Vexilar or MarCum?

[Roddy]

>About $140. Lowrance Ice pack with mount, battery and ducer.
>You don't need an arm or float, just drop the ducer down the
>hole.
>
>EJ

$140 sounds like a good deal for the Lowrance pack. I contacted a local Lowrance retailer and they told me the ice pack (ppl 16) retails for $170.
Last night I paid 166 at Cabela's for thier ice conversion kit.
Transducer float: 4.99
Sonar soft case: 19.99
12 volt 8amp battery: 19.99
Ice ducer: 64.99
Power cord 34.99
Female battery connectors 1.49
Sonar mounting bracket 19.99

[EJ]

Roddy,

You are right in your figures. I did not need the float or the mounting bracket. I had extra brackets and don't use a float. That saved me the difference.

EJ

[Roddy]

EJ,
How long does your battery last? I have been told the unit draws a lot of power and 6-8 hours may be the max.

[EJ]

Roddy,

Honestly, I don't know for sure. I have only ran it out once and I did not keep track of the exact hours. If I am fishing for a few days I almost always have the opportunity to charge the battery via a generator if I am spending the night on the ice or take it to where I am staying and charge it. I have used it all day many times with out any problems. All day fishing doesn't mean 12 hours of the unit turned on though. I am sure I get atleast 8 hours of run time.

EJ

I have to agree with using an LCD on ice, so much misinformation about them some based on older units. Like at what temp they can be used and how they "are not real time" etc. I much more like my LCD than any flasher I have tried with only a few limitations,..my set up is fairly portables but perhaps not quite as portable as many flashers for those than run after fish.
Personally I DON"T use my color unit out on the ice. (I have a hummingbird 987c) a bit pricey to bang around on the ice.
The one I use is a Matrix 37. it has a quad beam with a 90 degree cone , I'm thinking of getting the sidefinder transducer that can "see" if I remember correctly, 120 feet to where ever you point it. I think the sidefinder would work best in winter due to lack of/less weeds.

I have a Marcum LX3, I love it. Last year they come out with the true color update. I sent it in I told them to give it the once over and make sure everything was working while they were going to convert it to tc, they found the transducer was not working. Needless to say, they put a new transducer on it while converting it and never charged me a dime extra. It was back in my hands on the 6th day. You can say what you want about service being bad with Marcum, but I have never had better service anywhere. When the time comes to upgrade to a new system it is going to be a Marcum at this point. Emails were within 2 hours and they were very friendly on the phone. The LX3 rocks, but I would sure like to get my hands on the LX5 sometime.

Kilroy

[Roger Benoit]

I looked at Cabelas for an Ice Ducer for my 334... they dont seen to have anything

[Roddy]

They have a kit they sell. It is 165 for everything (transducer, battery ,softpack, power cable, and moutning bracket.

[Roger Benoit]

Maybe aint as smart as I once was.. but man i've looked up and down thru cabelas and cannot find such a kit...

If you've seen it.. can you post the sku #

Thanks

[Roddy]

>Maybe aint as smart as I once was.. but man i've looked up
>and down thru cabelas and cannot find such a kit...
>
>If you've seen it.. can you post the sku #
>
>Thanks

Roger,
It's not a single kit. Rather they piece it out. I purchased mine at the Rogers location last week. The sales staff should know what pieces to get you.