Lowrance lcx15MT Performance

[Larry Z.]

Any of you people out there that have this unit and have been using it? I am interested in finding out how good the sonar part of it is doing.
Thanks in advance.

[coondog]

Larry Z I bit the bullet and bought one, so far it was the most useless piece of junk that I have in my boat,I dont even bother to turn it on anymore, just pisses me off, over a thousand dollars and I thought I was getting a top of the line sonor unit and so far it has been a HUGE REPETE HUGE, mistake. I called Lorance again today, after I came off the lake, again steaming mad, and they told me that there is yet another software update in the works, that should be ready in a couple of days( 1.9). If I was you I would avoid this unit at all cost$$$$$. Lowrance has a good name, but this unit may destroy that, there arnt to many guys that can afford a 1000.00$ anchor. Im sorry if I have offended anyone, I call a spade a spade, and let'um fall where they fall, If I can keep somebody else from making the same mistake that I did, Im happy

[woodchuck]

Obviously, your upset with the unit but what specifically has been a problem of either failure or poor performance. Thanks for the help by sharing your experiences and getting us up to speed with your on-water trial.

[JUNKYARD DOG]

HEY COONDOG,IF IT IS SUCH A PIECE OF JUNK MAYBE WE CAN WORK OUT A DEAL!! I'LL GIVE YOU $500 BUCKS FOR IT RIGHT NOW,WHAT EXTRAS DID YOU ORDER WITH YOUR UNIT? DO YOU HAVE THE DUAL TRANS. AND THE GPS KIT WITH THE SOFTWARE AND ANTENNA?

[Tomr]

Larry, I have been very impressed with the sonar side of this unit. The resolution is great. It marks the fish with ease, the distintion between bottom types is easy to determine. The unit is easy to use. The only thing that I would like on the screen is sog. I think the sonar side is great and i am sure Lowrance will work out the other problems for us. There were previous discussions about the unit from some of the people who used it at Erie, check the archives. tr

[JBL]

I put the unit on a split screen view when trolling, select the digital data for the map view and you can view the sonar and sog at the same time. At super low trolling speeds the gps seems to lose the sog and it will blink. Might add the "wheel" speed sensor to mine but not sure.

I've had problems too, the software blew out the first transducer. There is some problem where too much power is sent to the 50mhz crystal, and the 200mhz part is damaged. DON"T run your unit at 50mhz until you have installed a software version higher than 1.71

I understand some people are unhappy with the unit, but for the most part I like it, great sonar, big screen and the gps brought me home nicely in fog last Sunday.

With the ability to easily upgrade the software, we should continue to see improvements to the x15.

[Larry Z.]

Thanks to all for your replies.

[coondog]

Mr. Woodchuck, the problems that I have is when I turn my unit on, on the 200khz will brink at 60ft. and not move, it doesnt matter if Im in 3ft. or 300ft. it just reads 60ft. I tried switching over to the 50khz side and it reads 4.5ft, I just installed the 1.9 software update with no change. I have heard that some guys have been smoking tranducers when they ran it in 50khz. This is my first lowrance unit, does this sound like a bad transducer? Sorry if I lost my cool the other nite, but I had just came back from the lake and had been thinking about this all the way home. If somebody has any suggestions Im open for anything, Im getting sick or calling lowrance, and it taking 15-20 mins.before talking to a real person, answering machines and , push this button for sonor, push this button for customer srevice, then on hold for 10 min. while the machine tells me how great the x-15 is. I hope somebody can help, before I call the junk yard dog, and off this thing

[Moose]

Coondog after dialing Lowrance press ext.44.
Even though I don't have 50/200 trans. what I have read it sounds like a bad trans. My 2 cents.
Good luck?

[JBL]

LAST EDITED ON Apr-27-01 AT 08:04PM (CST)[p]
Coondog, you have a bad transducer.

Had the same exact symptoms on my unit, and they wasted 2 weeks of my time with the story about the software fixing the problem, it won't... Insist that they send you a new transducer immediately. Not all the reps are equally knowledgeable. I called today with a question about returning the old part and the person I talked to wasn't aware of the transducer problems. I've called 5-6 times and never spoke to the same person twice.

Anyone that buys this unit should update the software before you use it. I bet that all these transducers getting fried will use up their supply and people will end up waiting on backordered transducers.

good luck

[Someday]

JBL, Are you able to have 1/2 screen map, 1/2 half screen sonar AND also get it to show you SOG? I have tried and cannot find how to do that.

[Someday]

If it reads 60 feet at 200Khz the transducer is bad or is not connected properly.

[Team Alto]

You can show SOG on any page that displays digital info along the left side. You press the menu button once then goto the bottom of the menu to "customize" hit enter, then use the up-down arrows to select where you want the SOG to be - hit enter, then select from the list that pops up "ground speed" - hit enter.

Bob

[Someday]

Thank you very much. I am going to try this out now. The manual that came with this unit only explains about 10% of what the unit can do.

[coondog]

JBL, thanks for the input, I,ll call Lowrance first thing mon. am.I've been messing around with it, making sure everythings tight and hooked up right and making sure that I installed it the right way, so far everything that I checked is up to snuff. Thankyou for letting me know that the transducer is bad, I would have fought it for another week at least. This site is the greatest thing since sliced bread, hope to be back in action by next sat. as the Wisc. opens then.THANKS TO EVERYBODY THAT HELPED . COON DOG

[warrior]

My x15mt has worked for a total of 2 hours since ibought it! It does't show any depth or bottom. I replaced the 200 trnsducer once to no avail and have installed the 1.9update. Its one day away from going back to Cabellas. Warrior

[Someday]

I tried this and maybe I am trying to accomplish something that cannot be done. Is the X-15 capable of showing a split screen with a map, a sonar and SOG at the same time?

[ezmarc]

I used mine for the 1st time yesterday. The sonar works great and is very crisp in detail with the 200 KHz transducer. The screen seemed hard to read with polarized glasses though.

The menu was confusing at first but got simpler as I used it.

The GPS didn't work at all. Transducer not responding message kept coming up. I installed version 1.9 before I used it and installed some Lake Erie maps on the MMC card. Everything looks great, but it looks like I will be talking to the Lowrance techs tomorrow along with the rest of you.

[OrangeBarrel]

For what it's worth, I am impressed with the Lowrance X-15 unit despite the setbacks we have all been experiencing(SP). As with any new electronics we buy there is a learning process that goes along with them. When I first purchased an LMS-350a, a Global Map 2000, and a Garmin 240 I had to "TEACH" myself how the unit worked. And everytime I used these products I would learn a new trick or found out it did something that I didn't realize it could do. As for the screen being hard to read with "POLARIZED" sunglasses, you will get that with any LCD screen. I am not defending Lowrance or any other manufacturer, I am just going buy personal experience. Just my two cents worth. Thanks
Lance

[ezmarc]

Orange Barrel, I agree that the x15 is an impressive unit and the menu did get easier the more I used it yesterday, as a matter of fact in some ways it was easier to use in 1 day than my 350A is. The scroll speed was fast and the detail is awesome. I was very disappointed that the GPS mapping wouldn't connect at all though, because it looks to be a good unit and that's what I really wanted it for.

The issue with the polarized glasses came up because I could see my 350a screen better than the x15 even with tweaking of the contrast. Lowrance has been very good in the past with service and I'm sure they will be this time also.

[SEAGULL]

There are many cases where the manufacturer of the glasses messes up with the polarization process. If they get the polarization incorrect, the screen will blacken out. You can test this by shifting your head 90 degrees while looking at the screen. If the display looks better, the polarization of the glasses is wrong. You would never know, otherwise. I'm a pro staffer for Lowrance and learned this at a sports show when a person came up to me complaining of the display problen with polarozed glasses on.Try this.....it could be your problem.

[rngrfshm]

Hi EZMARC,

Does the GPS work at all on anyones unit? I am looking at buying one of the X15 for this very same purpose, ie to replace my globalmap 100 on the dash and to combine them into this one of the X15. Does the GPS work on the X15?

rngrfshm