can be handy for certain situations but is mostly an overrated feature imo. The tri beam transducer is the most important feature for me.
A good quality graph works great, but the battery life isnt nearly what you get from a vex from what ive seen. I can usually get 6-7 full trips on a single charge no matter the weather, and are typically a little tougher than a big lcd graph, especially if youre taking it out 5 months a year like me. Just my 0.02