My opinion of the LX7

I received my LX7 last Thursday. Did the upgrade, which was a breeze to do. Got out Saturday to give it a try. Set it up 3 or 4 feet away from my Vexilar FL22HD. These are top of the line from Marcum and Vexilar, so I thought it should be a fair comparison.

Ths first thing that jumped out at me was what I always thought was missing from the Vexilar: a digital depth read-out in the center of the screen that reads no matter how the other features are set up. When you are looking for a particular depth, it is nice to be able to instantly know the depth without having to calculate on any scales.

The other feature that jumped right out was how quiet it was. Nothing spinning to make any noise. However, the Vexilar has always been fairly quiet and I never thought its noise was too noticeable. This tells me that digital is the wave of the future in flashers.

Both units worked flawlessly. I know some people had some issues before the upgrade, but I never ran it without the upgrade, so I can’t comment on that.

I do not believe that one unit showed any more fish better than the other. The larger Vexilar screen was a little easier for a gentleman of a certain age to read.

One place where I think Marcum has missed the mark is in ergonomics. If you carry it with the handle through the back, it has a tendency to tip forward. While hole-hopping, it is better to carry it with the inside strap, which balances it well. Trouble with this option is that when you set it down, the strap falls right across the screen you are trying to view. I realize this is a very minor issue, but I am trying to be honest. The Vexilar ultrapack unit, however, balances perfectly when picked up by the top handle.

Some people have complained about the battery connectors on the Marcum unit. Before going out, I tightened these up and did not have an issue with them.

To summarize, both units do an excellent job. No unit is ever such that it can’t be made better. I will say, in this case, more fish were caught with the Vexilar than with the Marcum, but that was due the fact that my daughter was running the Vexilar and she usually out-fishes me. If we had swapped units, she still would have out-fished me.

Other opinions may vary. Take mine for what it’s worth – if anything!

Ahhh another blue win.

I agree on the handle issue. I think IM going to mount mine on a genz pack. I have tried it on the one my fl22 is mounted to and it looks like it will fit well…..

I would have expected at least a picture.

Did you only use the flasher?? I didn’t see any mention graph and vertical modes in your report are…they’re pretty impressive….flasher to flasher, I’d probably lean Vex…over-all package….LX-7 hands down.

Vertical zoom is great, allows us to watch 4 lines at once and know what bait the fish is on, something no other flashers done for us in the past….That is almost 5′ of solid fish 2 deadsticked minnows at 39′ 2 4mm Fiskas in the school….

Nice honest review. You rarely see negative stuff posted about sponsor products from the cape wearers. That’s a lot of ching for a flasher, specially when an fl8 will get er dun.

In answer to a couple of the questions. Yes, I tried all the different screens. Most the time I ran it with the round dial and the vertical zoom or the two verticals. I saw no reason to clutter the screen with two full water column pictures. And to BK, What picture do you want? One of Hannah out fishing me again. That picture get burned into my head every time she goes with me.
Maybe I should leave her at home!

Quote:

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Maybe I should leave her at home!

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So you didn’t want a fish dinner then?

I thought a video would have been appropriate, but if not…at least a picture.

“Maybe I should leave her at home.”
Enjoy while you can Steve. One of these days she’ll start looking for somebody else to ‘out fish’.
Of course that person will have to have a Marcum. eh?