The future of mechanical Marcums sonar…

I fished with my buddys LX-7 all weekend up at Red Lake and I loved the thing, told him I may need to put in a offer on it…It was weird going back to my LX-5…

I will be making the move to digital next year I hope. If not, then the following year. Saving pennies now, would like an lx6 but won’t count out a lx7 if the price is right when I’m ready to buy.

I fish an fl-20, recently bought an Fl-8 slt for a hundo on CL for the kids to use. With that being said, I love the fl-20, no issues ever with it, not one. Works great every time, always dependable. I have an itch to get an lx7, I’d buy one before I bought an fl28. Am I brand loyal…to a certain extent, but I’m not paying full tilt for new or old technology either. There are two main reasons I am hesitant to buy an lx7. Reason 1)LCD screens have a life span. Eventually the LCD screens in the digital units will fail, and/or develop dead pixels. Does cold affect their lifespan? Too new to tell and that is the primary reason I am waiting. Because this is an unknown at this point, IMO mechanical flashers will still be around in 10+ years because they have longevity. 2) Every forum site I visit has numerous posts about lx 6,7,9 issues. I understand the first year or two there are bugs to fix, but it seems ongoing: batteries overheating, chargers not working, software glitches, new firmware, etc etc. Not saying they are bad units, afterall Marcum is the only company that has digital units so they are the only one to pick on! I am going to wait just a bit longer to discern the longevity of the digital units. The advantage to Marcum is huge because when (if) Vexilar introduces a digital unit, it may be plagued with issues as well, and by then Marcum will have their issues sorted out and be known as the reliable product. I think what will keep mechanical flashers around is the lower price & a stable, trusted platform.

P.S. There was a good crappie bite in the Faribault area this weekend. Here’s one of many the kids put on the ice.

The units have a heating mode, for the screens Your totally right… remember when people never had a problem with a window that wouldn’t go down in their cars in the 70’s ? Now with power windows, regualtors go out, motors go out, switches go out… but you’d be hard pressed to find a new vehicle with manual windows anymore… most have to be special ordered at MORE cost than the power option Digital will run it’s course like everything else… for those who want the mechanicals, I suggest in a few years, the market will be flooded with used units cheap and as they break/wear out and parts are no longer available, they will be antiques too

There is no doubt digital is the better technology for both performance and reliability. In time, digital is the only way that flashers will be offered.

That being said,today you can buy TWO baseline mechanical flashers for the price of a baseline digital flasher.

Until the price point between these two technologies becomes more comparable (this will happen sooner than later,there will always be a large market for mechanical flashers.

My LX9 is the best deal on the block. I am using it for ice fishing and love the digital graph next to the verticle zoom. Camera is nice mostly for scouting structure. This unit will see open water use both as a graph and camera. How many use mechanical flashers on the open water during summer? The size is mostly dependent on the desired screen size, and weight comes from the battery. Go to lithium and save a few pounds. Camera detatches in seconds with no tools and has its own pouch. Just my 2 cents. Bottom line is use whatever makes YOUR fishing experience the best.

I’m mentoring a 13 yr. old neighbor kid and taught him how to use my Ice-35. That leaves me either my Ice Troller with the Performance Pack or my LX-6. The Ice-35 will show the lure and fish if they are in the cone one foot beneath the transducer. Both of the digital units are dead for the first three feet. Nothing visible until 3′. Yesterday we were in 3.7′ of water. That meant I had a useable range of 8.4″ from the bottom until I lost my lure. I am not impressed. I gave away my spare Ice-35 last Winter, I wish I still had it. When I go fish some deeper water I’m sure I’ll like my LX-6 too.

Duke

Duke I don’t know what your doing wrong but I’ve been fishing in 4.5′ of water lately and have no problems. I put the transducer so its just in the water and run the unit in 8 degree mode. It’s says I only have 8.5″ of footprint but that doesn’t matter to me. I’ve been marking those Gills all the way up to 1.5′. Maybe try that and if they’re shallower than that sight fish em !!

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I wish the new digital units came in a more compact package. I have no complaints about my LX5 and therefore I can’t justify a switch.

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Ditto. I used my stepsons LX6 and really liked it, REALLY liked it! But not enough to justify moving on up for me.

I’m not so sure. Yes, carb vs direct inject but it’s still 150 year old reciprocating piston engine technology. Vexilar’s are surprisingly simple……. a motor with a disc, minimal LED’s, rotary switches, and a very established reliability. 90% of ice fishing fishfinder needs are also simple….mark the bottom, your lure, and fish. The rest is bells and whistles, yep zoom is nice, and ability to filter out colors, you still want to see that fish shoot up from the bottom and hit your lure. My FL28 has some features that are nice but the fundamental function is the same as my previous FL20 and FL18. Marcum is a nice machine and maybe the younger generation will demand their technology of all digital. In the meantime my 30+ year old Micronar FL8 continues to provide my friend with the basic needs without missing a beat. Besides in the grand scheme of the entire electronics market, the ice fishing electronics is fairly limited, especially for higher end bells and whistles. I’m one of those guys who have the latest but honestly, I like Vex’s simplicity for ice fishing as all ice electronics are basically stationary units. My boat electronics, a totally different animal.

On the Vex side I don’t think you will see some of the older legacy models go away very soon. Units sold is still a good predictor of what will remain in the lineup. FL18 is by far the highest sales numbers, showing consumers still prefer a good balance of technology, reliability, and an attractive price.

I suspect the same for the Marcum LX5.

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With all that in part that been said so far, can some of the mechanical users chime in? Even the competition?

What makes one stay with a mechanical flasher, or convert over and then and go back? What did you not like about the digital sonars? And would you go back to a digital sonar if the performance and features improved in the future?

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I stay with mine cause they all work the same! The differences in each is so minute that it ain’t worth spending all kinds of money to upgrade. However, when the couple I have [censored] the bed, I will replace them with whatever is the best one on the market at the time it happens.

Vex user here. I’d say that Mechanical Flashers will be around for at least 10+ yrs if not 15+. Why dependability/relaibablity. With a Vex for example when you reach down to turn the power knob on “Click” it always turns on, you get the familer noisy mech flasher sound but its a noise we’ve come to trust. Adjust the gain a little and your good to go, Simple. If it doesn’t turn on, 99% time your battery is toast, a new $20 battery and your back in business.

I hate to say it but by Vex keeping their flashers pretty much the same look and operation, it is a good marketing decision. Most of us here have cut our teeth on a FL8 and we built confidence in them. When Vex actually hits the digital scene if they can keep the standard Vex layout and knobs it’ll be a success.

I’m not against digital but am against software updates to fix glitches that should have been ironed out before it hit the market. No excuses. I’ve been through the software excuses and am tried of it. Costs me downtime and money when you have to send a product in repeatedly to the manufactur because the update, restore, etc. didn’t fix the problem. The industry in general has a long way to go in quality control in software design to roll out of product to consumer.
Yes Andy I’ve noticed the same some folks have reverted from LX7/9 to mech flashers but don’t know why.
Bottom line for me is dependability, I just need to know bottom content, fish and jig location.

People keep talking about the LX-7 price, Reeds had them on sale at roughly the same price ($549) as an FL-28 or FL-22 Pro Pack.

Yes the digital systems have had issues but at least most of them are easily fixed with a firmware update. Would you rather send your unit it or flash the firmware?

I have 2 mechcanical flashers and will at some point make the jump to digital. I have read a lot of threads on a bunch of websites and there are not that many problems posted for the number of units that were sold.

Mechanical flashers also have issue with transducers, chargers, brushes wearing out, etc, the reason you don’t see as many posts is because people know what to do to get them fixed and know how to use them.

There is always a learning curve to anything new, did you know how to use a computer right away, but you did know how to use a typewriter?