lowrance vs. Marcum

I am looking into getting a new flasher. I have a hummingbird ice 55 now and would like to get another unit and am looking at either the Marcum LX-6 or 7 or the Lowrance elite series. I like the way the Lowrance is set up and I would be able to also set it up in the boat as well. I am not too familiar with the new Marcum’s. Does anyone have any personal experience with these units or does anyone have any opinions?

Any help would be appreciated

I have lx7 and lowrance hds5 both on the ice this year. Still dialing in my lowrance but it worked well yesterday. The lx7 is great also. GPS is nice on the lowrance. You have graph mode and flasher mode in both units and have many options on at once. The lowrance comes in a pack and I believe comes with suction cup for boat.

marcum LX7 no questions asked in my opinion. i really enjoy my Marcum LX7. i have one friend that upgraded his to LX9 when he had the money to do so, thats a big bonus is marcum will upgrade your 7 to the 9 if you want for like $400 something dollars. also the availability of upgrading the marcum is great. i have used many flashers and i too went from the ice 55 to a lx7. i wasnt much of a fan of the lowrance ice machine when i used one. but like all other flashers it comes down to what one will fit you the best and your needs. i use mine all winter and as the graph on the front of the boat it has more than paid itself off for me.

$15 navionics app on your phone solves the gps issue. A simple flasher is all that’s needed after that. Unless you WANT a unit for the boat I would get a simple vx1 pro since you already have a 55. Remember if you fish with others using Vex they will hate you if you use a marcum, but the hummingbird uses its own frequency’s preventing that issue.

That is never an issue between marcum and vex. I’ve fished by fl12 , fl22 and fl18 no issues with interference. Also run my lowrance by my marcum no issues.

It’s 2 vex by each other most often that one usually can’t clear all of it up.

$15 navionics app on your phone solves the gps issue.

Only until your out of range from service

I had a 334 (older version of what became a HDS 5) that I used on ice for years, sold it with the boat and now have an LX-7.

Lowrance:
Pros: Easy to use, GPS, ice pack fits in a bucket, easy to use on boat in summer
Cons: Target separation is 2 inches, so things can get a bit blobby, interference rejection

LX-7:
Pros: Great target separation, great battery life, great screen
Cons: interface is clunky, big and heavy, not compatible with MinnKota Universal Sonar

Both are great ice units. Overall, if the Lowrance had better target separation and IR rejection I would take that over the Marcum in a heartbeat.

The Marcum is a specialized ice machine with the nice transducer, IR rejection and .25″ target separation. You can tell that Marcum is new to the whole user interface/experience thing as it is a clunky machine to operate and there are some really weird design choices that were made that make it confusing to use (if you have the vertical zoom and depth, the scale doesnt line up etc).

let me know if you have other questions.

I love my Lowrance Elite 5, once you dial it in you’ll love it. I don’t use the ice fishing mode. I just leave it on open water mode and use the split flasher. Battery life is great and the GPS always comes in handy. Only con I’ve found is when you’re over 100 feet of water you’ll have to adjust the depth range or else it’s hard to see a small jig.

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Don’t forget the bird 788 series. Put that on a genz box. GPS & whatever else you want depending on the series you buy

Thank you all for the helpful information. I ordered the Elite 5 Chirp Ice Machine from Cabelas. Hopefully this cold weather sticks and I will be able to get it out soon.

I think there may be a rebate on lowrance website check into it! You will love that unit!

hamms wrote:

I think there may be a rebate on lowrance website check into it! You will love that unit!

Yep, $100 rebate http://www.cabelas.com/assets/pdfs/lowrance_ice_machine_rebate_2-28-15.pdf

I printed the rebate as well. Thank you!