MarCum LX-3 Test Report

[CNY Tim]

I caught 7 keeper crappies 10 - 13.5" and kept a dozen nice gills and 3 big perch. Caught alot of small perch today. 5" any where we walked on the lake with 4" of snow on top. We fished 8' to 16' best depth was 15'. Crappie were riding at about 10' along with the nicer gills. You had to keep it off the bottom on that lake or you'll get nailed with dink perch. Not a great trip as far as bluegill action but it was great to use my MarCum and we can fish close with Vexilars and no problems 1 I.R. off, 1 on I.R and one on I.R. plus one no problems. I had the zoom on 10' when I was fishin 15' and it was awesome. Funny seeing your jig and fish on both sides of the screen. Gotta train my eyes a little more to stay on the left side. What the zoom feature allowed me to do was keep the bait away from the smaller fish and the decent gills and crappies when they popped on the zoom I thought they were bass or pike, awesome machine. I am glad it's compatable with Vexilars that was a big issue.

[BUSHWAC]

Dark Cloud, I don't think I ever said that the Marcum is better than the FL18 did I. Give or take a micron the two units are just about the same thing, a tool to be used. No one around me was even using a vex yesterday I was just showing a little excitement for the fun day on the ice yesterday. sorry if my LX-3 evaluation post offended you.

[Dark Cloud]

BushWac - Woh Bub - Im just bustin b@lls and havin fun. Rarely serious here. Was aiming that one at SuperTechno Tim anyways. I get to here his Marcum cr#p almost everyday and I guess I snapped....
Duffman will tell ya, not too much I take serious besides food and catching and killing things. Sorry if ya thought otherwise....

[Guest]

Man this can be a tough site!
Its great to hear all the controvercery over this subject!I was also one of them that posted about spending that much money on a new item!I do break down from time to time and buy new items and have gotten burned alot also,so Im hopeing every thing turns out well for you guys with the LX3!I also hope you keep posting the good or bad on these!I am always in the market for new items,competition,ect.

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cal

[BUSHWAC]

Dark cloud, I hear ya bud. just pushing things back at ya! figured someone had to fire something off after that one, why do you think I waited so long to post. no hard feelings, just going to save you a little RKG for the march trip! LOL

[Guest]

I put my FL-18 to test yesterday in 6 feet of water over Bluegills. I can certainly say the zoom is worthless in water under 10 feet. I also didn't like the LP mode, had to increase the gain. I kept it on normal mode with the gain at 0. My jig was yellow and the fish targets were a nice red. The bright display was great outside but almost too much in the portable.(i have sensitive eyes) After all said and done, felt like i was using a FL-8. The zoom can also fool you by increasing the size of the nothing that's under your hole. I think all this zoom stuff is catching more fisherman than fish.

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[Guest]

Tim, How many fish have you caught using the Marcum? And could you please give us a ratio of fish caught with Marcum/fish you may have caught with an fl 18. Do you feel that the Marcum technology performs better while fishing perch or Blue gills. Do you tend to find more fish with the marcum on overcast days? I heard that the the Lx emits a much more crisp display in a low pressure system in comparison to high pressure. It must be something with the sensitive brushes the marcum has. I also heard that the Marcum performs poorly when used for fishing crappies because the crappies are such thin fish, and with the fine definition on the LX 3 its difficult to see the fish. What have you found in your thorough experiences.

[Cyberfish]

Dman, the brighter display was the thing that sold me on the 18. I been using my 8 on my boat for almost ten years, and the only thing I didn't like about it is it was hard to see. If I was just using it for icefishing, I probably would have tried the Marcum, it sounds like a really good on ice!
I tried my new vex out in nine to ten ft Saturday, I thought the zoom worked good, except I had to turn it back to regular and then to zoom again when I changed holes or it wouldn't look right. I used the LP setting then adjusted the gain til my jig was a thin green line. I could tell bigger fish from smaller ones then. the little perch were green mostly with little flashes of color, the smaller panfish had more color, and the biggest ones, and the bass made a good thick red mark. I agree that the zoom is not really needed, but hey, its fun I use mine ten times more in my boat than on ice. I don't know if I will like the bottom lock setting or not, but I can't wait to try it.

Set the hook!

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[Dano2]

O.K., first off I think this is a great thread for folks like me that are trying to decide between the two, but from one person testing each one, I think i will need more than just one opinion, I believe rick was also teting both, but haven't sen him post much on it yet, or maybe I need to look closer, heh.
My main concern and what has me sold so far on the FL-18 is the use of it in open water, and from what I can see they have moree punkers. available, like the different transducers and such, I would like to have a portable unti type transducer so I can use it on my boat plus a friends boat (to cheap to buy one, heh, or just broke).
It sounds like the Fl-18 does well in shalow water as well, you just have to tinker with it a little more, is this correct?
no big deal.
has anyone used the Marcum on open water yet, or did this unit just come out?
Speaking of open water, how well does EITHER unit work if your jigging for wallys and the boat is moving around?
do they work well for telling what kind of structure your over and how about when pulling cranks, any advantage there, or am I better off using my cheapo hummingbird?

[RK]

Bigguns - I've used mine fishing crappies and gills some. As far as I can tell, there's no trouble reading crappies at all (even the little potato chips - heh). It can read a teardrop and single maggot in at least 25' of water (as deep as I've tried it) and when perch fishing a flasher spoon and the 1/64 oz. jig and waxie 2" beneath it were two different marks on the screen (in 17' of water). I can't see it having trouble with crappies.

Cheers,
RK

[Swill]

Would it be better to have a sales rep from Marcum and Vexilar meet at a lake in the metro area....drill two holes side by side and then invite us forum members to check out each company for ourself?
Heck you could pick any metro lake and post a the meeting date so we can all meet.

Both companies will most likely chicken out...cuz they know they are almost identical...

[CNY Tim]

Swill- I am working on getting a digital camera for some shots of LX-3 in action. My wife has a new one but she won't let me take it on the ice, can't blame her. I got almost a whole roll of film shot, a few pictures shy of it being developed. Swill were you on a slow tapering drop off when you were fishing or a flat? There may have been a dead zone?
With the older FL-8's you really have to concentrate on the bottom flicker to see fish rolling in the red zone. With the new FL-18's and the MarCum LX-3 having the zoom feature on will take out the guess work.

[Swill]

Tim...It was pretty much a flat. You would have to walk 30 feet or so to go up a foot or so.
Thanks for the great reports!!!!

[CNY Tim]

Dark Cloud is a good friend of mine and I would seriously worry if he was not ripping me. He keeps me on the straight in narrow. Called him last night... It's all good. Just the usual jabbing nothing out of the ordinary. Good guy that Jay is.

[CNY Tim]

D-Man : While talking to DarkCloud last night he noticed the same situation with the LP and having to turn up the gain. And was better off just keeping it in Normal mode and gain down. Dark Cloud liked the zoom mode maybe he can elaborate more on his findings.

[sorenson]

Tim,
Can you email me sometime at your convenience regarding a Colorpoint? I have a couple questions maybe you can help me with. Thanks
[email protected]

[CNY Tim]

Bigguns1 - I have been only reporting on the MarCuM LX-3. The FL-18 tests will start shortly as soon as I get my blue box. From what I have heard from my friends is the 18's new display is incredible, the zoom is functional to 6' off the bottom except in shallow water under 6'. I had an FL8SLT and I know what I am looking for as far as differences from the improved FL-18. I have re read the manual on the 18 a few times and I am ready. First and foremost is the crispness of the display. Target separation, functionality, user friendliness, shallow water performance, response as it correlates to movement, etc.
None of these unit's will make you a better fisherman they are simply a tool that can and will in certain fishing situation can give you a distinctive edge.
As far as the MarCum goes it's been great and I have no complaints, just praise. Test 12 will be New Years Day and Test 13 will be Saturday, hopefully the first test for my new FL-18. In fact I was out fished by two FL-8's the other day. My old one and my friend Mikes. Perch were finicky and I brought a hard hat to a prom. Mike down sized and worked me over 12 to 2. As far as species go I have taken perch from the bottom, bull head, bluegills from the bottom and suspended. Suspended bluegills, crappies, northern pike and a walleye. Nothing gets by my MarCum. I have not noticed a drop off in display in regard to low or high pressure system. When conditions dictated I could sight fish and I saw one of the crappies hit the jig and the thickness of the fish was shown solidly on the MarCum. The only other inteference that I received on my LX-3 during testing was a quad that ran by me but that is because he was not running resistor plugs on it. As he went off a 100 ft. or so my screen was back to normal. It's been interesting and i believe just from what I have read and heard that both of these units will be here a long while and you can't go wrong with either one. But as a icefisherman I can say that the MarCum marked every finicky fish that I tried to catch on my last trip and frustrated they heck out of me when they turned away. Does the MarCum make you catch finicky fish? No way. Does the MarCum frustrate you when the fish are there and they won't hit? Yes! Sometimes it's better to leave the fishfinder at home. You can pull alot of hair out of your head when you mark em and they won't take... You guys have a Happy New Year.

[CNY Tim]

sorenson - I sent you an email yesterday. Did you get it?

[sorenson]

Tim,
Not yet.

[CNY Tim]

Just sent you one! get it...

[sorenson]

no, wonder what's going on?

[CNY Tim]

try sending me one at work [email protected]

[CNY Tim]

my home email is: [email protected]

[sorenson]

sent you an email, duplicates to both addys

[This message has been edited by sorenson (edited 12-31-2002).]

[Dano2]

Hi, I had some questions plus concerns,
on page 6 of this thread,
anyone have any answers?
Tim?

P.S., another question to ad to my list from page 6 is, does the Lx3 have bottem lock?

[This message has been edited by Dano2 (edited 01-01-2003).]

[PolarBond]

I have been using an LX-3 alongside guys using FL8's, and I think the Marcum is showing more fish. We are in the same area, and have roughly the same action below us, but the Marcum shows more activity, at least the marginal type of bottom flicker and in-out yellow blinks indicating fish are at the edge of the cone.

If something rises to the lure, obviously both units show this clearly. But I am wondering if the extra power of the LX-3 allows it to cover the entire 19/20 degree cone better.