X67 Ice Machine - over vex/Marcum

[CRET]

I was sold on buying a LX3 until I saw a X67c by Lawrence, Has anyone used the X67 yet, How do they work and they seem pretty amazing with flasher/Graph/gps all in one for just a little more money? Wow! very impressed by the X67 and X68 ice machines, what do you think? Are they just as Good? or Better? Comments I am ready to purchase soon!!

Cret

[markharden]

I just used a x67C today on Winni/. I love it. I never had problems getting readings after I adjusted the sensitivity. The flasher is very easy to read. The fish were easily distinguished on the flasher part and could see another jig 6 feet away very clearly on the flasher. I thought that was pretty impressive. Also, the charger is nice and small and the battery has incredible life. I recommend the x67C.

[slick814]

I've got the M68 Ice Machine, and it's real time, the split screen for the flasher is awesome, (nice to see the whole water column, but to have it "zoom in" on the bottom 6' is great!) and if you play with the ping speed and sensitivity, it's as accurate and easy to read as the Marcum or Vex is.

I saw a complaint about the GPS being inaccurate. I don't think that it's inaccurate as much as the graphics could be a little more detailed. I haven't had any complaints about that, though. It still does the job that it was designed for, and what it lacks in detail may just be a preference, more than a necessity.

Another nice thing about the unit is that it can be used summer or winter if you buy the high speed 'ducer. Thorne Bros. was giving one away for free if you bought the unit, so you may want to check there and see if they still offer that. I've also picked up the trolling motor mount for it ($10).

All in all, it's a great unit, the flasher works as good as any Vex or Marcum I've seen, and the sonar features are good to have too. And yes, you can see your jig on the side of the sonar screen too.

As far as the screen size goes, I don't think it's all that small. It also has multiple options for background color, brightness, etc., and you can see it easily in bright light.

I can honestly say it's been the best investment I've made in the last couple of years when it comes to all my around fishing, and would recommend it highly!!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

ive had the x67c since x-mas. let me tell you, its been a roller coaster ride. but in the end, i love it! i will admit ive had some problems with the interference rejection, but thats the only problem. there have been a few days on the water where i had to stop myslf from kicking it down the hole because i was so frustrated. an example was 2 weekends ago i was out on burntside lake with 3 others(2 fl8's, & 1 lx3). at one point i was close to 100 yards away from them and my unit was still useless, too much interference. but then they moved closer, and with a few adjustments to all the units, i started to get a clearer screen, and fish were caught. at the end of the day we discussed long and hard about sonar and how it all works. all units were experiencing interference, some more than others. in the end we determined it was all about what the bottom was made up of. on that day we were on a very hard bottom, so in turn, echos were bouncing all over the place, hence the major interference problems. on the next day we went to a flat with a very soft bottom. every screen was crystal clear and no interference to speak of.

as far as the realtime debate, when i jig the lure, it jigs on the screen instantaneously, when i move the jig moves. when a fish appears, you know its a fish, when the jig and the fish meet, and the line turns red, bang, fish on. its as realtime as you can get. the graph screen is almost better than the flasher screen. i still cant decide which i like best. as i said, ive had some IR issues, but, im learning about that as i go. but in the end, after all my trials and tribulations, i highly enjoy using it, and look forward to using it on my boat this summer. its a quality unit. as far as how hard it is to use and navigate, after 1 day out on the ice using it and reading the manual as i played with it, i had it down in no time. its really not as complicated as it looks and people claim.

so in the end, the only disadvantages i can see after 3 months of use are:

- tough to block out a lot of interference from other units at times.

- screen is a little small

- some of the features and options are not well explained in the manual(like the many different screens one can use(grey scale, reverse grey scale, night vision, bottom color scale(or whatever its called),ect).

one more thing.... matt bruer, the reason it was showing 280ft or whatever, that is due to interference as well. ive had the same problems. im in 15ft and all is well than all of a sudden its 100 ft, then its 1.8ft, then back to 15ft. this i will admit is a problem, but, one can work through it.

if its the unit you want, get it!