Fish finder.. Lowrance x-3, My 1st.

[Ahrenv]

Hey IceShanty peoples.

I just got a lowrance x-3. its not new, seems that everything is there. i hooked it up to a power supply, and downloaded the manual, not i am just trying to figure out how to make a box, and how to make this thing work...

I have been fishing a long time with out one, and i am pretty excited. I know its old technology, but its not as old as hopping holes wondering if there is any fish around me.

The plus side, if i cant get it to work for ice fishing, i can always put it on the flat bottom.

power supply is a energizer Xpal xp18000, i wired to the 9dc-12v side. I am thinking this should run for a long time on one charge. My wife brought this home a couple of months back and said it didnt work... it was just the charging port prong that was bent... soooo... booom... fixed.

I am hoping to make this unit as small as possible, but i dont think its going to be as small as a marcum troller.

Any suggestions for set up or for how to use correctly? If you have any please let me know

[au·ger]

This is from the early eighties and you will be surpised it has a full screen "showdown" like feature with zoom called fastrack. When you turn on the unit remember the depth it gives you, for example 30 feet.
Next push the button labeled "2nd"
Next push number 7 "fastrack" button
Next push upper limit button and put in depth of "0"
Next push lower limit and put in depth of "31"
Now drop lure and adjust your sensitivity, you will see the whole water column from 0-30 feet with your jig and fish exactley like a showdown. If you are only jigging near the bottom you can set your upper limit to "20" and you will only see the 20-30 foot column on your screen.  The jig will show up as a line like on a showdown and fish will as well just thicker. I think you as well as others will be quite surprised

[au·ger]

I forgot to mention, I put it on a 3 gallon bucket attached to the lid, everything fit in it nice.  I think the guy I gave it to upgraded to a showdown because outside of a shanty the LCD would slowdown in real cold weather

[Ahrenv]

you have no idea how helpful those directions are.... i took this out on satureday and no idea what i was looking at. Plus side my battery had a usb output so now i can watch my navionics  and use this at the same time... thanks for the help. here it is in the bag. small and light!

[au·ger]

Looks good, one thing keep your transducer below the bottom of the ice and level.  I had to have a rod taped to the wire for it to hang level