LX3 Question

[Brew]

My buddy got an LX3, today was the first time using it, we thought there would be some variance in the color display but all we could get was a tint of orange no matter the depth, lure, bottom etc, everything was the same color. The question I have is there some adjustment to make? Something we are doing wrong?

Thanks

[Neiko]

Play with the gain knob a little. The bottom should come up as red. If it is a soft bottom it maybe orange and red. If orange is a hard color for you to differentiate you may be able to contact Marcum and see if they will switch the orange to green which I may do after the season.

[MJCatfish]

I had the same problem. I had to turn the gain up to 6 or 7 just to read my jig. Luckily my buddy had an LX3 fishing right next to me. I hooked his tranducer to my machine and it worked fine. Brought it back to the sport shop and they gave me a whole new unit. It works great now.

MJ

[rpaulson7]

I've been running my gain at about 6 or 7 also to see my jig. I just figured it was normal operation for a MarCum, because I'd used a Vexilar in the past. At what point on the gain SHOULD I be seeing my jig?

[swalleyi]

Depends on how deep your at,plus battery charge. But i would say 10ft deep you should be able to see a small jig on #2 on gain.

[gman2002]

i was on mille lacs yesterday and saw my jig just perfectly with the gain on 2, in 28 ft of water !! we fished for 8 hours and i never had to adjust it ! great units

[rpaulson7]

Huh, wow. Would you suspect that my transducer is bad? I'm gonna stop into Cabela's today to talk with them, but unfortunately I don't have my MarCum, just my reciept.

[gman2002]

some other things to check. do u have the trnsducer far enough down the hole ?? sometimes people tend to drill holes at an angle, and the cone catches the side of the ice so your not getting the whole cone? sometimes i didnt see my jig either but when i moved my transducer to a different part of the hole it showed 100% better. or u fishing where theres current and its moved the jug outside of the cone ?if so like when we fish the st croix river, i'll drill a hole hole for my jig then drill another about a foot down river for my transducer, then when current moves my jig downriver my cone will still pick it up, and this is in 40 ft of water!! just some things to consider. ain' that right mitty

[rpaulson7]

Good points all, but I've tried moving my transducer from near the surface to several inches under the ice. And I'm fishing on lakes.

I talked to Cabela's, they don't sell spare ice-ducers, and had no LX-3's to exchange even if I had brought my unit with me. They gave me MarCum's customer service line.

I called MarCum, and they are having me send the unit in. He said it could be the transducer, but could also be the transmitter inside the unit. It'll take about 1.5-2 weeks to fix. Unfortunately that means it won't get taken care of before I go to LOTW this Wednesday. The guy said do the best I can with it, and send it in after. Fortunately for me it works, and helps catch fish, it just isn't optimal right now.

Going along with having to have my gain set at about 7 to see my jig, that means lots of 'interference' in the upper half of the water column. Fixing the gain problem will greatly reduce that issue.

[gman2002]

rp, how long have u had the unit ?? i'd just box it up and bring it back to where i got it. they should just give u a new one. tell them somethings not working right and u just want to return it for a new one. i had some trouble with my battery and they wanted me to send the unit to them also, but i would be without one for 2 weeks , i thought no way i'll just return it for a different one u can fix it later. i paid way to much to go without one

[rpaulson7]

I live in Brooklyn Park, bought the unit at Cabela's in Owatonna. I drive to Owatonna for work once in a while, so I stopped in there today, without the unit though.

But even if I did have it, the store didn't have any LX-3 ice units in stock to exchange. They said if they had one they would exchange it, so I'll call them every few days. I agree, losing it in the middle of winter for 2 weeks sucks.