SAD DAY ... Marcum LX-9 kicked the bucket!

[lunkerslayer]

I agree with you on the software part
I see you live in PA dkfry what kind of units you run on those all season boats in PA?
 I like simple things which is why I can't see spending 1200 dollars on a unit which is used to find fish through a 10 inch hole. I own vexilar fl18 flx28  units and have humminbird 998c on the boat which is all I need. When a product last for years without issues I will continue to buy from that company. So far so good
But like I said before as long as Marcum stands by their products I see nothing wrong with purchasing a quality unit that will last for years maybe be able to pass it down to the next kin.

[dkfry]

Eagle, Humminbird and Vexilar on boats currently. Use mostly Lowrance and Eagle over the years but Eagle is gone now so no more of them. Always had a soft spot for Eagle and Lowrance, even going back to the paper graphs. Have an Edge2 on my one boat that is over 10 years old that is getting replaced next year. Time to go with something with GPS and I think I have a ducer that is a little iffy. Only have 2 flashers which mostly only see hardwater, though they make a good portable.

Frankly the prices are getting out of control for a lot of marine electronics IMO. I see Lowrance has a 16" unit out now which is $5500 fully loaded, ridiculous for what it is IMO. Many are using the cheapest asian components they can get. I can see spending a few grand on a unit if you you are putting it a pilot house or along those lines but for my use I don't trust dropping that much. Even if it survives the conditions it may not survive someones sticky fingers.

[gman51]

Again my boat electronics see the same temperature extremes.(I don't park my stuff when it starts getting close to freezing) Even worse they sit out for a week or more at a time in the rain, humidity, temp changes, screen fog ups etc all with intermittently getting hammered when running the boat. And my one boat gets both freshwater and saltwater use. Then add in that softwater electronics most often see more use per season by a large margin. Sorry nobody is going to tell me ice electronics have it any worse off than softwater electronics, especially in my case. This isn't my first rodeo with electronics both residential and industrial and I sure didn't just fall of a turnip truck either. Regardless the affects on hardware still doesn't account for all the software issues that one manufacturer seems to have the most problems with. If you can't get hardware to last at least have the software be right. Struck out on both accounts I am afraid.

.   Interesting but Just another opinion .  your winter temps or even cold boating temperatures in PA shouldn’t be compared to other extreme colder parts of the ice fishing belt.

[cstolp]

I’ve used both the vexilars and marcum... I know for certain which one has been the lest problematic..

Ok spill?