Marine Electronics Forum - lowrance lcx 15-mt issues

ok i am ready to do something about my depthfinder. it has never read a bottom while running, and cuts out while trolling or sitting still. ive went through 3 transducers so far in one year and they read a somewhat bottom up to 75ft when new, and after a month its downhill from there. at the moment it doesnt even click anymore like it usually does, and will read up to 50ft only sitting still. i have messed with the mounting adjusting it and read tht for hours and hours, yet nothing seems to work. the gps on this unit is great,but from searching on here ive found the depthfinder doesnt have a very good track record. my question is, could i buy a better transducer like an airmarfor this and fix my problem, or is the problem with the unit itself? if i could mark a bottom even close to what the demo's ive seen of this unit looks like, i'd be more than happy. thanks

Mark

How old is the unit and have you been maintaining the updates????? I have a 15MT and never had a moments problem with it.....??? ;? ;? ;? ;?

its a few years old, bought it used when i first got the boat a year ago. i updated not long ago after reading that here and still nothing. i can usually hear the transducer clicking out of the water but not now, there is no clicking at all. if i use "grayscale" mode it reads close to nothing in any depth, but i changed it to "bottom black" mode and it reads a straight black bottom contour. ive been on top of wrecks out of mayport dozens of times, and it has never marked one fish on the depthfinder (with fish symbols on, ive tried every setting and sensitivity is all the way up). just wonderin if i need to replace, which is what i plan on doing, or if i can get away with a better transducer

Pm sent......

I had the LCX 15 mt on my previous boat with a thru hull ducer from LEI and was extremely pleased with the performance. The unit would read @ WOT in the 200 KH mode and all the way to 1900' in the 50KH mode....Contact Lowrance..their support is great...even if the unit is out of warranty...give them a call

I had the LCX 15 mt on my previous boat with a thru hull ducer from LEI and was extremely pleased with the performance. The unit would read @ WOT in the 200 KH mode and all the way to 1900' in the 50KH mode....Contact Lowrance..their support is great...even if the unit is out of warranty...give them a call

I have that same machine with the tilted element Airmar, It rocks. Had to do all the updates though. I have a problem with the card tray and am thinking of sending her in for a fix.

I had the same unit on my prior boat, but had a thru hull tri-transducer. Always got a good bottom picture and was able to pick up the bottom a 20knts (which was the cruising speed for that boat)

For a non-color unit, I thought it was great. Matter of fact, I think I prefer it to my current color unit (that came with my current boat)

Get an aftermarket transducer made by Airmar. I am using the P79 shoot thru hull. It was less than 100 bucks, and I can see fish and bottom now at any speed. I have the color version 15CI of the same unit. I was told by a Lowrance rep at a show that the skimmers were subject to failure. Airmar told me the Lowrance ducers are made in Mexico and are junk. I think they were both right in some ways.