Marcum RT-9

Has anyone else seen this video?

Intrigued but pricing is going to be out of this world.
It looks slick as heck with transitioning from atv/sled to fishing and how you can add the modules you want. Imo the tablet itself needs to be half that price of not lower.
Rt9 unit $1200 no transducer
Ice ducer $350
Ice pack $150
Camera module $550
Pretty steep IMO.
I’m sure people will be excited they can play Pokemon go on their fishing electronics so that has to be worth something.

CaptainMusky wrote:

be excited they can play Pokemon go on their fishing electronics so that has to be worth something.

Got a little Melania Trump in ya? Just kidding.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
be excited they can play Pokemon go on their fishing electronics so that has to be worth something.

Got a little Melania Trump in ya? Just kidding.

no but I bet she would like some of me…nevermind lol

Say what you want about cost, Marcum keeps pushing the technology envelope. Its not for me but I think it has a place and I think its pretty darn cool.

bigpike wrote:

Say what you want about cost, Marcum keeps pushing the technology envelope. Its not for me but I think it has a place and I think its pretty darn cool.

agreed!

Cool tech, I’m curious what the battery life will be…a 9″ color screen and GPS will eat a battery pretty quick! The quick connect feature is really smart. As already mentioned, that high base price for just the screen makes no sense…

I really hope that camera/flasher split-screen option makes it into the LX-9 firmware update.

Isn’t the initial over priced cost similar to all other new technology? Flat screen TV’s started in the $3k- $4k range, as I recall. Time will tell if the price comes down…

My understanding is companies stay afloat and grow into the future when they recover their development investment. Money doesn’t grow on trees for them either, right? (Anyone else hear that from the parents when young and ignorant when it comes to economics?)

I love trying new technology to decide for myself but this price will make it challenging to afford. At least for this angler.

YMMV

Marcum and Android, this reminds me of the wifi pan cam, and for that reason I’m out.

Although the Base Price might be high, I feel this is a step in the right direction for ice anglers. Marcum is the only company out there trying to bring new technology to the sport. I have units that are for GPS, Sonar, and camera and its nice to see all three packed into one unit. I most likely will not rush right out to buy one but the option is finally there which also cuts down on the amount of gear to carry out on the ice.

I get how people think this is revolutionary, but lowrance already does everything this unit does (sans the Android OS) plus down/side imaging and more mapping options. Yep, it’s been available in an HDS unit for several years. You can hook up a camera to gen 2 touch units 9 inch and larger and gen3 7 touch units and larger.
It seems revolutionary for marcum since its more ice focussed but the ability has been there right under your nose for many of these features for years already.
I would like to know more about the gps receiver since typical tablets have ok at best gps. Is this using same tech or is it bridging the gap to what an open water units uses? My hds units are far and away more accurate than my phone or tablet. Hopefully the rt9 is similar to the hds or other open water unit.
Will cameras and transducers from prior marcum models plug into this or is it unit specific? These things can dramatically reduce the entry cost.

I thought these couldn’t release because something FCC?

Kurt Turner wrote:

Isn’t the initial over priced cost similar to all other new technology? Flat screen TV’s started in the $3k- $4k range, as I recall. Time will tell if the price comes down…

My understanding is companies stay afloat and grow into the future when they recover their development investment. Money doesn’t grow on trees for them either, right? (Anyone else hear that from the parents when young and ignorant when it comes to economics?)

I love trying new technology to decide for myself but this price will make it challenging to afford. At least for this angler.

YMMV

for truly new technology yes there’s a price premium, but there’s really nothing new here. It’s an Android tablet likely a cheaper China knockoff (been out for years now) it’s waterproof or enclosed in a ruggedized waterproof case (again already been done) it’s modular (really just an industry secret to get HUGE markups) they then ported a combination of the Pancam/LX 6/7/9 software to the Android form factor and tied mapping into it. It’s also 2 years overdue because of the FCC issues..I think it’s cool, but I personally think its window of opportunity has gone by as more anglers are converting their powerful summer gps/sonar to ice units (Humminbird Helix & Lowrance Elite lineups are good examples of this) or just use a LX-9 with a phone/tablet that has the $10 Navionics app installed for 1/2 the price…

of course i’m speculating as it’s not released yet, we shall see…I will give them credit for the dual transducer/split screen mode, that’s very cool!

Charles wrote:

I thought these couldn’t release because something FCC?

they could not release to market for the last 2 years because of FCC red tape, looks like that issue has finally been resolved…

CaptainMusky wrote:

Will cameras and transducers from prior marcum models plug into this or is it unit specific? These things can dramatically reduce the entry cost.

Looks like the pin connectors are the same, it just requires a proprietary pass-through connection module to connect upto the RT-9. If they sell those separately, then you could likely use existing cameras and transducers.

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JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Charles wrote:</div>
I thought these couldn’t release because something FCC?

they could not release to market for the last 2 years because of FCC red tape, looks like that issue has finally been resolved…

OH it got the go ahead now, that is awesome.

not sure if there’s an official announcement yet, but it looks like it…

Will they take my LX7 at purchase trade in value????

First off, I too am intrigued by this and would be interested to test it out but i just had an image of seeing hundreds of anglers out on the ice holding up mini TVs while hopping off their brand new quads/sleds/100k fish house truck combination and I got a bit sick to my stomach. I think in many ways “advancements” like these take away from the outdoor experience. It just reminds me of our living rooms being brought into the outdoors when we venture outdoors to get away from our living rooms….

Last year I fished out of a camper conversion with a wood stove. Each day I fished I would spend over an hour gathering wood and chopping it up on the ice before I even wet a line. I caught a fair amount of fish last year but those times gathering and chopping wood were some of my fondest memories

Well if you dont own any of these advancements they wont take away from your experiences. Those who choose to buy in only will enhance there own experience atleast in theory. As for myself I still will enjoy my lx5. Catches lots of fish

ok…. someone talk me out of buying this!…… I put the whole package together on factory outlet and it was like $2300.

I have the LX7 and LX6 and the nav app on my phone… Thinking about buy a camera.

help! credit card melting in my pocket!!!!!!

I still think the LX-9 is the best bang for the buck, especially if you can get it used for a good price. You can find used 385 & 485 Marcum camera’s under $250

I certainly wouldn’t be one of the first ones to buy this thing.

I agree with you crappie 100%.

Mr. Derek wrote:

Marcum and Android, this reminds me of the wifi pan cam, and for that reason I’m out.

I read this and couldn’t get past you sounding just like a shark on shark tank

Kurt Turner wrote:

Isn’t the initial over priced cost similar to all other new technology? Flat screen TV’s started in the $3k- $4k range, as I recall./quote]

LOL…true story….Senior Trip May 1996 to Chicago, some store dtown had a TV hanging on the wall (no one had ever seen this before at the time)…prolly a 36″ish model of whatever brand….Price….$19,999…I KID YOU NOT. Anyhow the RT-9 looks cool, but would love to demo a “buddies” before I made that upgrade.

Personally I would give them some time to work the updates out before paying money. I was “beta” testing a LX7 for 4 years. When no update came last season I decided to sell it and use my LX5, SD 5.6 DB, Troller, and Hummingbird 788 They all work fine out of the box.

It is interesting to see updated LX5 offered last season and now this new RT-9 technology but no effort to help LX7 owners that bought the flagship when it came out.

So…. This is basically an Android Tablet juiced way up with some amazing software. What, if anything is going to keep this device running in a 3 to 4 year timespan when the system can no longer update and the unit, minus the sonar, is obsolete? Dont get me wrong… this looks AMAZING!!! I wouldnt mind having one myself but there are ways to get an amazing tablet, with internet and gps, without all of the other stuff, apps, getting in the way. Now correct me if I am wrong.

All input appreciated and even more so from someone who knows all the ins and outs of this device. Maybe some of the things I have mentioned are already being considered. Hopefully this is not a foresighted design.

Have been using my RT-9 since late December and there are several issues that still need to be worked out on the unit. First, battery life on the standard lead acid battery is less than three hours even in just the sonar mode. If you add in GPS or the camera, the battery life is even shorter. I went to a K2 Energy lithium ion battery and gained an extra 2 hours on the battery life, still not very long compared to other units, the RT-9 sucks power like crazy.
Secondly, the menu and setting select buttons are very small on the screen and very difficult to see. The menu selections are fairly intuitive, but it take some practice to get it right when you first get the unit. Visibility of the menu and setting selections need to be enlarged and improved with the next software update. This unit needs further refinement but it is going in the right direction.

Battery life alone ensures I will never consider one. Im sure its just a software update that will fix that though, put it on the shelf and in 4 years or so they might get it fixed…