Fish-Hawk.Net

The Lowrance X-85 that I purchased in 2000 became my backup sonar unit after I bought a Lowrance HDS-7 in 2009. This past summer, my X-85 started drawing 2.5 times it's normal current (would burn through 8 D-cell batteries in 15 hours). So I opted to replace the X-85 with a new Lowrance Mark-5x Pro (was delivered Thursday) so that I wouldn't be without a backup sonar on week long fishing trips into the boonies. Unfortunately, when I ran the Mark-5x Pro in simulator mode, the fish marks appeared small and sometimes blurry. Here's a video that shows what I'm seeing http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=9lexd4&s=8

One other thing I observed in simulator mode was that increasing ping speeds increased the rate at which screen information moved to the left. Is that supposed to happen?

I'm wondering whether or not I should send it back. Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't get to worked up over what you seeing in the simulator mode. You gotta get it out on the water to see how it really performs. I wouldn't go sending it back just yet. Jon

You were absolutely correct. I tested the unit Wed while musky fishing the Rideau. It worked as expected. Also talked with a Lowrance technician about why increasing the ping speed resulted in an increase in the movement of the screen display while in simulator mode. He explained it as part of the software to represent increased boat speed.