Help with marcum LX-I hand held sonar

cschache · #1 02-03-2017, 01:42 PM

Can someone verify that this is correct, I bought a marcum hand held sonar and i have it out today playing with it, I clean the snow off of the ice, pour some water on the ice, put the sonar ontop of the water and depress the button, this next part is confusing me, it is always showing me a depth of 4- 8 feet for the first number then if i leave it on with out moving it and a second or 2 later it appears to show the correct depth! why does it show the first depth? Is this normal? thanks in advance.

Soiler · #2 02-03-2017, 08:20 PM

Mine will beep & show a different depth than bottom if it reads a fish. Maybe that's why you get a different reading.
Also, I've found you have to use a fair amount of water to get an accurate reading through the thicker ice. Mine also struggles a bit to read through the broken ice....

cschache · #3 02-03-2017, 09:43 PM

thanks for the reply, i tried it again this afternoon and tried to use it through sraight ice with no cracks with minimal success, it does read through a drilled hole but that kind of defeats the purpose of less drilling. when you say it takes more water on the ice in order for it to read accurately how much water do you suggest? i was using about a third (200 ml)of a water bottle (500 ml).

Soiler · #4 02-04-2017, 07:17 AM

I usually carry a 1L & make sure the bottom is covered when it's trying to read. Otherwise it really struggles to get a reading. Once you get the knack of it, they work great. The best is when there's no snow for it to deal with & through clean ice.

jegermiester · #5 02-04-2017, 08:43 AM

What I've found that works for me is take some windshield washer fluid and pour it in a heavy duty Ziploc bag. Make sure you get rid of all the air and that the bag lies nice & flat when on the ice. Then put your transducer on top of the bag and shoot through the ice that way...

The beauty of this system is the liquid doesn't freeze as most windshield washer fluid is good to -45* C, no drilling required, you just need to clear the snow off the spot you're looking to view.! The only downside is if the bag gets punctured...hence the heavy duty poly recommendation.

cschache · #6 02-04-2017, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jegermiester

What I've found that works for me is take some windshield washer fluid and pour it in a heavy duty Ziploc bag. Make sure you get rid of all the air and that the bag lies nice & flat when on the ice. Then put your transducer on top of the bag and shoot through the ice that way...

The beauty of this system is the liquid doesn't freeze as most windshield washer fluid is good to -45* C, no drilling required, you just need to clear the snow off the spot you're looking to view.! The only downside is if the bag gets punctured...hence the heavy duty poly recommendation.

Thanks! ill put that in the arsenal to try out next time.