If you are looking for a Marcum LX-5 in Mpls (plus small review)...

[Iceboy]

They have two left at Thorne Bros. I just bought one this afternoon. It seems pretty nice - here are my initial thoughts compared to my FL-18:

My FL-18 on it's blue box with it's Johnney Ray swivel is more manuevarable than the Marcum with it's arm, but I'll be able to make due with the Marcum.

The transducer on the LX-5 is big. About the same size as the dual-beam ducer for the vex.

At first I thought it would be tough to use a second battery with this unit, but once you pull out the tray that's in the case it's pretty easy. You just won't have the fancy battery gauge on your spare battery since it's glued to the battery that it comes with.

The oddest thing - the order of color strength is yellow-green-red. That's right. Yellow is the weakest signal, followed by green, followed by red. Have no idea what they were thinking there. Seriously. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I almost packaged it back up for return when I read that. Makes no sense whatsoever. Vex has it right.

The Marcum is quite a bit quieter when it is running than my FL-18. I like this!

I'll report back on performance once I get out on the ice.

dan

[mtmer1]

how much did you pay for it? if you don't mind me asking.

[Bob Horn]

What difference does it make when it comes to the order of color? It`s just a tool to let you know how far out you are from the center of the cone angle. I can`t believe the you would return a unit (any brand) because of the order of the color.

[LMITOUT]

The color order is indeed a bit odd and I would also say is somewhat unusual, but I suppose you could look at it this way:

Yellow - neutral, everything status quo.

Green - fish nearby, we have a go.

Red - light the fire, we have supper!

I'd bet that if the Marcum was the first on the market with this color order we'd think Vex was backwards because we've grown accustomed to yellow-green-red. I'm sure I'll have to keep this change in mind when I switch over to the Marcum until I get used to it too.

Can't wait to get mine.

[Got_Ice]

It's pretty much the same as old Marcums. They replaced the Orange with Green. It seems to make sense to me. You should be able to get a Marcum for under five hundred. I tested mine this weekend and although I didn't catch a fish the new colors are great. Much easier to read. I play more when I have a chance to use it in deeper water. The one thing I didn't like was there is no light to tell you if the IR is on. The LX-3 had one but the 5 doesn't. Pretty minor.