Recon 5 issues

My fishing buddy has a recon 5 that he bought when they first came out. He said that he has only used it a handful of times and I know he takes care of his equipment.

He asked me to take a look at it this week while we were fishing. We were on a fairly clear water lake and I could not get it to see anything under the water.

Above the water you can see but not what I would expect the quality to be. I tried various setting, turning off the color, adjusting brightness and contrast and nothing helped.

Any suggestions? He said it was like this from day one, I told him to contact Marcum and they may take care of it without charging him much if anything.

As a reference, I had a Marcum 625 so I know how good of a picture they should have.

Silly question, but did he remove the thin plastic film over the lens? I didn’t the first time I put it down the whole and couldn’t see a thing. After I removed it, it was crystal clear.

My video is really clear (depending on water conditions of course). My gripe has been the compass and depth indicators that don’t work. And yes, I’ve done the compass recalibration steps more times than I care to admit.

Jamin wrote:

My gripe has been the compass and depth indicators that don’t work

Is yours the 5 or 5+? I know this subject got some talk a few months ago. I got a 5+ in November and all season it’s been off and on with the direction and temperature. It honestly reminds me of one of my high school girlfriends. I’m ready to be done with it, then it seems to get better, then the direction feature stops working again and I want to call Marcum, but then it starts working again so I don’t wanna dump it….

5+

If I hadn’t picked it up dirt cheap off CL I would be more upset at the features one pays for not actually working. But for $200 at least the camera portion is good enough I’m able to live with it the few times a year I use it. It helps me find weeds or structure and usually within 2-3 holes I know which way to move. A working compass would just save me some battery life on my K-Drill.

$200 life lesson I guess….

How easy is the screen to see out in the sunlight on these? I’d like to pick up a recon or aqua-vu that I can also use in the summer to look around on structure, but afraid I won’t be able to see anything.

I used my recon 5 a couple times in the summer. I used the sun shield bit could clearly see the bottom and watch the walleyes.

Just dropped off my recon 5 today. Second time the blue screen of death appeared this season. Have heard it’s been an issue for quite a few owners. I have no doubt Marcum will take care of it, they’ve always treated me well.