LX5 or Bird 55?

[jwhjr]

If anyone is on the fence about picking up an LX-5 because of the price, I saw them at the Sports Show for $300 and they were the 2500 watt ones. That's $200+ under retail.

[Bob Schroden]

I heard they were sold out within 1 hour at that price.

[fishwater]

Saw them for $300 and almost wound up with a third unit. T.Brothers had 2 of them when I left after a couple Lakemaids.

[northernsportman]

I tried the 55 and the lx5, i personally like the lx5 more. I liked the 55's flat screen and digital depth but it didnt compete against the super fine line and the x4 zoom the lx5 has. I ended up getting the lx5 and havent looked back since. Its a great unit.

[KTapper]

I heard that with the birds you cant fish 2 of them together because the interference is so bad.

You got that right. Thats why i sold mine, they work great with other brands but not with other birds. I had a 35 and my buddy had a 45 we tried on several occasions.

[TimBuck2]

Big A, you might just have turned me back to the LX-5. I'd like to have a couple more testimonials to the compatibility of the Lowrance machines with the LX-5. Anyone else with a LX-5 have similar experience fishing near a Lowrance? Big A how much distance did you have from your buddy(s) using the Lowrance? Were you running the narrow beam? We usually fish out of a 6 x 8 permanent, or my Yukon. In 15-20 Ft we just cant get far enough away from each other so the cones don't overlap. The 9 degree cone will help I'm sure.

Thanks,

TB2

[Big A]

Everyone I fish with uses a Lowrance. We fish right next to each other with no problems whatsoever. Prob 5ft apart max. When I purchased mine at the Ice fishing show I specifically asked all vendors about the compatability with the Lowrance as I knew I would be fishing next to those who own them.. All said the same thing. No problems at all.

In fact.. thorne bros was displaying the LX5 and Lowrance x67c running right next to each other and proved that exact point to me.. they were the ones who told me that the Marcum flashers and Lowrance units will work together..

Vexilar is a whole other story. But with the LX5 having 12 channels of Interference Rejection.. I have found no problems dialing out all other units and having success.

I have used the 20* cone and the 8* cone with no issues.. i usually use the 8 as I fish with a deadstick next to my jigstick and find that watching my minnow dance around on the screen gets old after awhile.. although it is entertaining and fun to see how the LX5 can actually show fish swimming up to my minnow and the hole next to me...

My $.02 for what its worth.

[CJH]

All I know is that with my HB, I can tell when my waxie is no longer on my teardrop. That's as much detail as anybody needs.

A few weeks ago I fished in close proximity to all of the brands (Vex, Marcum, Lowrance) and the only one that had a little bit of a problem was the Lowrance, and it came from the Marcum (we turned each machine off to see which one was interfering). Even then, it was relatively week interference, and not really an issue.

All I am saying is, find what works for you and don't believe all of the hype. There are alot of things said that aren't based on reality (like brand x won't work with brand y, etc...).

[Ed Carlson]

If your not in a immediate need of a new unit now, I would wait and see what "NEW" pop's up in 2010...then decide.

[KG243]

personally I got tired of waiting around for vex or marcum to return any of my emails, so I bought my bird and I am very happy. I was pretty suprised that no one would return my emails to tell me if they would be coming out with some new product lines. oh well it's loss!

[Ed Carlson]

Did you try calling?

I have never not received fast service at Vex, nearly always a live answer in a few rings or a call back the same day.....holidays..well..that's a different deal..nobody is around anywhere on a holiday.

[Jack The Ripped]

My vote is "Marcum" for many reasons mentioned above.

[DTro]

I’m sure as much as a company would like to give you fair warning about new items and or features, it is in their best interest to keep that confidential as long as possible to keep the competition from implementing the same thing.

I’m sure Humminbird has the same policy.

Flashers have evolved to a point where it’s hard to get something that you are not going to be happy with.

It cannot be said enough. Analyze how and where you fish and determine which features are most important to YOU and one that fits your budget. Then do some basic research to figure out which flasher fits those needs the best.

In most cases If I have every single flasher sitting in front of me, I’m probably going to grab the LX-5. I tell ya what though, I wouldn’t be disappointed having to take a VX-1, ICE-35,FL8, or the Showdown. Anyone of those is head and shoulders above no flasher at all.

The other day my battery died unexpectedly on my LX-5 and I didn’t have a spare so we ended up running jumper cables to the truck battery instead of fishing flasherless. Who knows, I just might have quit fishing it that wouldn’t have worked.

[fish-two]

Any reports on the showdown,??

[Pette]

We use a Vex FL8 and a buddy has a Vex FL20 and I have been thinking of getting Marcum LX5 but worried about interference for the Vex's don't want to make them unuseable. Also thought about a H B 55 but have heard reports of quit a few being returned. Just worried about making the wrong decision.

Maybe the right idea is to set back and wait till next year to see if anything comes out new but looking for and end of the year deal.

[Sniper07]

I have an LX-5 and 2 of my buddies that I fish with have FL-18's and we never had a problem with them being over powered from my LX-5 and most of the time we're less than 10' apart. Actually many times I'm setup between them and still no problem.

[marine_man]

3 of us go on a ice fishing trip every year to arnesens, two have marcums and one has a vexilar; and we never have a problem tuning each other out.

You may have to tweak with the ir button a few times, but it all works out after 10 minutes at the most probably.

marine_man

[outdoor ran]

If you ever go to a NAIFC event weigh-in look at the leaderboard and you will see it loaded with MarCum LX-5 users. I trust the tournament pros that consistently cash paychecks and there choice overwhelmingly is MarCum.

Anyone ever seen the the guy on NAIFC iceman show fishing with that dorky plastic 5 dollar fishing pole and yellow flat reel. That must mean thats the best combo out there

[KG243]

Originally Posted By: CNY Tim

If you ever go to a NAIFC event weigh-in look at the leaderboard and you will see it loaded with MarCum LX-5 users. I trust the tournament pros that consistently cash paychecks and there choice overwhelmingly is MarCum.

Anyone ever seen the the guy on NAIFC iceman show fishing with that dorky plastic 5 dollar fishing pole and yellow flat reel. That must mean thats the best combo out there

It has to be if he uses it!!!

[marine_man]

it didnt compete against the super fine line and the x4 zoom the lx5 has.

What range does the Humminbird zoom? is it a 10' window, regardless of depth, or something to that effect? I understand that it's adjustable, but how does it compare to Marcum's 5' or 10' (or 20' if you're deep enough) zoom range?

marine_man

[FISHINGURU]

from what i seen the hummingbirds adjustable zoom was huge and showed alot of the water column...that was just messing around with a buddies for an hour or so.

[marine_man]

Anyone else?

marine_man

[northernsportman]

Im not here to try to bash the humminbird, just stating what I observed when I used one. HB zoom I believe is only 2x. The zoom itself seemed like it moved more to only certain points, which sucked if the fish were coming in at the transition spot. The zoom itself looked like a magnifying glass. I didnt like the fact that the fish tripled in size with the zoom on, it was harder to see where the fish was exactly and when it was going to reach the lure.

Thats why i went with the LX5, the zoom shows more detail. It adusts in small enough increments that you can get it exactly to where you want it. When you turn on the zoom on the LX5 the super fine line comes on automatically so you dont get those "monster" lines, and you can actually tell when they are going to reach the lure and bite if they are active. One final note, I like how marcum shows the fish coming up in "real time". What I mean by this is when the fish is racing up it is one smooth motion. When I was trying the HB, when the fish would race up to the lure, it seemed like the line would stall every time it would move up, and it drove me crazy. Hope this makes sense and helps.

As for the zoom window on the HB, I cannot recall off hand.

[marine_man]

You answered my question northernsportman... thanks for the info / review!

marine_man

[CNY Tim]

Great opportunities for deals on remaining stock. Reeds has a hum dinger blowout sale going on LX-5's right now $299 plus shipping, contact Jeff by phone...