I thought I would share my thoughts on my new LX-9. I know a couple guys on here have them now, and hopefully a few others will jump in with their pros and cons as well. I’m not on the Ice Force, no pro-Staff relations to Marcum or any related subsidiaries. I simply don’t have a horse in the race.
It is not very often that something in the hunting or fishing industry comes along that inspires me. As many may know, I have had hummingbird 1197’s since the day they came out and have been a huge fan of the Side Imaging and Down Imaging technology. For the last couple years, I’ve dropped emails and various communications to Johnson Outdoors asking for more features incorporated into the 800 series and up for ice fishing. Apparently they didn’t listen. But, Marcum definitely stepped up to the plate in product development and put almost everything I wanted into the LX-9! (Kind of like the annoying Windows 7 commercials where everyone takes credit for the design)
When the box arrives, there is an awe factor. The 8” screen and the over-all mass looks sleek and awesome. Then reality sets in. Get that battery on charge, and go online to the Marcum website to read over the manual. That took a little searching on the website, so here is the link: http://marcumtech.com/~marcum/manuals It does pay to take some time to scroll through the menu options to get familiar with the layout. I went through everything once, and configured the screen before hitting the ice to how I thought I might like to see the layout. I’m glad I did as once I found fish, I found it was hard to keep taking the time to play with it.
WOW, the clarity is second to none. It is so incredibly easy to see the screen regardless of straight on or at an angle. (Thanks to a couple previous posts, I knew to take the snow shield off). The different color palettes including the grayscale are very crisp and clear.
The target separation is unlike any locator that I have used before. Within an hour of the first use of the unit, I could identify a Diamond jig at nearly the exact same level at a fish. Not distinguishing 3 or 4 inches, but rather the same level. This was proved when I incorporated the camera and watched crappies rise up to investigate a bait. As I observed them rise up with their mouth only an inch away, I was able to see the distinct red mark of the fish AND a light yellow line of my bait.
The control panel features the Power, Sensitivity, Range, Zoom, I.R., Cone Angle, Target Adjust, Menu, and Up/Down arrows as buttons below the bottom of the screen. As I got quite involved with making changes on the ice, I found they were convenient to have. They are larger in size and easy to press. But there are a number of things I would like to have different in a perfect unit for me. First, I would like them located near the top, instead of the bottom. We bend over a lot while ice fishing and if we could minimize that in any way, it would help an old guy like me.
Next, I would like a programmable buttons that could take you into particular menu sub options. Examples – Button “A” could be programmed to go to Menu-Display Options- Background. Button “B” could go Menu-View options. Everyone has their own personal preferences and I think this would serve well for many users.
My other suggestion involves the Menu. First and foremost, the menu is very easy to use/navigate through. Nearly every option is placed in a logical manor and is easy to find. Having Left/Right buttons in addition to up/down would increase the speed to access certain options, but is very minor. More of a pet peeve began to develop for me as I wanted to make multiple changes. I would navigate through and make a change, then would be all the way back out. Then it was pressing Menu,….and so on to make my change. I know it’s not realistic to compare to Hummingbird, but after using H/birds software menu, it’s hard not to. That is where I go back to thinking how helpful it would be to have programmable buttons. Many of the deeper menu items most likely will not be accessed on a regular basis on a single outing. But having the few things that we may change frequently would be a huge convenience.
I am in no way knocking the technology that Marcum is producing. In just a couple outings, I see it is already having an impact on my fishing. I’m merely looking at what cosmetic changes would make my life easier.
Transducer – A question came up on sensitivity changes when the transducer is near the top of the hole or below the ice. During these first few opportunities to run it, I have found zero difference. I’ve ran it about 1” down, about 6-8” down, and below the bottom of the ice. Other than the depth change as the transducer placement was different, all the detail remained the same.
Someone also had posted in the forum about how loud the clicking is in the transducer. TRUE! But once it’s a foot down the hole, to me it is a non-issue. In fact, when I turned my Vexilar FL-8 on, it was an annoying reminder on how loud the mechanical flasher is.
As I was hole hopping a few more things came to light. I did discover the transducer placement had a negative affect when touching the ice on the side of the hole. If my unit slide back from the hole and the transducer was against the ice, detail – including my jig and fish would disappear. Simply extending the arm out more so the transducer was suspended away from the ice was an easy cure.
The second thing I learned from hole hopping was the time it takes for the digital unit to display the bottom and associated detail in Auto or Dynamic mode. Coming from the mechanical flashers, I was conditioned for near immediate identification of the bottom and sometimes a minor adjustment of sensitivity or moving the transducer to get better return on a flasher. When the LX-9 was removed from a hole in one of the auto modes, it displayed a random depth or zero. However when you put the transducer in the next hole, it took to about 5 seconds for the bottom to display. Clearly the exceptional detail offsets the time, but when you’re in a hurry chasing suspended fish, I found it a bit annoying. The manual settings did a much better job and achieved my expectations with a very minimal amount of time.
The final thing that I wanted to share on hole hopping is the case and balance. The LX-9 weighs considerable more than most – to be expected with a unit of this size. Personally that didn’t matter and I had that expectation before purchasing. I did disconnect the manta camera and pouch from the main case to lighten the load. Fortunately, someone had told me prior about their LX-9 falling out or almost falling when they picked it up by the handle. Without the camera, the first time I grabbed it by the handle, the unit flipped forward onto my feet. Fortunately, I was half prepared for this and a huge disaster was avoided. But the plastic bracket slid right out of the case. For a while, I held the bottom front as I lifted by the handle and moved hole to hole. Later in the day, I snapped the camera pouch back on, and the case was better balanced for hole hopping – though I was carrying more weight than what I wanted to. I think a good solution to this would be adding a pair of Velcro loops from the rear of the case and through the plastic inner frame. That way if the unit flips forward, it can’t slide out and virtually could be hung up-side-down.
Battery sizing – The LX-9 comes with a 9 amp hour battery. I think that is sufficient for most day trips that we usually do. The manual stated the battery is shipped fully charged. I may have gotten one that slipped through which is no big deal to me. After 11 hours on the charger, it was ready to go. I tested the battery with my digital tester and it read 13.1 volts. The LX-9 voltammeter read 12.9V. Each outing now has averaged about 7 hours. That combines continual use of the sonar and about 1 to 1.5 hours of camera use. At the end of the day, the LX-9 voltammeter displayed 11.4V and my tester shown 11.5V. My opinion is the LX-9 display is accurate enough for any fishing application and gives a fair representation of the battery status. The manual reads “If the voltage drops below 11 volts, you may see a decrease in performance.” I don’t know what the minimal voltage to operate is, but I suspect at about 10.6V the unit may shut down like other electronics that I use. If I was planning on fishing for greater than 10 hours or more use on the camera, I would consider having a second battery with.
The inner plastic frame has a molded spot specific for the dimensions of the 9ah battery. For as much as I have carried this unit around now, I’m confident the battery isn’t going anywhere. I did try to fit one of my 12 ah batteries in, and that just wasn’t going to work. It is about 1” wider and without sitting down into the provided molded space, it was too tall to fit beneath the handle. Again, not a big deal and only a consideration for myself, as I tend to put in some long days and already had the larger batteries. Easy fix to sell these batteries and pick up additional 9ah.
Camera – See Holst’s post under the Lake MI whitefish for a great video. I previously owned the 625sd and was extremely pleased with the quality. So far, I see nothing that would lead me to believe that there is any less quality. Had my 625sd included a built in DVR, I would have never sold it. The DVR function is specifically one of the reasons I traded up for the LX-9. I have about 3 hours recorded so far and finally had a chance to play with the video for a while. I was in much more fertile water than what James was in up at Door County, so I have less field of view (limited only by the water clarity – not the camera). The micro SD is a bit challenging for my fat fingers and a tweezers is a great idea suggested by another IDO member. At this point, I’ll accept the extra minute or two to get it in the slot for just having the technology. It’s one of those things where having the ability does greatly outweigh the effort.
There’s more I could ramble on with about how great this unit is. But I’m already getting cramped fingers from typing… Seriously if you get an opportunity to check out this digital technology, it’s worth the time to stare at it. I faced upgrading because my Vexilars were aging and I knew it was just a matter of time before I was forced to jump into something. So, I embraced the new technology and took a gamble………and hit the jackpot!
I’ll have mine at the Onalaska GTG for anyone interested in seeing it on the ice
January 29, 2013 at 2:25 am
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