How long should lx 5 run on 1 charge? Does the lx 5 suck a lot more juice than my fl 18 because of the wattage difference? I can’t believe 12 hours is average. The battery is new this year. Besides I switch batterys back and forth between units and still only lasts 12 hours.
Are you going off what the battery meter shows or actual running time? Have you ran it until the lights start to flicker and then slowly disappear? On my LX-3, I can get a lot more time out of it than with my FL-8. I read somewhere that the life of the MarCum batteries will run up to 18 hours on a full charge 
I have run my LX-5 for a weekend during the day without trouble. I would guess I was close to 16 hours.
I went ice fishing on thursday night and some how i accidently forgot to turn off my lx-3 when i packed it up. It ended up staying on over night, witch would mean it must have been running from about 4 0’clock thursday, to about 3:30 on friday. it was all the way on 0% when i found it still running in the garage 
charged it for about 30 minutes while i got ready to go, went fishing and used it for about an hour on 0% charge. I guess mine has some seriously good life in it then huh?
fl-8 I had ran about 20hrs plus when I kept track of the time (1 yr old unit) the lx-5 has been running 12-15hrs 
(1 month ol unit) just my general observation 
Oh by the way the difference between the two units is amazing, but not helping in putting more fish on the ice, I caught just as many fish with my Vex as the Marcum no magic machine just alot of hype. 
I ran a vex for 3 years and never got anywhere close to 20 hours on the battery. I also now have a Marcum and it is way more machine than the vex. Running them close together, you can clearly see a difference. The MArcum is brighter, better seperation, quieter, and great adjustable zoom. I won’t say it is a magic machine, but the hype has proven itself to me and many others that it is truely a better machine
I paid $275 for my marcum lx-3, and I got an awesome, quiet, crisp, reliable machine, not to mention the zoom feature which can be very very helpful, especially when the schools are so big you can’t pick out your lure 
the bottom locking feature on a vex will do you know good when fishing crappies in 43 fow when they are only down 10-20 feet (actual experience from a week ago). I figure, hey i payed 25 dollars extra for something that is so much more than the vex fl-8. Really it was no biggie. yes, either unit will tell where the fish are, but i would rather pay a little extra and get those awesome features of the marcums, then wonder whether i should get the “ultra pack” or the “pro pack” when in reality, its the same unit anyway Im a marcum fan! 
I am not going to get into the Marcum Vs. Vexilar debate…
Battery life: I have had two full days (8 hours PLUS) on two of my lx-5’s while up at mille lacs. At the end of the second day, back at the motel, I let them both warm up before charging- One unit said %40 percent left, and the other said %50-
Quote:
I caught just as many fish with my Vex as the Marcum no magic machine just alot of hype.
Hey rcr- I will buy a fl-8 tonight, and trade you for your lx-5… 
rcr, no one is claiming the LX-5 will make you a better fisherman, it will however make a better fisherman out of you.
hey boys, 
not here to debate, just giving you my 2cents nobody says we have to agree
Amwatson, quick question was your Vex a SLT or SE FL-8
RCR, what people are trying to say is once you learn how to use all the new features, it will put more fish on the ice, it did again this weekend for my group.
If you use it like you do a Vexilar, you are not getting all the benefits the machine has to offer.
rcr-To tell you the truth, I can’t remember which one it was If I had to guess I would say the SE? It was the newest FL-8 at the time I bought it in 2001 if that helps any.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
