Marcum LX7 Review

[Hardwater_Fan]

I used the Marcum LX7 for the first time this weekend. Not sure if it's just me, or if others noticed the following?

- The screen is way too reflective when fishing outside. I removed the screen protector and it was still really reflective. Even when I put the sun behind the unit, it didn't improve much. Has anyone heard of any way to fix that? Maybe some sort of tint?

- The gimbal bracket knobs are hard to loosen to adjust the angle of the screen because the case is so tight on the sides. Maybe it's easier to reach the knobs for the LX6, but the head unit is so wide, it's hard to reach around to unscrew the knobs. Not a huge deal if you only needed to adjust to the viewing angle you like, then never have to mess with it. But, the cover doesn't want to close very well unless you put the screen angle back to pointing upwards. Someone else pointed out that there aren't enough positions to lock the gimbal bracket into and I agree. Almost like you go from say 45 degree angle up to 60 degree angle, per se. It would be nice if there were more "notches" or whatever so you can get just the right angle.

- It took a while (sometimes up to 10-15 seconds) to start marking my jig (or locking onto the bottom when just dropping the ducer into the hole) which was a real PITA when you catch a fish and drop the jig back down (when the ducer doesn't even leave the water).

- It could be a little easier to navigate the settings if they had a "back" button instead of having to hit Menu, returning to the beginning and starting over to change another setting.

Otherwise, the unit is awesome, it's very very quick and responsive. This is the first Marcum I have owned. I had a Humminbird ICE 45 for a few years and was very happy with that, then switched to used a Humminbird 788ci HD and was even happier with that. I also tried a Vexilar FL8, simple and effective. I have no affiliation with any companies, just a simple man providing info on what I noticed with my LX7.

Looking for anyone else's feedback, good or bad.

[Esox_Magnum]

When outside turn the backlight up, I have no issues seeing my screen outside even with polorized glasses on...

[mnviking28]

I run mine with the black background, all the time. Whether inside or out, that seems to provide the best definition for me. I also always leave the screen protector on, maybe that's why the black works for me. When I am outside, I also wear polarized glasses. I am actually looking at doing away with the arm on mine and buying a vexilar style float. I fished out of a couple of resort houses last year where it is a pain trying to get that short arm over the hole. Did you set it on a specific depth or the dynamic function? It seems to take longer to acquire on automatic/dynamic. The solid depth seems to be faster. I had a LX-6, didn't like it. I like the LX-7 better, even if it is bulkier.

[Esox_Magnum]

I run a longer custom made arm on mine,I hate floats with a passion...

[Feldy]

I also don't care for the float. Gets in the way every time. The arm is great for keeping ducer in one spot to fight fish away from it. I put the arm on my vexilar. Now I have the best of both worlds. Vex to Marcum and back to Vex. Happy once again.

[Redlineracer12]

It doesn't really matter if the arm is over the hole or not. I usually have my LX6 stuffed somewhere off to the side and as long as the cord is long enough to make it to below the ice it will hang correctly.

[brian6715]

Would a Vex float even float one of those transducers? I bought one for my LX-1 and loved it, but I didn't think it would be able to work with how heavy the transducer is. Also, use the 6 color option with black background, I fish outside at least 75% of the time and have never had an issue with glare. Mine doesn't have a 15 second delay when hopping to a different hole, maybe try not using the dynamic depth? It may not be finding your jig because it flutters out of the cone angle? That would be my guess. I would make sure you are using the 20 degree cone angle.

Any idea what software you are running? The most current available is 3.17.

[fishwater]

Would a Vex float even float one of those transducers? I bought one for my LX-1 and loved it, but I didn't think it would be able to work with how heavy the transducer is.

Oddly, I have done a lot of floating various ducers and some lx5,7,9 ducers can be floated and others are too heavy. I have one that is a sumo and sinks a vex float and an additional 1/4 vex float.

This probably deserves a post of its own, but the quality control on those things has really fallen off the cliff. The old milled ones before they started pouring epoxy used to look so good, like the vex pro ducer. The new ones look like 3 year olds are pouring the epoxy cap. I'm not sure if that can account for all the mass differentials I'm seeing.

[Fur Fish and Feathers]

I was all set to pick up the LX-7 until I saw how big it is. It looks like a nice unit for my boat, but for ice-fishing it didn't seem practical. I ended up with the LX-6 and couldn't be happier. I prefer to fish with the blue background and you don't notice this much, but the scale bar tick marks in chart mode flash every 30 seconds. With the black background, it's a little annoying.

I completely agree on the back button. Seems like something we'll get use to, but would smooth out the menu navigation flow.

[brian6715]

The old milled ones before they started pouring epoxy used to look so good, like the vex pro ducer. The new ones look like 3 year olds are pouring the epoxy cap. I'm not sure if that can account for all the mass differentials I'm seeing.

Yeah I actually called Marcum when I first got my LX-7, and he said the epoxy dries and the air gaps cause the differences... but he assured me it has no effect on the transducer itself. I agree they do look pretty bad on the bottom!

Does anyone have any idea when the new update is coming out?

[Redlineracer12]

Does anyone have any idea when the new update is coming out?

I was up there (at Versa Electronics) last week and he said early this week to watch for the update. Sounded like you will be able to manually set the dynamic range. Not sure if there are any other new features or not.

[d beyer]

Glad I'm not the only one who has the scale bar flashing while on the gragh mode although this is the first lx-6 I have heard of that had that problem. I was having some other issues with mine but I went with the 2 verticals and flasher instead of having the graph on and it worked perfectly all weekend. Even tried it in dynamic depth mode and it seemed to work like it should.

[Fur Fish and Feathers]

Glad I'm not the only one who has the scale bar flashing while on the gragh mode although this is the first lx-6 I have heard of that had that problem. I was having some other issues with mine but I went with the 2 verticals and flasher instead of having the graph on and it worked perfectly all weekend. Even tried it in dynamic depth mode and it seemed to work like it should.

I contacted MarCum and they indicated it was a glitch in the software. I prefer to fish with the blue background and had never even noticed it. In playing around with various settings, I just happened to notice it when I switched to the black background. It's really obvious (and somewhat annoying) with the black background. I switched back to the blue and noticed it flashes there too....it's just much harder to notice the white flashing on blue as opposed to white flashing on black. I'm configured with chart, flasher, bottom zoom and gauges on the blue background.....love it. Even with the chart mode scale bar flash.

[Hardwater_Fan]

I think I solved one of my frustrations with this unit. Because the screensize/head unit is so large, it fits snugly into the case. (sorry about the sideways pictures)

In order to loosen the gimbal knobs and adjust the screen angle, you have to really reach around the back of the head unit. I took the factory gimbal knobs off and replaced with a longer thumb screw (1/4-20 x 1 1/2").

In order for it to tighten the gimbal bracket and hold the screen in one place, I needed to add 4 nuts to the thumbscrew. I had to superglue the last nut to the thumbscrew otherwise the last nut wanted to stay tight to the gimbal bracket when loosening and it wouldn't loosen.

Now it's a lot easier to loosen and tighten the gimbal bracket to adjust the screen angle. You can see the head of the thumbscrew sticking out a bit now.