MarCum LX3or fl-18?

[CNY Tim]

The Fl-18 has been the noisiest of my flashers bar none. My Fl-8 wasn't even this noisy and if you got humidity it's worse. Never had a problem with my LX-3 motor whining, always quiet. The transducer noise is true but it does not scare fish away. I was fishing 9.5 feet of water the other day and I had fish stacked in my screen from 2' off bottom to 2' from the top of the ice. And they didn't seem to mine
The arm that extends is a solid arm and jack knifes just fine to the right side of the unit. You can put it tight to it's side. I like the transducer holder inside the LX-3. Keep using the bubble wrap that came with the unit it stores nicely in the side pouch when not in use this will help to keep the transducer in tip top shape by retaining it inside the bubble wrap when transporting especially by quad and snowmobile...
I got a call from George last night and I have to tell you guys that George is a diehard icefisherman. He enjoys going out and sitting on a bucket in the worse weather conditions and jigging. George is just happy to enjoy what free time he get's with his demanding work schedule. George enjoys breathing clean air and taking in some of mother natures wonderful surroundings. Well at 8:15 last night the phone rang and it was George. George had recently purchased an LX-3. That LX-3 and this phone call were one of the most exciting phone calls I ever received in my life in regards to fishing. He was all set-up in his shanty LX-3 horizontal jig with waxworm just getting in a little time with his new fish finder. He was a nut to go out but we all have our moments it was 0 when he called temperature wise, and winds were light but he was getting hit hard with lake efect snow he had about 2" of snow on the shanty and he just called me to ask me questions about the new unit and what he was seeing and he was disappointed that he had been in the same spot for 30 min. and did not seen anything other than his jig. So I am on the phone and I am explaining to George that you having a fish finder it will make you hunt for fish and eliminate unproductive areas and help you to find fish to catch. I was giving him descriptions on what he saw and translating them over the phone like bottom content and such so he he knew what he was seeing. George called because he knew he had to leave because it was getting to be white-out conditions and even though he was disappointed that he didn't catch anything he was amazed with just seeing his jig go up and down on both sides of the screen.
I told George you really need to take your LX-3 to a fishy place where you can mark alot of fish and learn alot more about your unit, great confidence building places... He understood and I gave him a couple of my tune-up lakes where I like to go to get the rust off before the season get's in full swing.
THEN IT HAPPENED...
yellow- orange- red wham!... George got so excited he lost the fish at the hole and did not get a good look at it. All of a sudden he's dropping back down and he had 3 more marks on his LX-3. Now get this, George has hiss cell phone to his ear and he's screaming the whole time and I am trying to get him to calm down he was fishing in pretty shallow water and I didn't want him too spook the fish he had been waiting 40 min. to mark..
He screaming Oh My God there moving up to my jig, a little jiggle and wham he hooked a fat blue gill he was amazed how those marks just arose up to his jig. He was so excited he was screaming on the phone he just was completely amazed by what he saw. I said. it's over now George now your hooked.
I was so so excited I shared this with my friends what a story, even my wife enjoyed it. I wonder how late George stayed fishing?

[Curly]

I don't totaly understand what the Bottom Lock means on the fl18, does that mean it only zooms from bottom up a few feet? After reading about the lx3 it looks like you can zoom where ever you want, is that correct?

[Surface Tension]

Curly the FL18 can zoom the bottom 6' only. The MarCum LX3 can zoom any where in the water column in increments of 5' or 10'.
Bottom lock is an open water feature that levels off the bottom reading when in heavy waves.

[Guest]

I "worked" & fished the I.C.E. Series event on Mille Lacs yesterday. I set up a MarCum LX-3 to use at slack-times to get in at least some fishing... I did get to fish about an hour all combined, when I could grab a rod for a moment.
A gentelman approched me and asked the name of the fish-finder unit I was using.
I had only spent about 45 seconds showing him the how-to's on running the MarCum LX-3 when I was called away to my duity in working the event.... I handed this guy my rod and said, "have fun"!
He found me some time later and said he wanted to know the retail cost for the MarCum. I told him about $400.00 or under. He said that he would be getting one!
I think learning & using the MarCum LX-3 is very easy. It displays great.

I like the way the MarCum transducer lays on its side when in transport, inside the MarCum ice case.
I have damaged trandusers from other brands before... by scratching up the bottom of the transducer surface. This causes problems in the transducer being able to read signals.
Damage to the transducer's bottom surface is caused in positioning a transducer on its bottom in transport while in a plastic case, where dirt and sand can get underneath. In this case, the debris (dirt & sand) trapped between the surfaces over time, scratched my transducer bottom surface. I resorted in using wooden toothpicks attached to the case to insulate the transducer surface away from the bottom of the case. Sadly though... once you damage your transducer, it looses some of its ability to work properly.
The design of the MarCum transducer "arm" works well... the retractable arm is durable. And, it does not take up a large amount of my ice hole as does a floating "bobber style" transducer. The MarCum arm style transducer does not "float" all over my ice hole and is not all ways getting in my way. It stays wher I place it.
I like the ice case of the LX-3. I think it does a fine job keeping the unit covered and debris out. The MarCum ice case is made well and figure it to last for years.
Catch'n
Dave Hoggard

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Fishermen are catch-n on
Catch'n Tackle
For Bass, Walleye, Pike, Lakers, Trout, Panfish
Used by FishingMN Family

[This message has been edited by Catch'n (edited 01-25-2004).]

[mnrstrider]

Well I used my LX3 yesterday on mille lacs for the first time, I like it better than my FL-18. For me it seemed a bit harder to use right off the bat, the Vex does come with a very nice video on how to use it. Once I got it down, (which yeah I could use it fine out of the box) , it took me a good ten minutes of serious playing to get the fine tuning. Other than that you can see better on the Marcum once you used to it. The Vex is a little more "dummy" proof using green, yellow and red for their three colors, vs the yellow orange and red on the marcum, after a couple hours of use this is a total non issue, of course it's possible that I thought it was harder to read because I had the Vex first. I have a little issue witht the transducer mounting system and cord, the Vex's is just plain better IMO, but the Marcum's isn't bad it works, but in my shack the Vex's seemed to be more verstile, as in I could put it in many different places, unlike the marcum's which pretty much insist the unit be right there next to the hole, and the rubber knob thingy that holds the transducer at depth it really, really hard to move on the cord, I'm not sure why, but it was easily moved with a second person's help. Honestly I'll take and pick up a Vexlar ice ducer float kit for my Marcum, and I'll be happy, I know the Vex is a great unit and well worth every single penny, but I'm a believer that the preformance in the Marcum is better, preformance sells for me, I can deal with cord.

[cloudfisher]

Has anyone used either the fl18 or lx3 in open water. My hard/open water time is about equal. From what I've read on this and other posts, the LX3 is a favorite for hard water. Guess I want the best of both worlds without compromising either season. Any honest drawbacks between these two in open water?

[axel grease]

I do not want to get involed in any debate over any unit.

I can say this. I have fished with the lx3 for three days with unbelievable success. I have never seen any other brand in operation.

I like being able to take the trancsducer arm and moving it tight against the hole and adjusting it even with the bottom of the ice. There are to many fish raps any other. way.

I've been fishing in 7-13 feet of water and the zoom feature is worth its weight in gold. IMO the unit should be used in bottom zoom mode at all times. That makes the whole water column crisper on the right, while your finessing them off the bottom. Unless the fish are some where else.

I can say this about interferance. My buddy has a lowrance 87. It gave me staic up to 30' away. No prob. I hit the button and it was gone. My unit did not bother his at all. The poor guy is color blind so it was hard for him to enjoy my flasher.

If nothing else, the MarCum has a two year warranty. Does Vexlar and Lowrance?

If the service is as good as the product, I made the right decision.