Thinking about upgrading my Lowrance LCX 18c

[jtravis2]

As the subject says I have an LCX 18-C unit which seems to work okay. My biggest concern is targeting fish in the water column. I've been looking at Lowarance's HDS 8. It has been suggested that I might only need to upgrade my transducer to an Airmar which a know very little about. So I'm throwing this question out to you guys and gals, any suggestions?
Jim

[HiTechKoke]

Just curious why you would not go with the Lowrance transducer? If you you happen to have a Lowrance 200Khz transducer that is of the newer model from the last few years you can use it for a 83/200 HDS unit as this is switched in the software. The 50/200 transducers have two crystals in the transducer so you would have to match your HDS unit to it meaning have a 50/200 unit. I talked to the Lowrance guy (think he was an engineer) at the ISE show as he was pretty knowledgeable so hopefully I am restating what he told me correctly..

[jtravis2]

I bought my unit in 2003 or 2004 so I'm not sure it would work with the HDS. I spoke to the factory rep at the ISE and he lead me to believe I would need a new transducer made for the HDS. On my way home I stopped by BPS and they said the same thing. I mentioned the Airmar because it was recommended on another forum. There was a post on the that forum about a concern of the Lowarance transducer putting out a low voltage, not sure what my LCX puts out. I believe that's why the Airmar P66 was recommended.

[Al Millan]

LCX-18. Wow that's a tiny little guy.....6 inch screen. If I recall correctly, the resolution is only 320 x 240 pixels. If you're looking to find kokanee, that would be tough to do. I don't believe swapping out your tranducer to an Airmar P66 would help much. It's like connecting an expensive HD video processor to a 14 inch TV set with picture tube. The Airmar would send strong signals to the LCX-18 but the screen won't justly represent what it sends.

The Lowrance units come with Navico transducers which, for most applications, are good transducers. Mine shows kokanee and stripers just fine, however, I'm also using a 10.4 inch screen with an 800 x 600 screen resolution. The finer pitch does a lot better job of displaying echo returns.

I'm a big advocate of big screen sonars primarily for the finer screen pitch and higher resolution. With a bigger screen, it would definitely be worth the upgrade to an Airmar transducer. Airmar transducers are very powerful, some are bulky, and can get pretty pricey. For fishing lakes and rivers, I don't necessarily think it's a must to have one of the upper echelon transducers. Those are primarily designed for deep ocean water applications. The P66 is the cheapest (pricewise) transducer with Airmar makes for the Lowrance brand. But don't let the lower price fool you as the P66 has better resolution than the Navico transducers.

All that being said, I would recommend an upgrade to at least an 8 inch screen which is also 800 x 600 pixels. The pitch isn't as fine as a 10.4 inch screen, but the ability to properly display good echo returns is there.

-capt Al

[jtravis2]

LCX-18. Wow that's a tiny little guy.....6 inch screen. If I recall correctly, the resolution is only 320 x 240 pixels. If you're looking to find kokanee, that would be tough to do. I don't believe swapping out your tranducer to an Airmar P66 would help much. It's like connecting an expensive HD video processor to a 14 inch TV set with picture tube. The Airmar would send strong signals to the LCX-18 but the screen won't justly represent what it sends.

The Lowrance units come with Navico transducers which, for most applications, are good transducers. Mine shows kokanee and stripers just fine, however, I'm also using a 10.4 inch screen with an 800 x 600 screen resolution. The finer pitch does a lot better job of displaying echo returns.

I'm a big advocate of big screen sonars primarily for the finer screen pitch and higher resolution. With a bigger screen, it would definitely be worth the upgrade to an Airmar transducer. Airmar transducers are very powerful, some are bulky, and can get pretty pricey. For fishing lakes and rivers, I don't necessarily think it's a must to have one of the upper echelon transducers. Those are primarily designed for deep ocean water applications. The P66 is the cheapest (pricewise) transducer with Airmar makes for the Lowrance brand. But don't let the lower price fool you as the P66 has better resolution than the Navico transducers.

All that being said, I would recommend an upgrade to at least an 8 inch screen which is also 800 x 600 pixels. The pitch isn't as fine as a 10.4 inch screen, but the ability to properly display good echo returns is there.

-capt Al

Thanks for the feedback Al.

[jtravis2]

Finally spoke to Airmar and they confirmed what Capt Al said, don't waste your money unless you have a display with a much higher resolution i.e. the Lowrance HDS8. Airmar did say their P66 transducer would enhance the echo returns on the HDS8. Thanks to everyone for helping me through this process.
Jim

[Big John]

BIG AL is THE MAN bbj