Marcum LX-5 Review

[Icepuppy]

Ice troller, post it in a new post dude, this post is old. 

[fishngameguy2]

LX5 rocks the rest!!!

[fish to live]

how dose lx 5 work next to a vexlar 20 will it drowned one or the other.. or is the rejection take care of that?

[slipperybob]

how dose lx 5 work next to a vexlar 20 will it drowned one or the other.. or is the rejection take care of that?

Just play with the interference rejection.

[esox_magnum]

Been running them side by side for 2-3 years now, not often theres an issue but once in awhile the Vex won't be able to 100% clear.

[Phish on]

how dose lx 5 work next to a vexlar 20 will it drowned one or the other.. or is the rejection take care of that?

They will work fine together.   

[carcus]

I have a fl20 and just got a LX3tc, they work fine together, even 3feet apart, just some IR adjustments and you can clear up any interference, not like two hummingbirds, wow these thing don't like each other, wicked interference, but no interference from the marcum or the vex

[eriksat1]

On my LX-5 I have the hardest time with interference from the Showdown 5.6 my buddy uses, I get most of it to go away with the IR, but sometimes not all of it.

[mealworm]

On my LX-5 I have the hardest time with interference from the Showdown 5.6 my buddy uses, I get most of it to go away with the IR, but sometimes not all of it.

try using the NBT button witch narrows the beam, usually takes care of any x-tra interference

[jpicks]

going to buy a new marcum this winter.  Just trying to decide between the 3 and the 5.  I don't really have any areas around here where the narrow cone will come in really handy, so deciding if the extra $100 is worth it. Thoughts?

[TType86]

I think the extra 100$ is worth it because of the super fine line. Seperation is amazing in sfl. And helps to fine tune your jig to a very thin line without flickering out all the time. Thats why I love it. I personally dont want to look at my tiny jig as a thick red mark on the screen, especially when trying to distinguish how close a fish is to my jig.

[Known1]

The LX-5 can be had for a fair price at Fleet Farm, which happens to be a sponsor of this site.  I am not going to post the price, but if you look for it you'll find it.  Unfortunately this sale forced me to drive to two stores last weekend to find one in stock.  I had it out for its first very long use this weekend.  I am very pleased with its performance and highly recommend the new model. 

It is unfortunate that I have learned first hand that Versa Electronics has made the business decision to put 5,000 marred flasher dispay covers (or whatever it is called) into production.  Just put your new LX-5 into simulation mode and you too will see the minor mar near the 8' line as the fish strikes the bait/lour.  Even with the mar I am very pleased with my purchase.  I also recommend you get on it now if you want a new one that you can still use this season!   

[jpicks]

what "minor mar" are you talking about?  I put my new lx-5 into demo mode and nothing seems out of the ordinary to me.  Or maybe I'm missing something?

[Known1]

Did you just buy yours in the last week or so?  I got mine from Fleet Farm on Sunday the 15th.  I drove down to Versa Electronics and spoke with Chris about it.  He said there are a bunch just like mine in the production line that they are not intending to pull out.  He also said that the customer complaint rate is so low that it doesn't make sense for them to perform a recall. 

I thought this explanation was a bit odd, but it is what it is basically.  I wonder how I could go about getting one without the mar as nobody was home on the production floor when I stopped by Monday the 16th at 3:30pm.  I would usually just exchange it, but after talking with Chris I was left with the impression that all of the new units have this problem.  I am anxious to hear if anyone else has the same issue or not.

The mar can be seen as the fish swims up to get the bait/jig in simulation mode.  It appears on the clear portion of the flasher dispay right before the fish hits the bait at around 8 feet.

[jpicks]

I got mine in November. I don't think I saw anything on mine.  Does yours look like a blip on the screen, or a scratch in the lens or what?  Can you take a picture of it? I'm kinda interested in seeing what you're trying to explain.

[Known1]

I'll try taking some pictures of it later this week.  I'm not sure how well the mar is going to show, but I'll give it a shot. 

On a side note, I had to call Marcum today about the fact that my charger never goes green.  I fished with my LX-5 for about 14 hours.  After leaving my 9amp battery on the charger for more than 24 hours the charger light didn't go green.  Chris from Marcum stated that the charger I have will work, but will never turn green to indicate a full charge.  Marcum is going to send me a new charger and told me I can keep the one that shipped with my LX-5 as a backup.  More than likely I'll just throw the original charger away because I do not trust it.  I would hate to ruin my new battery by over charging it!

[jpicks]

Will never turn green? Sounds a little suspect to me. I have 2 of those chargers (flasher and camera), and they both turn green. 

As for charging times though, I've put in solid 10 hour days on the ice with the flasher going non-stop.  When I get home, I let the battery warm up to room temp, and it usually takes overnight and a bit into the next day to turn green (It's green when I get home from work). 

[TType86]

I know what known1 is talking about! Mine too has the "marred" screen. Its noticable. The first one I ordered had this and the base was broken also, as well as the battery was bad and wouldnt take a charge. Marcum sent me a whole new unit! The 2nd one had scratches also so I complained again and had them send me a new one again! The 3rd one was worse than all 3 of the units and was actually very blurry all over with MAJOR scratches and grainy plastic! Id compare it to trying to see through scratched up lexan! It was pretty bad and its beyond me how it made its way to my door!!! I sent that one back and kept my 2nd one. I believe its a problem in the mold of the clear plastic screen piece. Some are worse than others. The only scratch I really notice during use is one around the 12ft area. Its pretty bad there. What made me mad was that I explained this to marcum and they sent me one that was even worse!!! All in all it marks fish and I enjoy using it.

[markrazzy]

I bought mine 25 months ago... used it a ton.  However, last winter I noticed that sometimes, the bottom (and my jig and any fish I was marking) would bounce a couple feet slowly up and down.  Also, seemed to have a deadspot around 7-9 feet that my jig would fade into a real faint color, and any fish that I would mark would be faint or non-existant.  Sent it in this past summer (just sucked it up during the winter since I didn't want to waste any fishing time) and they fixed it... until I noticed a couple weeks ago, the dead spot was back around 15-18 feet.  So when I'm fishing 15-19 feet of water, I needed to turn the unit to 40 feet, so it was all on the right side.  Also interfered with using the zoom function.  Since it's the wife's b-day this weekend, I figured I wouldn't be getting out, so I contacted Chris and sent it in today (express over night shipping!) and hopefully I'll have it back early next week.  We'll see.  Not real happy about the issues I've had, but the unit does work well!

[ZeroGravity]

I have nothing to comare my Marcum LX-5 against because it is my first flasher which I purchased in December 2011.  I do find it easy to use and take care of for the most part.  I love the zoom feature that allows me to adjust the 5' or 10' zoom window to anywhere in the water column.  Battery last all day and easily recharges overnight.  One of the connectors to the battery is loose and comes off all of the time, but I should be able to fix with a pair of pliers.

I have ice fished since 1988, and this is my first year with a flasher so I have a good idea what I am doing on the ice, just new to focusing so much energy on jigging and looking at a dial....

I called Marcum customer support to ask about some additional option they sell to store and transport the LX-5.  They told me that they have nothing....  I was told that most get a square kitty litter bucket, which I did and seems to work okay....

I found the pricing of the Marcum much more reasonable than the Vex.  Incentives from Cabela's and Marcum mail in rebate made it an even better deal....

At this point I am pleased with my purchase and I think it is a great tool to help you improve the limited time you have on the ice...

Have a great day!

  - ZG -

[eyestroker]

Hey ZG-  if your looking for a hard case they have them at Fleetfarm.      http://www.fleetfarm.com/catalog/product_detail/fishing/ice-fishing/fish-finders-underwater-cameras/marcum-ice-flasher-hard-case

[ZeroGravity]

Hey ZG-  if your looking for a hard case they have them at Fleetfarm.      http://www.fleetfarm.com/catalog/product_detail/fishing/ice-fishing/fish-finders-underwater-cameras/marcum-ice-flasher-hard-case

eyestroker;

Thanks for pointing me in this direction...  Do you have one and use it?

  - ZG -

[eyestroker]

No,  actually just sold my lx-3tc.  Just had seen it while scouring the internet for sonars

[Granbysbia]

I bought mine 25 months ago... used it a ton.  However, last winter I noticed that sometimes, the bottom (and my jig and any fish I was marking) would bounce a couple feet slowly up and down.  Also, seemed to have a deadspot around 7-9 feet that my jig would fade into a real faint color, and any fish that I would mark would be faint or non-existant.  Sent it in this past summer (just sucked it up during the winter since I didn't want to waste any fishing time) and they fixed it... until I noticed a couple weeks ago, the dead spot was back around 15-18 feet.  So when I'm fishing 15-19 feet of water, I needed to turn the unit to 40 feet, so it was all on the right side.  Also interfered with using the zoom function.  Since it's the wife's b-day this weekend, I figured I wouldn't be getting out, so I contacted Chris and sent it in today (express over night shipping!) and hopefully I'll have it back early next week.  We'll see.  Not real happy about the issues I've had, but the unit does work well!

howdy....did you get it back and was it fixed? mine was doing the same but i was going to wait until after ice off. last 2 times mine has been doing better, just wondering what they might of told you.....Thanks

[eyestroker]

My lx-3 had the same issue in my first season.  Called chris and he said they had a bad batch of parts that went into some units.  Got an RMA and sent it in for a free repair.  Still had to pay to ship it which sucked but what r ya gonna do.  So this is a known problem and if your out of warranty I would ask that they fix it for free because it is known.......

[Granbysbia]

My lx-3 had the same issue in my first season.  Called chris and he said they had a bad batch of parts that went into some units.  Got an RMA and sent it in for a free repair.  Still had to pay to ship it which sucked but what r ya gonna do.  So this is a known problem and if your out of warranty I would ask that they fix it for free because it is known.......

thanks, i will tell them that for sure when i send it in, cuz its out of warranty

[markrazzy]

So I got it back within 6 days (overnight shipping there saved a couple days, but costed an extra $20).  They gave me a new transducer, unfortunately, this did not fix the problem.  Noticed it again, but had a trip set up last week, so waited until Monday to call them.  Still had deadspots around 15-19 feet which made it really hard to see jig or if fish would come in.  They were very understanding and said that they would "make sure it's fixed" this time.  I know this would piss a lot of people off, but I'm just happy I'm getting all this work done out of warranty.  I couldn't make it out this week anyways, so I overnighted it again (another extra $20...).  I'm hoping I get it back today, since I know they had it Tuesday by Noon, so I can get out this weekend.  I'll let you know if it's fixed.  Better be this time.  I won't be so nice if it's not. 

[markrazzy]

Update.  Sent it back in last Monday (overnight), got it back on Friday.  Took it out this weekend, Sat and Sun.  Worked great.  Finally got it fixed, it's hard to read the writing of what they replaced, but it's working great now.  Nice to be able to use the zoom feature and to see the whole water column when fishing 15-18 feet of water.  Was a hassle, obviously, but great customer service to fix a unit that is technically out of warranty (by a few months).

[ASATMillerbluegill]

Upgraded from a 15 yr old FL8 to the Marcum LX5 this season. Love the LX5. The super fine line option and zooming in on any part of the water column is sweet. I have def caught more fish because of the LX5.

[hamms]

Bought my lx5 this week after owning vex for years. I love the options and separation is awesome! Wish I had switched long ago. SFL is great. Having all control in gain switch and no low power mode to deal with is nice. Used it in 6 ft of water with weeds today worked perfect. Hands down best unit I have used.