MarCum LX-3 Review

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I received my LX-3 on Friday and was able to try it out for crappies over the weekend.

I'll try to be objective in this report as much as possible, as I also have an FL-8 that I absolutely love (actually I did have an FL-8, now my dad's).

First of all, this is a fairly large step above the FL-8 in many ways. I realize that you would need to compare with the FL-18 for a valid comparison. I'm not trying to compare, just a review of the LX-3. Any comparisons I have made are brand comparisons that would hold true for the FL-8 or FL-18.

Positives:
- zoom feature is flawless (very easy to use and works great)
- changing where it zooms in the water column is very easy to do and an added feature over the competition. I did end up zooming up off the bottom for suspended crappies while fishing (I didn't think that I would use that much, but it is nice to have the variable zoom feature).. It zooms to either a 5' window or a 10' window in the 20' scale... The left side becomes the zoom and the right side is the regular scale (x2 scale at 20x). I thought it worked great and didn't have any problem reading both sides at once...
- target separation is much improved (as marketed)
- very little noise from motor on this unit compared to competition (very nice plus)

My biggest concerns going into this purchase were the following:

- color selection not as good as competition
- soft case, transducer arm

First of all the 3 color problem is not a problem in my opinion. the target separation and power on this unit is so good that you would never need 3 signal colors. You basically have a unit with 2 colors (that is all I see). But like I said, you basically have a very small line for you jig and can see very easily when a fish is out on the edge of the tranducer cone or directly underneath.. I was able to distinguish when a fish had moved in underneath much easier on this unit, despite 2 colors vs. 3 because it just isn't something that is needed anymore. On my FL-8 I always needed to increase the sensitivy until my jig was 2 colors to get a good reading on the jig at all times. On this unit you will see your jig with just one orange line (and it picks up the jig very well). When a fish comes in it will be red and orange and get wider until it is obvious. It is as plain as day. This is not an issue as I had previously thought it might be. The colors do not hinder the capability of this flasher. The competition may still have an edge in this area, but I don't see it as an issue.

The ice arm is as good as the competition. I don't know which style I like better yet, but this is easier to pull up and move with. The competition style float ices up sometimes as well, this doesn't. I thought it worked well and it is easier to package up and move with. The soft case and arm are a nice combination.

The soft case is just awesome. It looks great and is of very good quality. The only thing I don't like is that you can't be up very high in a seat or you will not see the top of the flasher due to the case. Not much of an issue, but edge to the competition on that.

The battery gauge is attached to the battery and displays battery strength as a percentage. You can plug this straight in (no alligator clips or anything) and leave it on for as long as you want (will not overcharge). A huge plus over the competition.

My battery was at 60% after a full days fishing (about 9 hrs.). Similar to the competition as far as battery life from what I've seen.

I had fish come up off the bottom while zoomed in on the last few feet of the water column and it just seemed like they were coming up from 15' down to near the surface based on what I was used to with the non zoom unit. With the zoom you really can see a lot more of what is going on. With my previous unit I'm sure I would have hardly noticed as the fish only moved 2-4'.

I think MarCum has an excellent product that will give the competition a run for the money. The concerns I had on this unit are non existent, I have nothing negative to say regarding this unit. I think MarCum just created the new standard for flashers. I don't have any concerns that it will work just as well as the competition on open water (although this remains to be seen).

Hope this helps someone. Let me know if you have any questions.