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Well… I know that I am in the same boat as this Marcum owner. I said it before, and I’ll say it again, I THINK THAT VEXILAR MAKES A BETTER PRODUCT. Why is the problem with transducers so common? Why am I reading problems with the batteries charging? Even the people who like Marcums seem to have the same story themselves. Vexilars are made in Japan, I guess I get it. Buy American, right? I guess. Seems to me that maybe America doesn’t make the best product anymore? Did I just say that? I guess when it comes down to it, 50 years is a long time to perfect something, Vexilar has. Marcum will, and when they do I’ll probably own one. And as far as made in America is concerned, would you rather have a Toyota Camry or a Chevy Aveo? But, to each his own… 
Steve
Honestly, I like it when people post here on IDO about having issues with products. As long as they’re looking for a resolution and not just looking for an outlet to bash. The notion that a manufacturer out there is making a “perfect” product that never fails is unrealistic. All brands fail. And when they do I want to help as many of our staff do. I think people have picked up on that and that’s why many come here when the service lines are closed for the weekend of they have an “after hours” issue.
That said, people need to take things in context…. IDO is THE PLACE where people come for advice on MarCum products and the membership here seems to overwhelmingly find MarCum to be the product of choice for one reason or another.
Whether we set out to fill the role or not, IDO has become the place where people come for online help with MarCum products due to our product knowledge and willingness to assist with resolutions when and where appropriate. It should not be surprising that MarCum owners turn to the IDO forums as a source of info when a problem arises. For that reason you’re likely to see a few more “problem” threads here than elsewhere. But does that mean a brand is having more issues than another? Not hardly.
IDO has thousands of threads in index with google covering all manner of MarCum topics and our membership overwhelmingly owns MarCum products. I actually find it a full blown amazement that we read about as few issues as we do with so many marcum products in use by a membership that is welcomed to share their findings regarding the product line regardless if they be positive or negative.
You read a handful of threads in the week or two leading up the kick off to another ice season about bad batteries (truth be told they were a mix of flashers with issues) and a couple transducers gone bad (again, both MarCum and Vex ‘ducers this past week) and deduce that American made products have gone to heck? You’re making enormous generalizations on a site with a massive viewership based on what? 2 threads? 4 threads? 6 threads? What about the thousands of positive threads that cite the performance, value and customer service experienced by MarCum owners? You seem to discount those and focus on nothing but the negatives. Why? Does that seem fair or somehow logical to you?
I’ve worked two sports show this winter so far and I’ve had the opportunity to talk to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of flasher owners running all three major brands. If you think your brand of choice is free from issues… let’s just say you’re a little off target. Actually you’re aim isn’t even on the paper. Reliability was the #2 reason behind performance issues for a current owner of another brand making the switch to a MarCum. And at the last show I worked MarCum outsold the other guys at over 15:1, combined. Problem free? I think not. Not even close.
So maybe you can understand why I see things completely differently… thousands of active members owning thousands of MarCum products and in a winter it is a stretch to read about more than a couple issues of any kind outside of bad batteries (almost universally caused by improper charging/storage) and replacement transducer on units often 3, 4 or more years old, all of which are promptly taken care of by MarCum service department. That to me is a sign of an incredibly reliable product backed by customer service that sets the standard all companies should hope to achieve.
On a side note… The fact that you read about MarCum issues here on IDO has a great deal to do with the fact that we don’t censor posts like other sites. If someone is having an issue with a MarCum, we want to help. And we can’t do that if a post about a problem gets deleted a few seconds after it is posted like is so common elsewhere. Let’s be honest… most sites paint a very skewed view of products produced by their sponsors through relentless censorship. IDO doesn’t do that and never will. What you read here is an open exchange and even you must admit that the vast majority are overwhelmingly favorable. If you can’t admit that…. you’re not being honest or you haven’t been paying attention.
Sounds like you are having a string of bad luck 
Like said, it happens, with everything. 
I can honestly say I had one incident with the LX-5 where I had an issue after a long, abusive 100+ mile ATV Canada Laker trip…that poor flasher was so abused it started screaming at me (the internals were out of balance). MarCum fixed it in no time flat.
