Marcum LX-3 IR?

[CNY Tim]

Hey Dark Cloud a.k.a Endicott Butcher.. Jay glad you could take a break from all that knife work on dem teers. I think you had plenty of years on the football field to leave your aggression behind you... Stay away from my MarCum...
Enjoy your 1st ever flight down south this week. It ain't bad flying make sure you have 3-4 drinks in ya before you get on the plane being your first time and all, you'll be just fine. I know the deer down there will be glad you left

[Rick]

I used both units last year, my eyes aren't the greatest. I have trouble getting line through the eyes of hooks. With that said...

I will tell you for a fact that the MarCum display is crisper. The Vex is brighter.

I see both displays just as well. The displays are a wash with respect to being able to see them clearly. They both work fine.

[beef]

My Marcum work is shallow water with no problems at all. Use it both in the summer and winter and have had no neg.'s about it.

[Bob Horn]

Does the marcum have the suppression capability? Can it read through the "blooms"? Fish On

[Dan Wood]

Shallow weeds are no issue for any of these units... Adjust the gain accordingly and your good to go.

Not sure what your asking about with supression capability. The gain adjustment is used to knock-out those signals that are not wanted. As long as your jig puts off a stronger signal than any junk floating in the water, it is just a matter of adjusting the gain. I typically adjust the gain just high enough so I can see my jig and have never had any issues with any type of false signals.

[Bob Horn]

The reason I like the dual beam is when I am fishing in 30-40+ feet of water I can start with the 19 degree cone angle to search for fish and then I can switch to the 9 to see if the fish are under me or out to the side. With a larger cone angle just because it`s showing red does`nt mean that they are right under you. With a 9 degree and showing red I know the fish is under my feet looking at my offer not just swimming in the area. When I first started this post I had only one question but now I`m confessed. I still can`t decide on witch one to buy. Fish On

[Dan Wood]

bhorn,
If you have your gain set right, you can clearly see when a fish is on the outer edge of the cone or inside the cone by watching the signal increase on the LX-3. I set the gain so my jig just barely shows up.

• 
  LX-3 20 deg. transducer
• @18' - 6.3' would be your viewing cone diameter on the bottom of the lake
• @20' - 7.1'
• @25' - 8.8'
  

• 
  FL-18
  19 deg. (nearly identical)
  9 deg. transducer
• @18' - 2.8'
• @20' - 3.1'
• @25' - 3.9'
  

Your only talking of less than 9' diameter cone in 25' of water (with the LX-3 20 deg. transducer). I like to be able to see the larger area and know when fish are on the outer edge of the signal cone. You often can entice these fish into coming into range and you can clearly see by the strength of signal when they are moving towards the center of the cone (your bait). I think the 19-20 deg. transducers are perfect for typical applications (10-40' depths).

The 9/19 isn't a bad option, but as you can see you don't gain a whole lot for typical applications. The standard 12 deg. in my opinion limits your viewing area too much for shallower water fishing.

[This message has been edited by Dan Wood (edited 11-26-2003).]

[CNY Tim]

bhorn - that 19 deg. and 9 deg. dual beam transducer has not been a reliable feature on the FL-8, I don't know if it's any better with the FL-18.
I tried the 12 deg. in shallow water in less than 10' and those fish were right on top of me before I knew it the wider beam gives you a little more early warning that's why I use the 19 deg... Everything I fish is 40' or less and my LX-3 is my first choice over my FL-18. As wgmsa said there are a alot more positives on the MarCum side when comparing these units. MarCum has raised the bar!

[This message has been edited by CNY Tim (edited 11-26-2003).]

[Guest]

I see that some of you guys have stated that Vexilar isn't up to its technology because it doesn't offer the mid- rage zoom like the Lx-3. Yet the Fl-18 has the bottom block feature and the LP mode giving an advantage to year-round use. Can you explain how Vexilar isn't up to date with technology?

Thanks

------------------
Mille Lacs Guide Service
651-271-5459
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[Guest]

Dan: You have compared the the Lx-20 degree to the Fl-18 19 degree cone. If your gain is set right, you can clearly mark fish in the Vexilar 19 degree cone just like you can on the MarCum 20 degree cone as you stated. Mosy guys do "fine tune" their unit so they can see their jig. My question is" How does the MarCum have the advantage with 1500 watts of power and a mid-range zoom, yet both units mark fish similar with a comparable transducer cone.? If your using a 19 degree cone and fishing for crappies on the bottom in 40 feet of water, those fish will mark red on the screen as soon as they swim to the center of the cone, so these fish could be 9-10 feet away from your jig. In that deep of water even on a clear day in clear water its useless. The idea of the 9/19 cone by Vexilar is to use the 19 degree ducer to scan the ice surface in search of fish with a large cone saving valuable time then switching to the 9 degree to finesse your fish. Even at 400 watts of output, the 19 degree (the wider the cone, the weaker the signal) cone can mark fish in 40 feet of water shooting through 2 feet of ice. My 400 watt Micronar did the same many years ago.

------------------
Mille Lacs Guide Service
651-271-5459
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[boston]

Hello everybody that has posted on this thread. There has been some very good information , but I am confused and would like to get answers if possible on 2 Questions. 1st- I have a fl-8, My brother is Thinking of purchasing a marcum lx3. We would be fishing sometimes in a flip style portable together. Will I be able to use my fl-8 or will the higher powered marcum make it UN-usable. 2nd A salesman at a sporting good store told my brother that I could purchase an extra cable That would make my FL-8 like an FL-8SE. with more interference capability. Is this right? and if so ,would this solve the interference problem with the marcum unit, and allow me to use my vexilar? PLEASE HELP!! Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Paul Waldowski]

The cable is called an S- cable. It installs easily between the unit and transducer. In shallow or very weedy waters this short cable can improve your readings quite a bit. "Shallow and weedy" are different from one body of water to another. The level at which you need to use an S-Cable depends on the type of water you are on.

Imagine your running your unit with the gain set at 6. If you were to install the S-Cable, it would be almost the same as turning the gain down to zero. Now imagine running your unit with the gain set to zero. If you install the S-Cable you are, essentially, turning the gain down to a -6! Now you can clearly read the bottom even though your outboard is kicking up mud like crazy.

For ice fishing the idea is the same. If your fishing in, say, 10 feet of water, your ice jigs may show so well that you cannot get it to read any less than red. The S-Cable will help. Also, if your using the 19 degree transducer you may be seeing fish that are out on the edge of the transducer cone. If there are a lot of fish in the area they will tend to overlap on the display, making it difficult to determine the size and position of the fish. The S-Cable will help this by effectively reducing the size of the cone angle, or your ability to see the entire cone.

One misnomer that, somehow, has gotten out there is that the S-Cable will help reduce interference received from another unit. This is not true. It will actually make the interference worse because you will need to run the gain higher than you would without the S-Cable. The higher the gain, the more likely you will see interference.

As far as a Marucm making your unit unuseable. It may be at times, other times you will be picking up a lot of interference. One thing that will help is if you have the transcducer of your vex deeper into the water than the Marcum. That has made a difference for some of the guys that I have fished with.

------------------
Paul
[email protected]
Marcum
Otter Outdoors

[boston]

Paul W. Thanks for the reply. Iam just curious because I don't want to be on a 2 or 3 day fishing trip with my brother and end up being frustrated all trip. In your opinion should I spend the extra money and upgrade to a Marcum or DISOWN my brother.

[Paul Waldowski]

Boston,

Does he ever borrow any of your "stuff" and not return it? If so I would disown him

I can tell you that you will be very happy with the Marucm if you do choose to upgrade.

------------------
Paul
[email protected]
Marcum
Otter Outdoors

[Bob Horn]

I am still leaning towards the vex. If someone would like to fish together that has a marcum I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks Fish On

[P Gottshall]

I live in IL, where my I typically fish 10ft of water in the winter. Will the LX-3 be OK there?

The Vexilar has "Bottom Lock" and "Auto Zoom". What's the difference?

With the LX-3, can I set the zoom window to lock on the bottom? This would be important as I'm trolling & have significant depth changes.

[Paul Waldowski]

In answer to your questions:

1. Your Marcum will be just fine in 10 feet of water

2. On the Marcum the zoom does not automatically lock in on the bottom. It locks onto a certain depth in the water column. A simple touch to a up or down button moves the zoom. Great for zeroing in on suspended fish, finesse jigging them and seeing how they react to your current presentation.

3. Vex FL-18 - Auto Zoom Mode (AZ) - Gives a half screen zoom window of the bottom six feet of depth. No matter if you're in 10 feet or 100 feet, the bottom six feet always fills half of the screen.
Bottom Lock Mode (BL) - Works the same as Auto Zoom, but locks the bottom so it will not move with changes in depth or boat motion.

------------------
Paul
[email protected]
Marcum
Otter Outdoors

[This message has been edited by Paul Waldowski (edited 11-27-2003).]

[Bob Horn]

Hum, no invites yet from the marcum guys. Guess I`m buying vex again.

Fish On

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 11-29-2003).]

[Surface Tension]

bhorn I think you'll find FM family members more then happy to take a guy out fishing. You being in Illinois and most posts are from MN along with MarCum being fairly new there may not be anyone in your area to make you an offer to try out a MarCum. Now if you were to be coming to Mn and asked I'm sure you'd get an offer.

[Bob Horn]

Surface Tension, I am more than willing to go to your beautiful state of minnesota. The last 2yrs. I went out of state and I fished. The First year I went to Mille Lacs for a week and last year I fished the Brainerd tourny and than went to Devils Lake for 11 days. The last 2 yrs. thought I was going to LOW and Red Lake but just did`nt make it there yet. I`m only a 7 hr drive to St.Paul, and LOW is probaly 12. Just give me a shout and I can usually get away within a couple of weeks. Fish On

[Dan Wood]

Derek,
Actually those numbers for cone viewing area were the 9 degree Vex. transducer vs. the 20 deg. MarCum transducer. I just stated the 19 deg. as nearly identical as you wouldn't see any noticeable difference between a 19 and 20 deg. angle.

I understand why the 9 deg. is an option, but I just think the average person wouldn't get much out of it. The typical deep water applications based on my experiences have been for suspended fish. If your fishing suspended fish in deep water, the fact that they are in deep water is irrelevant as your viewing cone angle would be at the level of the suspended fish.

Once a guy gets comfortable reading the signals, you can see when the fish are on the outside edge or near the center of the transducer's cone. I would rather see all of the fish out on the edges of a larger viewing cone and have a chance to coax them in than not see them at all. I don't see myself changing from 9 to 19 back to 9, etc.... there are enough gadgets and options to keep me occupied... just my personal preference.

[CNY Tim]

The beauty of the LX-3 Ice system is you don't need additional transducers and switch boxes. You don't have to be bothered when hole hopping with having to push buttons every time you change holes or flipping switches. You spend less time adjusting and more time fishing. People new to ice fishing get confused with the FL-18 features, I saw one guy sell one on hsolist he couldn't figure it out. An FL-18 ultra pack with a switch box 9/19 transducer go's for $479.
A MarCum LX-3 ice system $399. I can throw in a $4 plano box and $1.99 rod holder and still be $74 dollars ahead with the MarCum...

[Guest]

Duel beam transducers are far from useless, and a single beam has it's limitations and pitfalls in many environments.

If you are fishing for suspended Crappies on flats then you probably would be very pleased with the performance of a single wide beam. But if you were going after Walleye, crappie, or catfish that are hanging right on the bottom along a steep drop off you will be disappointed.

For one, if you fish sharply changing structure such as a drop off or river channel, a single beam with a wide cone angle will produce dead zones. Dead zones occur no matter how much power is thrown at the bottom.

Dead zones are caused by the perimeter of the cone encountering structure before finding the deepest point, from that point downward it is a dead zone. A dead give away of this dead zone effect is when you drop your jig down to the perceived bottom, it keeps on going into the red. An army of fish could be there but you will never know it with a wide angle beam.

Adding a zoom feature to this dead zone beam is doubly worthless because your just zooming in on a bogus bottom signal. Nothing gained except a closer view of a bogus signal reading above the true bottom.

If you are fishing over a slope it may see the high side of the slope, at the edge of the 20 cone, and mark that as bottom. The fish that are hanging on the bottom in the center of the cone will be invisible to you because they are actually within the bottom signal on your depth finder. A narrower 9 beam angle will reduce or eliminate this effect.

On rivers, reservoirs, or lakes with sharp structural elements, protruding habitat such as sunken trees or shale outcroppings, the duel beam can make all the difference in the world in locating and catching fish.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,sUMo,>

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 11-30-2003).]

[Bob Horn]

Does the Marcum fit inside a 5 gallon bucket?

[Guest]

Backwater Eddy makes a good point. I think on the vexilar site they don't recommend the 19 degree for the FL-18. Does marcum only offer a 20 degree transducer? Wouldn't they have the same problem with a deadzone.