LCX-15MT at Trenton

[dock]

What were your impressions of the LCX-15MT at Trenton, Michigan? Probably its first major tournament. Any of the top finishers using it? Thanks

[FROGMAN]

I ran the new Lowrance unit at Trenton. I was very impressed with the views it gave me of the river bottom, especially in the Trenton Channel area. As Tommy Skarlis pointed out the fish were laying behind the small rock piles on bottom, and the LC-X15 MT allowed me to pick them up, and anticipate the bite which was very light to begin with. This coupled with high quality rods, and 4# Fireline made a big difference for me. The new X-15 has more power than the older LMS 305a, 500 W RMS so it will perform a little better than it's predecessor. Good Luck, and tight lines.

Keith Segar
NPAA #260

[Sunshine]

Keith,
Was the scrolling speed of the unit fast enough? Is it faster than my 350A? Please help.

[FROGMAN]

The scrolling speed was fine after the new software update. Don't let that deter you from this great unit. Fantastic detail! Good Luck

Keith Segar
NPAA #260

[Sunshine]

Thanks Keith,
I've been waiting for on the water evaluations like yours before purchasing. Unless I hear otherwise, its off to the store I go.

[anxious]

cant wait i got the 5 lakemaps i ordered from navionics on mmc today and i updated my x-15 now im goin out to the garage to look at my maps. cass,winni,leech,mille lacs,whitefish chain! now if mother nature would just co-operate!

[Kaz]

I just ordered my X 15 MT today aqnd they said to get the duel transponder the would get from the factory or maybe the distrubitor. Do I have to worry about the problems that were outlined in previous threads??? I want to be a head of the game as after it's installed I don't want to have to take it out again. Please advise...Kaz msp

[anxious]

well i got my maps today,5 mn lakes. i put them in and at first i was having trouble getting them to come up.then i remembered reading something about setting the system to read navionics maps so i did that and then i saw the light. i was so happy... for a while then i started to zoom in...when i zoomed in to 2 miles or less i would lose the map. if i zoomed out to say...15 miles or so i still wouldn't see anything. but if i shut the unit off and turned it on it would work fine down to 2 miles,anything less it would bug out. i gotta make some phone calls tomorrow to see whats up. i have version 1.6 in there i installed it correctly then i put the new mmc in,and i did not format it so what the heck?

[Someday]

The exact same thing happened to me today. I called Lowrance and worked with someone on the phone while I was in the boat. We couldn't get it working properly so now I have to send it to the hospital. He wanted me to send it with the MMC in it so they can play with it.

[anxious]

ya what do you do? send it now and not get it back till mid summer or just put up with the mapping thing till after early season bite then send it in? from what i saw of the maps though all i could see were contour lines. they didnt show bottom composition ie. rock ,sand, muck,emergent veg,submergent veg.etc. i kinda thought these maps were supposed to be so great? the same with the detail off of the cd from map create. i have heard people rave about this stuff but if you ask me it's marginal. the cd you get shows the outline of lakes and stuff but the detail isnt so great. it might show the location of wrecks and stuff in larger bodies of water and stuff like superior, and what kills me is it seems like they pay closer attention to roads and hiways. this is supposed to be a piece of marine equip. i think im gonna contact navionics this morn.and go from there. the lowrance manual tells you squat about how to get info out of these mmc's and just a little more about using the mmc interface. and how about the guy you talk to at lowrance... he seems like a know it all,i mean i have some computer skills but he acts like... i dont know maybe what i've asked him i should be asking someone else?

[Orange Barrel]

I was going to start a post regarding this matter but I see I'm not the only one. I got the same problem. I just picked up the unit today and my navionics came in today. I downloaded the update and used the Navionics MMC card. I get awesome detail on the lakes I ordered, but when I pan the screen or zoom in, I lose everything until I turn the unit off/on. I can only zoom in to 1.05 miles. I hope this isn't a serious problem because I don't feel like sitting around waiting for the problem to get fixed, not at these prices.
Lance

[anxious]

i hear ya, these mmc's have been around for quite a while! and like i said i didnt think the detail was all that. i thought it would be just like the fishing hot spot maps with all the detail to where the weeds are and the transition lines from sand to muck and so on, rock piles, gravel,and particular attention to where you might find walleyes,northerns,panfish,smallies,and also on the fhs maps they pay attention to where the spring,summer,fall,and winter hotspots would be. i just got off the phone with navionics and they are gonna look into it and they want me to see if it is all the maps i received or just one. i didnt get enough time to play with it to see if it was just how close i zoomed in or if it was just that a certain amount of time had lapsed since i brought up the map. they send a piece of paper along with your maps that tells you do not format,and i didnt do that but when i brought it in the house and plugged it into the lowrance interface i could not open the maps at all! i would think there would be some way of veiwing these maps through the interface connection. i hate to send in my unit so close to open water. im sure the sonar and the gps work great its just this software thing.

[Someday]

I think everyone is getting their Hotmaps at the same time. The guy I talked to at Lowrance had not even had a chance to work with these maps yet. Anxious, you must not have been able to zoom close enough, Mine showed muck, weeds, walleye etc.
The Mapcreate CD won't show you any contours. It is basically just a background map to show you where you are in the US. I'm sending mine in today. He said I will have one back in 10 days. I told him I needed it and if need be they would send me one in the interem. This was the first he had heard of this. I bet they are busy now!!!
I also told him about this site and the best walleye fisherpeople in the world are on here. I said they should moniter this site and see what is going on. He said thanks for the tip. I hope this gets resolved soon.

[Orange Barrel]

Another thing just happened. I was initializing the GPS, when my whole screen faded away and reset to the start-up screen. I called Lowrance on the mapping issue and he said that was the first he heard of that. I told him to check the WALLEYE CENTRAL.COM message board/general discussion and he'd see more listings with the mapping problems. I think I might be going to a Garmin if this keeps up.

[Tomr]

Orange Barrel, how did you get the maps to show up? I tried mine last night and all I would get is a screen that would ask if I wanted to copy or delete the file. My manual does not have any info regarding how to call up the map. thanks for any help. tr

[anxious]

i also told navionics about this site and i told them if they wanted to get a good idea on how well their product is being accepted that wc is the place to track it's performance. someday,i understand the map create cd has no depth contours,but if this is a marine application what do we need all that hiway info for? come on we use these in our boats! you would think they could have spent more time on the lakes and less time on the land. and i was able to see the info i had not earlier seen by zooming in till the screen went blank,and then shutting down and starting up again. but the one thing i noticed that made me wonder was the difference in zoom screens; the lowrance screen zooms in whole mile values,the navionics screen zooms in different values. and to the othere gentleman who had trouble with the unit shutting down,these units seem fickle about their power supply. if your battery is closer to 12.5 volts than 13 it may act funny or if you dont have good clean connections. i screwed up and cut one of my lakes trying to veiw it through my lowrance mmc interface. uh uh cant do that... now they tell me.and like i said they sure are short on info about using these mmc's dont you all think? well it's a new product you know we are all ginny pigs kinda.

[anxious]

you need to go into system set up i beleive and there is a place to put a check mark for your system to read navionics maps. i dont have my unit in front of me right now but it seems to me it is in sys setup. the way you put a check mark there is hit your enter key when you have the word navionics highlighted. if it's not in sys setup you will have to look around till i get a chance to go out and look at my unit. unless you find help elsewhere.

[Woodchuck]

I don't have a 15 unit but on my 1600, the hot spots maps show a different level of detail depending on how I have my detail level set in my system setup profile ie. If I go into my system setup to level of detail, and set it to "high", the navionics map will show emergent weed growth, etc. If I set the detail level for "normal", I get the contour lines and some detail but not nearly as much. Is there anything similar on the 15?

[anxious]

yes there is a detail level that the user can change. i have mine set on high. there are only two settings high and low. and upon further reveiw i did see sub and emergent veg and s-for sand and mk for muck and rock,and walleye and northern for species. if we could just get past this other glitch. im think it may just be a software thing or a compatability issue. the unit reads the maps just fine and the detail is there i bet it's something that one of the manufactures can remedy with a new version or something like that. ice is disappearing fast!! im 45 minutes north of st.paul/mpls and it's been raining real good for about 3 hours now

[Someday]

I know the Instruction book is not very good. I told him there is a LOT that is not covered. Stuff I found out just goofing around with it.
When I spoke to Lowrance they said they knew the Instruction Pamphlet was not too thorough. He said they were in a hurry to get the product out. You will be able to go to the website and get updates for instructions. You can also get a full version mailed to you when it is finished.

[Orange barrel]

I just got off the phone with a guy, (Andrew), from Navionics. He called me back to go over the situation with me. He told me that Navionics and Lowrance are trying to figure out the problem together and it looks like a speed problem with the software from the lowrance unit. It cannot update the map fast enough or something to that effect. It looks like they will soon have another software upgrade in the future. He said to keep checking the Navionics and Lowrance websites to see if any changes are happening. That's all I know so far. I hope it gets fixed soon.
Good Luck everyone who owns one of these, including myself.
Lance

[Moose]

Just got off the phone with lowrance.I had a problem with my Navionics maps going blank when zooming in and out and not seeing any contours.So the guy from the tech. dept..Told me to take out the MMC card that had MapCreate on it.Then just put in the Navionics one in.
Next he told me to hold the pages button and push power,keep holding the pages until the logo gets off the screen.
That reboots the system.Then what you should have is a map of the United States.Then but the cursor on the boxes that are around the maps that you have and zoom in.You should see the contours,it only goes to 1.6 miles which isn't bad. He said what might be happening is that the unit maybe trying to read both cards.One down side to all this is that you'll have to reset a lot of stuff,but your waypoints stay on which is a good thing.

So if you call Lowrance they should help you with this.
It helped me.
Good luck and tight lines (9:39 am)

[Woodchuck]

I didn't have any problems with the Leech and Winni hot maps but Kabetogama came today and I had problems losing all my maps and restarting the unit didn't help. Reloading hot maps or the lowrance smart maps didn't help. I didn't get the maps back until I went in and hit reset all options in the map menu. This was on a 1600 unit, so it sounds like some of these problems are cutting across lowrance units and do not just occur on the new x-15 with the mmc memory cards. I sent an email to Navionics and hope to talk to lowrance tomorrow.

[anxious]

i wonder if they are drawing in the manufacture of the mmc's? i sure hope they figure it out soon. why would you start selling a product if you dont have the bugs worked out,and risk losing customers? i like lowrance products and dont intend to switch over this but im sure it will turn off some people. the same thing happened to all the lakes i ordered at precisely the same distance(of zoom). once i hit 4.23 i was done,if i zoom out i lose it, if i zoom in one more click i lose it. or if i move the cursor far enough that the screen needs to update,i lose it. however if i zoom all the way in and turn off the unit then restart it i get a map with all the detail,then again if i move the cursor too far or zoom back out even just one click im done.

[Team Alto]

Got my maps today, Lake Winnebago, Butte de Mort-Winniconnie-poygan, Castle Rock and Little Bay de Noc. Put it in and turned on the Navionics map option and there they be. I didn't seem to have any problem viewing maps, I could pan in any direction while zoomed in. The only thing I noticed was that I could only zoom in to 1.06 miles on Winnebago and .56 on the Castle Rock - it wouldn't let me zoom in any farther. I called Navionics and they said that is the way they made the maps, Some maps will have different zoom limits (I thought that was kind of dumb).I guess I'm lucky, it looks like a lot of you are having problems with the maps and I know what its like to buy a new gizmo and have not work right.

Good luck,
Bob

[anxious]

well that's good it worke for you bob,but like you said i dont understand why the different zoom aspects. 1.06 is way out and .53 is so so! from what the girl told me yesterday some of their maps can go down to .1 and that makes sense to me. im sure things are just going to get better from here on out,in the mean time im waiting for my other new toy,the center drag cd6 from cabelas. i cant beleive the deal they are offering on these reels,two for one! and if its anything like my t1000 a/r i cant wait! this infinite anti-reverse is such a great option for adult and child alike. my kids never have a back lash and they make fishing with the kids a much more enjoyable exp.

[Tommy Mac]

A big reason for me buying the Navionics maps was to get the detail at .1 mile. If the mapping software will not allow me to get the .1 to .5 mile detail I really have no use for the maps and will be sending mine back for a refund. I ordered four maps (Winnie, Leech, Mile Lacs and Vermilion) and have not had a chance to use them as of yet. I was not told that these maps would have a limited zoom capability when I bought them.

Another feature I was hoping to use was to look at the contour's on my computor and possibly position fishing waypoints and routes while at home, to try next time on the water. If we can not upload these to our computors it will diminish a lot of their precieved value. I have a feeling that Navionics and Lowrance will get the problems fixed. The X-15 seems to be an excellent machine otherwise.

[FJH1]

I have to agree Tommy Mac. I've been watching this thread with interest. I'm currently running the BottomLine NCC5300 with the C-Map NT cartridges on my console and I'm running the BottomLine Tournament Master HR on my bow. However, the integration of the Fishing Hot Spots info into a mapping feature has my interest piqued towards the Lowrance system (X-15CT or X-16CL). However, if the unit isn't capable of zooming in to .1 mile (on all maps) while retaining mapping features with contours the unit would be of limited to no value to me (especially at the current prices). I hope you guys that are sending units to Lowrance keep us posted as to the outcome.

Best Regards,

FJH

[Moose]

Someday,
Could give us an update when you get your unit it back?or email me at bomanico@aol.com
Bob

[Someday]

Yes, I'll do that or give any info that I hear.

[Firetiger(MN)]

I was on the Lowrance web site downloading an update for my GPS when I noticed a software update for the LCX-15MT/CT. I saw some posts here that were mentioning problems so I thought I'd let you know.


From http://www.lowrance.com/software/upgrade/default.asp

Notice to Navionics Chart Users: Displaying Navionics charts on the LCX-15CT, LCX-15MT, LCX-16CI and the GlobalMap 3000MT requires software version 1.6 or greater. Previous versions do not recognize the files on the MMC and the unit will prompt you to format the MMC. DO NOT FORMAT the MMC. Update to software version 1.6 before using Navionics charts.

Features added in version 1.6:
Navionics map support
DOS Fat compatibility
Increased number of contrast steps
Minor adjustments




Don't know if this helps anyone, but I thought I'd post it.

[JBL]

I talked to Lowrance tech support on Saturday. (4-14) The tech says that software version 1.7 is supposed to be posted on the website by Monday night at the latest.

The sonar on my X15MT stopped displaying depth after I did the 1.6 upgrade. The tech says this is a known issue and I should wait for the software upgrade before taking any other action to fix the problem.

Lowrance should bug test these upgrades better before they release them. I work in the computer industry and we never apply service packs on our servers(unless absolutely necessary) until they are out for a couple months. Software updates often introduce new bugs.

I don't have any Navionics cartridges, but updating to the latest software hopefully will take care of the problem many of you are having.

[ANXIOUS]

OH ##### THAT SOUNDS HOPEFUL...NEW BUGS? I WENT FROM 1.0 TO 1.5 TO1.6 I GOT CREEPY CRAWLERS IN MY PANTS. 1.7 BETTER COME WITH A CAN OF RAID!! ANYBODY GOT AN OLD GREEN BOX FOR SALE?

[Very Disappointed]

Well this sounds like ##### in a boat. I think I will go a different direction! To bad...its a great unit - but, you guys have a lot more understanding and patients than I. Too bad they can't get the unit as reliable as the rest of their line!

[Tommy Mac]

I am getting a little dissapointed in whats going on with these maps as well. I think a lot of these problems should have been taken care of before the Navionics maps were introduced. I hope that this new version of software is the last one for a while. The people at Lowrance seem to be working hard to take care of it's end of the problems. I bought the X-15 becouse I have a need for a mapping type of GPS with the kind of waypoint storage that this machine has (1000). I also like being able to store 10 plot trails and it's sonar capabilities.

I am a little dissapointed in the feed back that I have gotten from Navionics. I live in an area that will not have open water, on the lakes that I fish, for AT LEAST 10 days. I contacted Navionics on Friday afternoon. I was not real happy to learn that I would not beable to use the maps in a matter that I intended. Further more I wasn't happy at all that I was not told of the limitations before I purchased them. I was told that I had 10 days to return them if I was not happy with their performance. So now I am in a situation that I have to make a decision on something that I will not have had a chance to try out; before a warranty type return expires. From how they are performing so far, in the house, I am leaning towards returning them. Hopefully the new software will help. Today my machine locked up on me a number of times while trying to work with these maps. I have a lot of questions for Lowrance. I do not think that Navionics is being very good about giving us time to try these maps out.

I bought them with the impression that I could zoom in to .1 mile. I CAN NOT.

I bought them with the impression that I could put them in the MMC interface and work with them on the computor. I CAN NOT.

I paid a good deal of money for them (even at 25 bucks each) thinking that most good companies today stand behind there products. Some do not! It seems that Navionics wants us to be patient while they and Lowrance work out the bugs, but yet if we want some kind of warranty that these things are going to work, we have 10 days........................! TM

[Moose]

Well did lowrance give you a time this update was suppose to be on there site? i called today too and the lady said the same thing.Well i dont see it!!!!Maybe tommorrow???????
But you know what they say tommorrow never comes.
Tight lines Guys!!

[SUPERTROLLER]

Ten days is ridiculous!!! Send it back to them and think about a re-purchase at a later date. IF AND WHEN THEY GET THINGS DEBUGGED !!!