x67c interference (getting killed by vex) help please>?!?!

[Kodiak]

I need help with tuning out the interference in my x67c ice machine. I sold my vexilar and bought this and fishing with my buddies i just cannot tune out thier interference. As soon as they turn one on i get killed like instantly in 20fow. I messed with the ping speed but it didnt get rid of it. What can i do to be able to use this around another flasher? I looked in my manual and could not find anything to help. Is there any other Lowrance 67c owners out there that have found a solution to this????HELPPP

[Quickstrike]

I'll jump in and beat everyone to the punch return it and get a marcum. I had the same unit and thought it was great, but when i fished next to a vex or marcum i could not get rid of the interference. i know some of you guys know more about troubleshooting these units more than i do, but when you spend that kind of money, i want something that you can take to the lake and not have to worry about interference, (not as much anyways) or the other small problems i was having. With that said, i returned it and got a LX-2 and couldn't be happier. I understand that some people use this unit for open water as well and trading it in may not be the best option for them, like i said before there are a lot of very knowledgable people on here and hopefully they can be of more help then i was.

[Kodiak]

anybody????

[FullTilt]

I haven't figured it out yet, I asked the same thing on a similar thread in the equipment forum. Supposedly you can adjust the sensitivity, ping speed, chart speed, etc to elimnate the interference. I haven't talked to anyone who has an actual protocal that works.

[slick814]

You need to either drop your sensitivity a bit or change your ping speed. It's pretty simple, actually... make small changes in sensitivity, and you'll see some huge differences in the way your flasher works. I generally use mine in the neighborhood of 90-96%, take the ping speed dwon one notch from the top, and bingo, the interference is gone.

Another thing you might want to do is talk to your buddy that's got the Vex and see if he's got his unit turned up high. He may be experienceing something similar to what you are, and is adjusting his to eliminate it, thus making your problem worse.

The only time I've had that kind of problem with mine is when I've been in the same portable with a Vex in the next hole. We both adjusted and things worked fine.

[jtroop]

I'm with Slick. My buddy had to tweak his FL-18 to get rid of interference from me, as well. You may also need to readjust every time you change depths.

[rabbit lake dude]

sorry kodiak. It's not going to work. my buddy has the same unit and i have the fl-18. we tried everything. My buddy was just torked. wanted to throw it in the lake. on my fl-18 i pushed the interference button 3 times and it completly elimanted the interference. So unless you are fishing alone or with someone who dose not have another flasher, your out of luck. Buy a fl-18 best choice i ever made!!!!

[rabbit lake dude]

Never thought about changing the vex to help out the. 67c. Good call. I'll give it a shot this weekend.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

how old is your unit? i had purchased one last year and had the same problems, did ok around vex's but marcums killed me. however, tweeking both units does help. i, however, was very dissapointed. this summer my 67c crapped out and i sent it back to lowrance and got my new one back. had'nt tried it until a few weekends ago when i was fishing DIRECTLY next to an old FL5 and was within 50ft of at least 3 marcums. last year, i would have chucked that unit across the lake, this year, no problems AT ALL! not even a glitch of interference. i think lowrance tweeked their software or something, cause the unit i got back was definatly a little different than the one i sent in. so i think you may need to call lowrance and talk to them and possibly get an upgraded version of the software. thats the best i can do!

[slick814]

bruledrifter - what version software is your unit running now? I've heard the Lowrance will upgrade for free, but I don't know if I want to lose the time with the unit to send it in and wait for it to come back unless it's a pretty short wait.

[Kodiak]

i am going to try it one more time and then if it doesnt work out i am gonna take it back to fleet farm and get me a lx3tc or lx2..

[lumpy]

If the unit takes chips lowrance will send you the upgrade on an sd chip, you won't be charged for it if you return the chip.

[Swimmer]

First, What is your interference rejection set at? Set it to high if you have to, but medium worked for me.

Second, check what version of software you are running (spend a couple minutes looking at the menus and you will find these things). Their tech support says version 1.4.0 is the latest, but i sent mine in for tweeks, it took about 12 days from sending to get back the unit. Surprise, it came back with version 1.6.0. I think Brule is on to something, along with Federline, that Lowrance doesn't publish it's tweeks, and the latest version is likely to very interferece free -- haven't had the time to test it out though yet. This is a cool advantage of an electronic unit vs. electro/mechanical...you can actually upgrade software easily.

So, email Lowrance tech support for info on how to "rent" the MMC chip with the latest software on it. I think you have to give them a Credit card number, but you won't be charged if you return the MMC card to them. WAIT...I know you can do the MMC card thing with the H2O, but not sure with the x67c...you may have to send it in if you can do without for a week or two.

Good luck. In my opinion, it is a great ice machine...even better for picking out bottom-huggers than the "other" two.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

slick, to be honest, i have no idea . i'll check it out and get back to ya!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Slick, the software im running is 1.6.0, and Build: HU164C, whatever that means?!

Kodiack, what software are you running in your unit. maybe we solved the problem!

[Kodiak]

where do you look to find the version?

[BRULEDRIFTER]

on the 2nd screen in your menu options. its the software info option. i think its the last option on the page.

[slick814]

Brule -

Think I might send mine in to Lowrance for an update. I've got 1.4.0, and after going on Lowrance's website yesterday, I believe that the GPS mapping is upgraded on the newer version to include depth contours, etc.... THAT would be nice.

[Kodiak]

mine has 1.04.00 also, i just got it too. What is the diff. with 1.06.00 and 1.04.00?

[snowgoose]

My neighbor has the x67 and has the same problems when I fish within 20 feet of him. He can not get rid of the interfearance.

He called Lowrance the other day to see if they where aware of the problem and if there was anything he could do about it. Long story shrt they told him, "Thats to bad. We are aware of this problem and have no intentions of fixing it."

He took his unit back to the store the next day and bought a FL-18.

Good Luck

Todd

[slick814]

kodiak -

from what I read on Lowrance's website, it's got better mapping on the GPS, and better adjustability on your sensitivity & ping speed. Supposed to take about 10 - 12 days from the time you ship it out to when you get it back, so I'm most likely going to wait until the ice season is over for me before I send it in. Just can't see not having it for that long...

[blacksheep]

slick, where are you reading this info?. i called lowrance today and spoke with a service rep, and a tech and neither new of the upgrades you are talking about. the tech said the only update they have for the m68c is one that fixes a demo mode and window screen error and a nmea campatability issue with autopilot trolling motor data transfer. if you don't plan on using it for the auto pilot and it doesn't error for you he said it simply isn't worth the time and $ to send it in. if you are seeing this info somewhere i would be interested in reading it myself. i asked him specifically about the mapping upgrade and he denied such a rumor. i will say that he was really helpfull and had no reservations about spending 20 minutes on the phone with me answering questions, glad to see some companies still provide service after the sale.

- b.s.

[Kodiak]

sorry guys i bailed out and gave up and took my lowrance back and got a lx3tc, i love the lowrance but the interference just fustrated the crap out of me....i will be first in line when they make them with interference rejection that works....

Kodiak

[Mr. Bear]

Just make yourself a handy dandy scrambler covering the frequency ranges used by the Vex, Marcum, and others. Make it really powerful and shove it down the hole for a while. Soon, everyone around you will leave when their flasher doesn't work anymore and you'll have the honey hole to yourself and your interference free Lowrance .

[slick814]

BS-

I read it on Lowrance's website... unless I misunderstood what I was reading, the mapping, ping, & sensitivity are upgraded... might be misunderstanding what I was looking at, though...

[Kodiak]

Like i said before if they come out with a "new" interference rejection system i will go out and buy one instantly...they are really nice and have probally the best separation and detail of any of the ice electronics.

[Bob Horn]

Separation, if you want to see separation than the LX-5 WILL show you separation. That`s the best flasher that I have seen.

[Kodiak]

well yeah and 500 dollars will get you that separation too

[federline]

How about some x67c straight talk?

A) The upgrade to version 1.6.0 from the 1.4.0 I had before seems to have made my x67c more interference resistant. I fished in the crowd on Buffalo Lake without a single x67c interference problem. Not the case last year. I'd have to believe that almost every flasher is represented in a crowd of 50+ people on a Metro Lake in a space of less than a football field, spaced 20 feet apart. But since I do not have access to Lowrance Proprietary information on what they changed, I can't prove this - there is no listing of x67c software fixes in 1.6.0 on their website. Take it for what it is worth.

I have a working template for a procedure of adjusting an x67c for interference. I'm not going to bother posting it here, because I don't have near enough information to be sure. It involves all of these settings: Ping Speed; Chart Speed; Noise Rejection; Surface Clarity; Sensitivity. Ping Speed above 50% activates Hyperscroll, an accelerated sounding speed. Surface Clarity and Noise Rejection are digital signal processing algorithms that can be individually enabled at Low, Med, High or Off, making 16 possible combinations between the two.

The only thing I will say at this point is that I have avoided interference in the Buffalo Lake crowd twice now with version 1.6.0 and these settings: Ping Speed on high & Scroll Speed on High, Noise Rejection on high, Surface Clarity on High, Auto-sensitivity off, auto-depth off, Sensitivity about 90%. There may be other settings I am forgetting. I've had a clean screen each time with no degradation in performance with all this enabled. BTW, I run in Graph Mode not flasher emulation mode - but you can use the Sonar Options menu in graph mode and return to flasher mode, since the Sonar Options menu is not available in Flasher Mode. Honestly, I have no desire to read a flasher display again after using graph mode on ice.

C) The newer x67c hardware in stores now seems to run the program even faster then the first units - I dunno if it is the screen that is faster, or the processor. I think there is definitely something to there being a new hardware revision.

D) These units DO NOT take a chip. You have to send them to Tulsa to be upgraded, it's about a 2 week turnaround typically.

E) There is not an upgrade to the m68c GPS that allows lake contours.

F) "[The LX5 is] the best flasher that I have seen." - Bob Horn. I agree with this statement. The x67c is not a flasher. A flasher is to a graph, what a physical cockpit linkage is to fly-by-wire.

It appears that Lowrance's style of technical improvement is subtle and quiet. This is the second year I've used this unit, I am still learning about it, and they are still improving it.

[crappace]

Federline

When you say Interference Rejection, do you think that is that the same on my 332c as Noise Rejection?

I was on Red Rock last night playing with a fl 8 and my 332c. Now I cant wait to get back and try the settings you have mentioned.

The way I had it, in Graph Mode, there are dotted lines running vertically in the screen. Either way, watching the history makes it fun.

[federline]

I got my terms mixed up - I did mean "Noise Rejection". I'm going back to correct the post now. Without Noise Rejection, I too had dotted vertical lines, but setting the Noise Rejection on at any level cancelled them out for me both times I went out into the crowd.

Imagine that - an LMS-332c on ice. That is what the m68c wants to be when it grows up - use Lakemaster and Navionics chips, and 2400 watts! Too cool. Plus, you don't have to send your unit to Tulsa to upgrade it to the latest software.

email jfederline at federline dot net if you want to share notes.