# Marcum LX7, LX6, LX9 Shallow Water Results



## KURTG1 (Feb 13, 2007)

I am on the fence about buying a Marcum LX7. I fish mostly 6-10 ft of water and I have seen several older blog posts on different websites where guys are complaining about the LX7 not being very good in shallow water......not being able to pick up suspended fish, cannot pick up jig on screen etc. If there is anybody out there that uses any of Marcum's digital units, particularly the LX7, in shallow water for bluegill and perch, please let me know how you like your unit. These things are so expensive, I don't want to make a mistake. If anyone wants to chime in with how well their preferred unit works in shallow water......let me know. I have been using an old Zercom Clearwater Classic for probably 15 years. It works but it is a pain to level the transducer and my old eyes cannot see those faint gray lines on the screen very well anymore.


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## Milbo (Jan 5, 2011)

I have the LX7. If I had it to do over again I would probably go with the LX6. The 7 is big and bulky and not the best choice for hole hopping. I think the 6 would be a little better. On bright sunny days the screen can be a bit hard too see (polarized glasses don't work well with this unit). I like the options on the LX7 and it is nice when shack fishing. There are days I wish I would have kept my Hummingbird Ice 35.


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## KURTG1 (Feb 13, 2007)

Milbo said:


> I have the LX7. If I had it to do over again I would probably go with the LX6. The 7 is big and bulky and not the best choice for hole hopping. I think the 6 would be a little better. On bright sunny days the screen can be a bit hard too see (polarized glasses don't work well with this unit). I like the options on the LX7 and it is nice when shack fishing. There are days I wish I would have kept my Hummingbird Ice 35.


how is it in shallow 6-10 ft of water???s


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## Milbo (Jan 5, 2011)

I usually do not fish that shallow. But from what I read, you need to change a few of the settings and raise your transducer to be just barely in the water. Set it in open water mode and adjust manual range to 10 feet.


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## Milbo (Jan 5, 2011)

*
FISHING IN SHALLOW WATER

*
The Marcum Digital Sonar is designed to be an effective fishing tool in a wide variety of environments. Most of the time, simply turning on the unit at factory default settings is all that is necessary. Shallow water [10 feet or less] can be problematic without making a few adjustments. If you are having trouble getting optimal performance out of your Digital Sonar in shallow water, here are some adjustments to experiment with. Depending on the actual circumstances, one or more of these adjustments may be necessary. First thing, when in shallow water, keep your transducer near the surface of the water [at the TOP of the ice, almost in the air] no matter how thick the ice is. This gives the ducer a little more room to "work". Be sure that you manually select the 10 foot range. Next, press the MENU button, select SONAR SETTINGS, and then scroll to SONAR MODE. Highlight it and select OPEN WATER MODE. We realize it does not seem natural to use "OPEN WATER MODE" when you are on the ice, but making this change will "back off" the gain curve, allowing better performance in certain ice fishing conditions. Finally, you should also consider changing the color palette from the default "SIX- COLOR" to one of the three-color palettes.

From the Marcum operating manual.


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## Milbo (Jan 5, 2011)

Upgrading from the Clearwater Classic will be quite a step to the LX7. My brother in law just updated his CC to a Vex FL18. He was having a tough time getting fish so I let him use my LX7 last weekend, my rod and my hole so he could catch his limit and we could go home. He is considering buying the same rod and he ordered the same jigs. He liked the Marcum but I don't think the price will agree with him.


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## agbuckhunter (Oct 12, 2011)

Milbo said:


> Upgrading from the Clearwater Classic will be quite a step to the LX7. My brother in law just updated his CC to a Vex FL18. He was having a tough time getting fish so I let him use my LX7 last weekend, my rod and my hole so he could catch his limit and we could go home. He is considering buying the same rod and he ordered the same jigs. He liked the Marcum but I don't think the price will agree with him.


Reeds has LX7 on sale for $579
https://www.reedssports.com/ice-electronics-fishing


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## agbuckhunter (Oct 12, 2011)

KURTG1 said:


> I am on the fence about buying a Marcum LX7. I fish mostly 6-10 ft of water and I have seen several older blog posts on different websites where guys are complaining about the LX7 not being very good in shallow water......not being able to pick up suspended fish, cannot pick up jig on screen etc. If there is anybody out there that uses any of Marcum's digital units, particularly the LX7, in shallow water for bluegill and perch, please let me know how you like your unit. These things are so expensive, I don't want to make a mistake. If anyone wants to chime in with how well their preferred unit works in shallow water......let me know. I have been using an old Zercom Clearwater Classic for probably 15 years. It works but it is a pain to level the transducer and my old eyes cannot see those faint gray lines on the screen very well anymore.


I'm an Lx7 owner and have no problems fishing shallow water 6-10fow. There was some issues when they came out but since the 2.9 upgrade, I haven't heard of many. Here's a video explaining that upgrade. 







Here is a pic of my unit in 12fow the other day while gill fishing with a tiny tear drop.














the wiggly line is my jig on all 3 graphs I have set to display. The solid marks above and below are bluegills.








Once you learn the functions on the Lx7 it's awesome with how you can cater the display, zoom features are adjustable anywhere in the water column and "dynamic" zoom (does everything for you for maximum resolution), target adjust, dual beam transducer, etc. There's a lot of reason it's the most sought after electronic for ice anglers. I highly recommend it and it's on sale at Reeds for $579(link above). 
BTW I own the Vexilar flx 28 as well and 98% of the time it sits on the shelf


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## Walleye sure like fishing (Dec 14, 2015)

If you are only fishing in 6-10FOW why waste the extra $$...I have a Marcum LX-3TC . This unit is wonderful and way cheaper. I picked it up on friends and family weekend at Cabelas for $329. The zoom feature is wonderful. It has 3 different zoom settings and you can also auto zoom by pressing up and down on the buttons to zoom into a specific spot you want. Great for hole jumping and any body of water. I've fished anywhere from 5ft to 60ft and it is accurate as hell. Picks everything up nicely. 

*I know you asked about the LX7,LX6- but In my honest opinion I think if you are only fishing shallow and want to hole jump, LX-3TC is a much better choice and much cheaper.


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## Capt j-rod (Dec 7, 2015)

I have the lx-7. I kept my ice 35 hummingbird. I like the seven, but it has been back to the factory twice. Marcum made it right, but the 35 carried me through. For shallow I have not had any problems. My buddies swear by vexilar. If I had it to do over??? I would have done a lx 5 old school flasher or a vex. I like the info on the 7, but I don't think it gives that big of an edge. FWIW, I still own the ice 35 and it still goes in the truck for insurance.


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## paul shaver (Dec 12, 2014)

Well im buying the lx 7 next week. My buddy has it loves it


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## Milbo (Jan 5, 2011)

Capt j-rod said:


> I have the lx-7. I kept my ice 35 hummingbird. I like the seven, but it has been back to the factory twice. Marcum made it right, but the 35 carried me through. For shallow I have not had any problems. My buddies swear by vexilar. If I had it to do over??? I would have done a lx 5 old school flasher or a vex. I like the info on the 7, but I don't think it gives that big of an edge. FWIW, I still own the ice 35 and it still goes in the truck for insurance.


I sold my ICE 35 that was 3 years old for the same money you could buy it new for today to justify the money spent on the LX7. Hindsight, I should have kept it. I'm on my second year of the LX7. Last year the charger quit working through the hook up provided. I changed the blade fuse and checked all connections... still no luck. They sent me a replacement a few days later and that didn't work either. So, I had to take the battery out every time and charge it with an old gator clip charger. This fall, I tried to start the unit to get ready for the season and it would not go past the LX7 sign on screen. I sent it in and they replaced it with another screen because the key pad was bad. It was a quick turnaround but glad it wasn't prime fishing season. So far this season it appears to be OK.


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## Capt j-rod (Dec 7, 2015)

My first one never powered up out of the box. My second one froze like yours on the home screen and the gasket was not in the grooves to seal the edges. The second failure was in peak season. My charger was a pos! I use the hummingbird charger now. I was going to sell the 35, but I can't trust the LX7. When I actually have the time to hit the ice it is go time. I HAVE to have 100% out of my gear. I like the unit when it works, but my trust is still growing. The ball busting from the vexilar guys is brutal. Marcum paid shipping both ways, both times. When you call them you speak to a real human and they are great guys to work with. They did make it right, but ice gear needs to be bullet proof. There are still days that I think the ice 55 might have been a more solid choice. My buddies have 4 vexilars in the group with no failures in 12 years. My trusty 35 earned its spot on the shelf and it doesn't eat anything. I will say that when the lx7 works it is awesome.


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## agbuckhunter (Oct 12, 2011)

Capt j-rod said:


> My first one never powered up out of the box. My second one froze like yours on the home screen and the gasket was not in the grooves to seal the edges. The second failure was in peak season. My charger was a pos! I use the hummingbird charger now. I was going to sell the 35, but I can't trust the LX7. When I actually have the time to hit the ice it is go time. I HAVE to have 100% out of my gear. I like the unit when it works, but my trust is still growing. The ball busting from the vexilar guys is brutal. Marcum paid shipping both ways, both times. When you call them you speak to a real human and they are great guys to work with. They did make it right, but ice gear needs to be bullet proof. There are still days that I think the ice 55 might have been a more solid choice. My buddies have 4 vexilars in the group with no failures in 12 years. My trusty 35 earned its spot on the shelf and it doesn't eat anything. I will say that when the lx7 works it is awesome.


Not true on Vex. My flx28 is the 2nd one I've had. The first spun around with constant interference even by myself. I returned it for a different one and haven't had the issue. One of the reasons I bought My Lx7. It has been flawless for me and the Vex flx28 sits on the shelf unless the kid goes. I wasn't upset. New products always have kinks to work out and when you look at the whole statistics of failure per unit sold on any product it's usually less than 5-10%. It's unfortunate that both of us had to experience faulty units but I'm happy with both in the end but prefer the Lx7. My father n law had a faulty Hummingbird 55. He had to return it and get a different unit. My buddy had a Lowrance. It's just the way it is. No product is perfect or inferior that's why it's important to register your unit for the manufacturers 2 year warranty.


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## Henschel98 (Jan 24, 2015)

I believe vexilars models fl-12 and up come with a low power mode for shallow water fishing and I know for the fl-8se you can buy a cable for it that cuts the power by 50 percent for shallow water fishing because it doesn't come with the low power mode when you buy it


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## Capt j-rod (Dec 7, 2015)

Sadly the cost of this gear is going up constantly... The 26 month old $750 hummingbird on my walleye rig died. The lowrance replacement was $1400. Bigger screens mind you, buy why do we take off 15 year old working electronics and end up with new stuff every 3-5 years due to failure? We need mac to build fishing electronics. My kid beats the $&@/ out of my I pad and it is still alive!


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## hawgeye (Mar 3, 2011)

Capt j-rod said:


> Sadly the cost of this gear is going up constantly... The 26 month old $750 hummingbird on my walleye rig died. The lowrance replacement was $1400. Bigger screens mind you, buy why do we take off 15 year old working electronics and end up with new stuff every 3-5 years due to failure? We need mac to build fishing electronics. My kid beats the $&@/ out of my I pad and it is still alive!


Get a toughbook from Priority 1.


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## whitelake fisherman (Apr 19, 2011)

I have never had an issue with my lx7 owned if for three years know and fish almost everyday we have safe ice. I use it from 4' all the way out to 55' depending on the species


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## Smokin-the-eyes (Jan 4, 2014)

Henschel98 said:


> I believe vexilars models fl-12 and up come with a low power mode for shallow water fishing and I know for the fl-8se you can buy a cable for it that cuts the power by 50 percent for shallow water fishing because it doesn't come with the low power mode when you buy it


I got a fl8 this year got it used and it has one of those cables on it at first i thought it was some sort of quick dissconnect for the ducer used it first 3-4 trips and was wondering why i had to crank the gain almost to 10 in 20-30fow took the cable off only cause i didnt like the way it sat in the bag and i didnt have another ducer after that it went from almost 10 to highest i go now is almost 3 and it cleared up a lot of interference
I can see where that cable would come in handy if you are fishing 10fow or less though here is a pic of the cable it just splices between the unit and the ducer


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