Marcum quality issues

[red bricks]

In December 2004 I bought a new OVS 560 camera spent $599 at the same time I bought a new LX-3 spent $399. I went with the Marcum products mainly because of all the great experiences people at this site have had with their products.

The first trip out The lx went bad. I called Marcum and they replaced the transducer quickly no problem. The second trip with the 560 camera it went bad. They said send it back. I did. For some reason they were unable to fix my camera and would have to wait until the new 06's arrived to replace mine. They even sent me another camera to use while I waited. They only had defectives ones in stock so the one I got was at about 80% functional. I still have not recieved my new camera yet. Marcum said that they would be sent this week. I have not seen it yet. Hopefully soon. I am a little peeved beacause it seems like there is some stock available in stores right now and I guess I am a little lower on the priotry list.

I get out fishing about 3 maybe 4 times a year if I am lucky. I try to buy the best equiptment available so I don't have to sit on the ice frustrated. I spent over a grand on the ovs and the lx-3 and both failed. I am batting 1000. The customer service is great and they will replace their stuff as quickly as they can. It would be nice if they paid for the shipping costs both ways. Anyways I spent a grand and I never had both pieces of equiptment working at the same time. When the stuff works it is great. But I regret buying them both. Just because having great equiptment half the time is worse the having lessor equiptment that works all of the time. I think I am going back to the FL-18 That always worked.

In recent days there has been several posts about people who are having problems with their Marcum equiptment. Always there is a quick response from someone on how great their stuff is and how their problems will get fixed by Marcum quickly. True. Marcum customer service is qreat and they will fix it quickly. With my personal experience and from the other problems I have read on this site I cannot understand why Marcum keeps getting raving reviews from the "staff" on this site. Why keep recomending products with such a high failure rate? Just read the post from all th FMers that have had or are having problems.

[iffwalleyes]

You know it is true that there seems to be a rise on the problem units this past week or so. But for every one you hear about there are probably 100 or more (i have no idea of what the actual ratio would be but it is quite high) that are running just fine. A transducer problem while a problem is not that big of deal it is the easiest repair you can get. Marcum had a bad shipment of transducers on last years units. As far as I know they have replaced everyones without any catches. They even replaced a transducer on my LX3 last year and it was a on it's 3 season which with all the banging around one of these units goes through that is pretty good. If you have just a LX 3 not the LX tc it was made last year so there is a chance it had a bad transducer. As for the cameras I have no knowledge of them because I don't use cameras so I am not sure of what is going on there. All I can do is tell you my experiences with Marcum and that is that they have been great to work with the one time in 3 years that I need service. I have a new LX 5 and that so far has worked perfectly.

[MNice]

Redbricks, use this site for research, but I would not rely on "staff" on any site for a objective review.

[BradB]

Redbricks, use this site for research, but I would not rely on "staff" on any site for a objective review.

Excellent advice.

[Rick]

red bricks,

assume you were staff - because here is what you had to say last year

Click here for red bricks take on MarCum last year.

I called MarCum to get the data on their flasher quality issues. Here it is:

They had a bad batch of transducers on some of last years LX3s. In my opinion that is a problem and is the one you keep hearing about. Staff here are the ones that originally told FMers about the issue last year.

I know another flasher company had similar problems with their software a few years ago and had to fix a ton of units. It happens. It doesn't make the product inherently bad.

MarCum tells me they have sold thousands of LX3tcs this year and not one call. They have sold thousands of LX5s and received 2 calls.

I would say the quality and customer service are prettty good this year to date.

As for you who are degrading the staff here, they are much more objective than you might think. They are not paid to say what they say.

They are a very candid group who try hard to get you the best information possible. That is regardless if it is sponsor or non-sponsor product. They know all they have is their credibility. For you to come on here and degrade them is unfortunate.

I ask everyone here to truly look around at staff postings and you will see staff posting their opinions on a wide variety of things and much of it good about non-sponsor items as well.

We would rather lose a sponsor than to give out bad information.

[Hotspotter]

First off, redbricks, I am sorry to hear of your problems. Sounds frustrating. I, like you, don't fish as much as I'd like to, but when I go out, want to have a quality experience. And yes, you did hear good things about both of those products here, but there was also room to criticize then. I think we're seeing a flurry of problems that people have collectively had with several Marcum products (they sell better than six different cameras and flashers) over several years of service/usage. To be fair, some of these problems have been user error and/or abuse of these products. Furthermore, this site is a large collection of ice-fisherman (20,000+ members!), and there is bound to be problems with any product, problems that I'm assured occur in amounts far below industry standards. With that many products, over that many users, for several years, the law of averages comes into play, and IMO it's unfair to connect dots spaced so far apart.

As for the objectivity of our staff here, we're talking about people, in many instances, that fish as livelihood. People that put in more time on the ice than they do at work. I have fished with the CrappieToms and Dennis Steeles and Matt Johnsons, and I can honestly say that these guys are hard-core fisherman, that would not use the latest fad, even if it were given to them (which it's not)!!! We're talking about fisherman with thousands of years of collective experience, and have used everything from lead depth bombs to the LX-5.

I don't fish as much as I'd like, and my time is valuable to me. I search for quality experiences, the few times I do get out, and would not risk those experiences on inferior equipment. Therefore, I would not be recommending this product to FM members, or the better-than-10 family members and friends that are very satisfied.

All I can venture to guess is that you've been extremely unfortunate with your experiences, while many thousands of others have been more than pleased. Hopefully you're satisfied with whichever option you decide to go with, and it helps you catch more fish, and have more fun! Here's to tight lines!

Joel

[Surface Tension]

Red Bricks, I can appreciate your situation and frustration.

All I can tell you is contact MarCum Customer Support and they'll will take care of you.

Please do use the search function and you'll find the majority of MarCum owners are happy with their purchase. I can't say how many thousands of MarCum flashers are on the market but there are bound to be a few that experience problems. Last year there was a shipment of ducers that went bad after some use, these ducers would work fine but after time they failed. We're starting to see last years flashers that had the ducers from that defective lot show up in threads. Your flasher has been corrected.

I'll continue to use MarCum's line of flashers because they are a superior unit. I can think of a few other companies that have had a bad lot of ducers or product defects but since MarCum is a forum sponsor we want you to hear the whole story.

As far as an objective "view", who do you think has shinned the light and has been informing the public about the lot of defective ducers?

That would be Staff from FM.

We've never deleted any threads concerning MarCum products but unconstructive drivel will get the ax.

Staff are here to help forum members, not to pull the wool over anyones eyes.

[BradB]

In general, on all websites, I think it is in the consumers best interest to take what they read with a grain of salt when it comes to purchasing any product. This includes "staff" and other members equally. I did not intend to "degrade" the staff but simply endorse a policy of having a healthy skepticism for what is posted on websites before spending money on a product. I liken it to going into a store and taking the advice of the sales clerk. Sometimes they have experience and have much to offer, other times they simply know what the sales rep told them. The buyer has to beware, and can't rely on what is posted on an internet forum to be perfect for their situation. Ultimately, the choice to spend money on a product is the buyers alone and he should make it wisely. This is simply common sense.

No offense intended to anyone.

[kevfish]

I did not take what u said as a degrading comment. I understood what you were saying, and could not agree with u more. well stated

[Rick]

Thanks BradB,

we understand and appreciate where you are coming from. The statement by red bricks and the other two original quotes as worded were aimed at staff alone.

If you look you will see a ton of folks raving about their MarCums not just staff. Also not all staff raved about it and some raved about their Vexilars, Lowrance and other units.

I agree everyone has their own preferences. You worded it much better this time.

Thanks for clarifying your view BradB.

We will lock this thread now because it is really a discussion about staff credibility rather than equipment and doesn't really belong here.

We have several threads for you to use already going about quality issues in this forum.

Click here for a current one on just about everything but more so on the LX3 transducer issue (not the LX3tc).