Lowrance X-67 vs. FL-18 vs. LX-3

[Dennis Steele]

Why do the Lowrance Reps suggest using the X67 in graph mode? Is there an advantage to the graph mode on the 76 over the flasher on it? I haven't seen the 67 used that way.

I have used graphs for ice fishing before and they do work. I had an old Eagle Ultra that had a "fast track" or real time display. I could pick up my sinker, bait and fish. It displayed a long bar across the graph for each target.The thinner the line the weaker the signal of that target.

I could not tell where the fish was in location to the bait horizontaly or how far the fish was from the bait,but could interperet that information fairly well so that I knew when I was going to get hit. The biggest disadvantage was that when you were in weeds you could not pick out the strenght of each target. It just kind of blurred all together.

Oh... and the fish always came into the bait from the right!

[blacksheep]

i have been using my m68c all season so far. to be honest i was really disappionted by the flasher, for some reason the flasher seems to be less "real time" then the graph, and is kinda too small to read it effectively - IMO. but i have been using the graph for the majority of this season now..........you can tell exactly what is going on down there, it is definatly the mode to use. i actually use the split zoom mode, one side has the entire water column and the other side has either 2x or 4x zoom at any section of the water column you choose. that way i can have the best of both, scan the entire column and snag those eyes on the bottom. as far as how i tell how close the fish is to my bait...the closer the fish gets to the center of the cone, the mark changes colors from black on up to yellow, yellow being the strongest. so when i get that big yellow flag........it means hold on

also it did take me a while to figure out how and when to make adjustments to the settings but now i have that down. just like when i first got my vex, it took some getting used to. but now that i have it set up how i like, basically all i have to adjust is the sensativity from time to time. if anyone has one of these units DO NOT leave it on auto sensativity. it will make you hate taking it on the ice.

[federline]

Absolutely - no reason to use the x67c auto-sensitivity on the ice. The manual even says to turn it off in Ice Flasher Mode.

I'll have to try the split graph adjustable zoom mode for suspended crappies. The split flasher bottom zoom mode was real nice last night on the second little lake I visited - this one is limited to bottom zoom, like an FL-18.

I'll still have to test the DSP interference control against some other flashers - now that I know where it is in the menu! It's definitely got a steeper learning curve than a Vex or Marcum. It also comes out of the box with settings set up good for open water, but not for ice fishing, so you gotta learn it and tweak it up. I'm tempted to say "it's like a boat graph to learn to use".... but, it IS a boat graph, essentially, It just has a flasher mode.

[Fatty07]

Where is the Dsp Interference control. I have the x-67. Love it on open water but have problems when fishing with buddies who have vex or zercon. Also the cone is a bit wide. Seem to pick up multiple line when fishing over 15 feet.

[jtroop]

"this one is limited to bottom zoom, like an FL-18."

With the x67c you can zoom in on any portion of the water column using the "upper and lower limits". If you put it in "Split Zoom" you'll have the bottom 6 feet on the left half of the flasher display and your chosen depth range on the right half.

[blacksheep]

where is this dsp in the menu?

thanks - blacksheep

[Woody Erickson]

It is not DSP, it is ASP (Advanced Signal Processing). Available in the menu labeled Sonar Features -> Noise Rejection (only when in Graphing Mode).

This is not available when in Flasher Mode for some reason.

[federline]

Fatty07,

Thanks! Again, you have to think bass-ackwards from Vex/Marcum when using the x67c. This is actually better than I was expecting - I can zoom in on the suspended fish and watch the bottom with bottom zoom at the same time. Another hurdle cleared - I have the downloadable x67c emulator on my PC at work to try these things out as I learn them, thats pretty crazy.

I wonder if there won't be a software update next year to allow Noise Rejection in flasher mode. The x67c used to be open water only I guess, and Lowrance offers and upgrade for older x67c's to include the new Ice Machine stuff, I think they charged $10 or something for the software update.

[Fatty07]

Federline,

I knew that the noise rejection didn't work on the flasher. was hoping I missed something that would work for interference. (If your buddy has the fl8 or fl-18 he can hit his interference button and it does help sometimes.

Going out tonight! Hoping I like the graph option now that I re-read my owner manual and can use the fas track option.

Good luck all

[blacksheep]

i thought you guys were talking about something else, i have fished around a vex, and even when you have all the asp tuned you can get some feedback, i really think it helps if the vex has the IR shut off when near one another.

i have put my fl - 8 and the m68c into the very same hole and not had any interference but when you are with 4 other guys and they are all flipping the IR switches trying to "get away" from each other it is imposssible, but then it is the same with any unit, just to much to screen out.

[bronzeback01]

I just bought an m68c ( with gps). I love it! Excellant bottom seperation in sonar mode plus very accurate in flasher mode. It does take some time to figure out how everything works but in the end it is very much worth it. As for interferance, the only problem I have ever had is when I was running my power inverter next to it. But I would have to assume that would be a problem with any unit.

[federline]

Some info on x67c interference rejection settings:

I called Lowrance technical customer service and asked about Flasher Mode and Noise Rejection. As we know, there's no menu item for "Flasher Options/Noise Rejection" in flasher mode. The support tech said, after using the x67c Ice Machine right then, and talking with other support engineers, that the Noise Rejection setting, set while in Graph Mode and only able to be set in Graph Mode, carries over to the Flasher modes, even though you cannot adjust it from flasher modes (yet). He has my phone number, and promises to call me if he finds out any different information, after he runs it up a different flagpole at Lowrance.

Still, have to test it out.

[Ed Carlson]

Can you turn up the "Ping Speed" to speed up responce time on the 67/68 in both flasher and graph modes?

As I understand it, I think you can?

Ya they say never use the auto function on the ice, setting it manualy is best.

[federline]

As I understand, Ed, if you turn up Ping Speed beyond 50% you need to be in graph mode to see the benefits because it forces HyperScroll over 50%, and you get the FasTrack bar on the right. The FasTrack bar is a vertical bar flasher, kinda like the old vertical bar RTS Zercom flasher. I intend to try this out this weekend.

I got this from the manual: "When you boost ping speed and switch into HyperScroll, the width of the FasTrack bar graph display doubles in width at the right side of the screen. This allows you to better see the virtually instantaneous sonar returns, just as you would on a flasher sonar unit. For more information on FasTrack, see it's entry in this section."

I don't know if a ping speed above 50% transfers over to the traditional flasher modes, or if FasTrack and HyperScroll display frequencies transfer over. I'd suspect it would, but just can't display the extra info. It'd be a great question for Lowrance tech support.

Between ping speed, noise rejection and sensitivity a guy should be able to remove interference from other units, but we shall see. It don't have a nice little "IR" button to scroll through the combos, it harder to learn how to use than a Vex or Marcum.

[bronzeback01]

From my experiance the ping speed does cary over to the flasher mode. I played around with it this weekend and when I'd turn the ping speed down the flasher speed would go down as well. I always use mine at 100% and have not had many problems, however the unit did go nuts when someone started drilling close to my shack. I haven't really had that problem before, but turning down the ping speed did help.