I spent 4 hours on Saturday at 3 different store, Thorne Brothers, Cabela's and Gander getting their opinions. They have all sold alot of the units and none had been returned yet. Then again Im sure not many people have had the time to really put the unit to the test, due to the ice conditions. The one comment made by all 3 sales people were that costumers were finding it hard to justify the expense of it compared to an LX5...Personaly I think the color sceme of the unit makes it look like a toy. The Dash board could have been alot sharper looking. Buying a unit this weekend and Im leaning to the Ice 55 becuase it doesnt run into interference issues when fishing in a group as some of the other units do. Just a laymans opinion.
I have heard mixed reviews on them so far. They are a great concept, but it sounds like there are some bugs to be worked out. I plan to try one out this weekend. If you are going to be up, give me a shout and you can take a look at it.
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Humana Insurance Representative-Brainerd and Mille Lacs Area
I bought a hummingbird 597 for my boat this year, and I just got an iceducer for christmas for it. I used it for the first time yesterday. I was very happy with it! I have it mounted on a wood box that holds it and the battery. I strapped it to the front of the four wheeler for the gps. It worked great in flasher moad and sonar mood. Haven't fished with anyone to see how it works with other units.
Yes I just bought one, Got a great price and was looking for a different brand (mhz) so as to not interfer with my ice 55.
Im impressed so far. Only problem I see so far is it is not great in water under 10 feet. To much power. cant turn it down enough and still see the jig. Still reads great but flickers. There is a good chance that it operator error. Im still learning and play with it a couple of days.
Things I like, it will run for several hours on a charge and the three different displays on the water column at one time. There are several other things that I like.
-- Edited by iwalleye on Thursday 5th of January 2012 08:33:31 PM
I have fished with an LX-5 from the first year they came out. I still have the unit and until this year found no reason to run anything else. I purchased the LX-7 this year and have had it on the ice everyday I've been out.
Some things I really like about this unit vs. my LX-5:
1) Auto Bottom lock...when hole hopping different depths it is nice not to have to change the zoom range...It still has the ability to zoom up and down the water column...but you can set this feature as you want.
2) Target seperation....you can change your target seperation for how big your jig or spoon is. Some like their jig to be a small line....others a big line...some use a very small jig for panfish....but they have a hard time getting the jig to show up on the flasher unless they turn the gain/sensitivity way up...this feature allows for you to keep your gain the same...but adjust how it shows your jig.
3) Flasher mode....showdown/vertical mode or Graph mode. This unit allows me to use one, two or all three at the same time. I can run flasher with a zoom screen or my favorite is the Graph mode with the zoom screen.
4) Backlight....I can adjust the brightness of this unit as I want or need
5) Auto depth readings....no more trying to figure out what depth I am in. Digital depth display
6) Flat screen....blowing snow...or snowing will not effect me now
7) Auto zoom screen....so the other day I had the zoom screen on the bottom 5 feet....I had the unit set to auto zoom....so a school of perch comes in and meets my jig 8 feet off the bottom....When I stopped my jig and the fish came charging up...the zoom bar auto switched up in the water column now showing my zoom up where my jig and the fish were. On the old unit I would be looking at the regular full water column with no zoom/seperation....that was really cool.
8) Full Gauge display I can control if I want to see it on the screen. It shows me all my current settings, voltage, and what cone angle I am using. It also shows you the size of your cone angle on bottom with the current depth you are fishing.
9) Adustable color palate...for those that are used to yellow/orange/red for flashers...others that are green/orange/red...6 color palate for those that are used to full graph modes....or gray scale.
There are alot of good ice fishing units on the market....this is just my opinion of what I have seen with this new unit.
Good Luck with the new unit shopping!
Scott
I would be happy to answer any specific questions on these new units...just shoot me a PM.
I have had mine on the ice for a while also, everything Scott mentioned about is great, lots of little features that may be not noticed by some fishermen will make all the difference in the world to others. Such as the amount of area you are actually seeing with the cone angle display on the dashboard, voltage readings as well. The ability to put this unit on the boat in the summer is going to be a cool feature that will allow that $699 pill a little bit easier to swallow, maybe.
MarCum also has a built in USB on the back of the unit to allow updates to be done very similar to Lowarance. This will allow us to update the 7 as updates become available, which means you will always have access to the latest technology put out by MarCum.
You have the ability to view up to 3 different modes on the screen at one time. Full flasher in the middle and zoom to the left is my favorite way to view the 7 right now. I am changing settings daily to get a understanding of each, might take a while but it sure is fun ice fishing with a nice flat screen.
Just spent the week using mine. It was great and between the zoom, flasher and graph all displayed at the same time it was like watching an underwater camera with all that information displayed. It was great. But one of the best things about it is that it will run all day on a single charge. Cal or Scott correct me if this is wrong, but it has no mechanical parts, i.e. motor spinning the flasher, to use up the battery. Id charge it over night and use it all day again.
Just spent the week using mine. It was great and between the zoom, flasher and graph all displayed at the same time it was like watching an underwater camera with all that information displayed. It was great. But one of the best things about it is that it will run all day on a single charge. Cal or Scott correct me if this is wrong, but it has no mechanical parts, i.e. motor spinning the flasher, to use up the battery. Id charge it over night and use it all day again.
Correct zero moving parts inside the LX-7, expect a update coming from MarCum in the next week or so to greatly enhance this unit even more.
How will I know when the update is available. I assume when its out I'll have to download it to a chip and then to the back of the head unit. I don't see anything now on the Marcum site for updates. Can you share what the update will include?
I have used it for a couple months now and its a awesome peace of equipment. My lx5 is getting no use since my purchase of this great unit. Ill be on the pond next week for three days and will give it a good workout on the ice up there. Scott pretty much covered it all and i cant add to that but i agree it got alot of power for any water under 10ft but with alot of tuning i get it to work just fine. I myself want to know about this update please let us in on the inside scoop your aware of thanks . Keep a tight line and save some for me ill be after them next week on my yearly trip to the pond.
-- Edited by WALLEYECHASER on Tuesday 31st of January 2012 06:54:35 PM
Update 2.9 is expected to be releaed on Tues 02/01 on MarCums website that will allow current Lx-7 users to update to the latest technology MarCum has available. So whats in this update....
Dynamic Depth...this allows you to fully utilize the entire flasher screen, for example if your fishing 21 feet of water we know that you have to be in the 40' scale to view the bottom therefore only using half of the flasher screen or dial, dynamic depth allows the same 21 foot bottom reading meanwhile using the full screen instead of jus half of the dial.
Target adjustment allows you to adjust the size of your lure (target) without adjusting the sensitivity. so typically you should only have to run sensitivity on 2 or 3, but can increase the size of your target w/o needing to increase the sensitivity. awesome feature for small jigs in deep water.
These are the 2 big ones most commonly used by the average ice head.
Enjoy...the good news is this unit is dialed in even better if your running any other verison that 2.9. Another awesome feature is these updates will continue as technology advances.
Thank's Cal. I'm not a computer geek and as simple as it is it still took me a couple of times to get it done. But I got mine updated and looking forward to trying it out. My biggest problem was going through my cords to find the 2.0 USB cord. Took it off my router/computer for this. It would be nice if Marcum included this with the unit. But I'm not complaining. It is a great unit!
Most USB cords nowadays are 2.0 and/or can be bought for under 5 dollars. I think MarCum made the assumption that if you have a computer you more than likely have a USB cord around for updates. Holler if you have more questions.
and as simple as it is it still took me a couple of times to get it done. But I got mine updated and looking forward to trying it out. 
My biggest problem was going through my cords to find the 2.0 USB cord. Took it off my router/computer for this. It would be nice if Marcum included this with the unit. But I'm not complaining.
It is a great unit!
