Received an email from corporate Friday afternoon stating that MarCum has been sold to Nature Vision. I will try to talk to Jon later today and relay any info I can. Just want to say, it's a very sad day for me personally... I poured my soul into this from the beginning and enjoyed every minute of it, and against the odds we did it. MarCum sonar engineers pushed the envelope to give us more for less and delivered a reliable fish catching machine. It was an absolute pleasure to represent them personally and professionally. I want to thank MarCum for a great seven years... Ray, Duane, Paul, Jon and Chris will be missed and I'm very glad I got a chance to help promote the best 3 solor sonar in the industry. To Dirk, Scott and Steve thanks for your support as staff you guys are the best. To my family here, thanks for being my friend, promoting the LX series flashers and OVS/VS camera's and believing in me. Tough day ...

Timmy - whats your take on how this will change things? Most dont see it as a big deal. Will Nature Vision keep its line of Aqua-Vu and just add and keep producing Marcum flashers? Alot of folks see this buy-out as a potental good thing...

I'm still waiting to talk to Jon however I did call MarCum's old number and it went to Nature Vision customer service and a rep answered quickly.

I think that is crazy W T F?

exactly [PoorWordUsage]?

I'm saddened to the point of being speechless.............

But look on the bright side guy's, at least now Nature Vision has a good product to sell instead of some junk like they had in the past.

Geez, thats too bad. But they had a reason for selling out. Hopefully it was for a good reason. I was tired of my Vexilar, and wanted to try something different. My Vexilar works good, and has for years. I never had to send it in for service, as it never failed. It did exactly what it was designed to do. I like the lx-5 unit, it offered more than Vexilar units. That's why I bought it. I don't listen to hype when it comes to buying any thing. Matter of fact, some of the hype about Marcum on this forum put me off a little bit. I read a post where one man said that he had a hundred walleyes under him, and if it wasn't for his Marcum he wouldn't have known that. Come on! My lx-5 never told me what kind of fish were under me. A post above mentions that Aqua-Vu sells junk. Well, it looks to me that Aqua-VU is still in business. Marcum is gone. So Aqua-Vu might not make as much junk as the man said. Bashing someones products is bad JuJu. I never saw Vexilar bash Marcum, or visa versa. They make product comparisons. Our product does this, theirs does that, etc..I just hope the new company honors warranty of the units that Marcum sold. Right now I feel like I bought a white elephant. But on the bright side, the lx-5 works well, and I'm happy with it.

On April 30, 2008, Nature Vision closed on the acquisition of certain assets of MarCum Technologies, Inc. (MarCum), a manufacturer and distributor of electronic sonar and underwater camera devices, pursuant to the terms of an Asset Purchase Agreement dated April 30, 2008 among Nature Vision, MarCum, Duane Cummings, Ray Marzean and Paul Thorne, (the "Asset Purchase Agreement").

The transaction involved the acquisition by Nature Vision of equipment, inventories, intellectual property, general intangibles and certain other assets of MarCum for an undisclosed purchase price. The purchase price was paid in cash at closing. The purchase price is subject to adjustment for the final inventory reconciliation as provided in the Asset Purchase Agreement.

"We are very excited to fold MarCum Technology into our family of branded outdoor recreation products," states Jeff Zernov, President and CEO of Nature Vision. "In addition to their current product offering the acquired patents and trademarks give us a very strong intellectual property platform to build upon."

Nature Vision, Inc., a publicly held corporation headquartered in Brainerd, Minnesota, created Aqua-Vu, the first self-contained underwater viewing system in 1997. Founded by President and CEO Jeff Zernov, Nature Vision, Inc. continues to reinvent the outdoor experience.
Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Since Marcum, or Nature Visions hasn't clued in the "Pro Staff Rep". from the defunct Marcum Co. yet. Here's the report off the PR.

The man, me was not talking about Aqua-view at all. I was talking about the other junk they tried to make a quick dollar on off the ice fisherman. Like the folding chair-hut and the "auto-jigging" tip up. I'll wait and see what Tim hears from the guy's and hopeefully we'll get a answer on what happened. Heck who know's Duane and Ray might of just wanted more time to fish.

I hope the quality of the original products are not sacrificed to help pay for this purchase.

Just wanted to let you guys know I received a very up beat call from a close friend and associate. I'll know more later this week but from what I have learned has me smiling

Hey waterman,
thanks for the Fishing reports....... wait a minute......you haven't posted any fishing reports on here have you?? But hey at least you can surf... good job.
And if it weren't for information either good or bad on these forums we would pretty much buy just what the person at the store recommends, so please don't say you don't listen to any hype, you listen and read like everyone else, it's good for business. And it influences what we buy, if you didn't you wouldn't own a vex and buy a marcum... why'd ya buy it?? your vex worked fine, no service, did what you wanted it to do?? The best research you can do on a product is through these forums silly. And you know Aqua-vu don't make junk?? just because they by a company that makes a good product, doesn't mean there other products ain't junk..."the Man" is entitled to his opinion you know. but anyway, Yes, I have been able to tell what kind of fish are under me with my Marcum... it's kinda easy when you actually fish a lot, and maybe a big lake with a million walleye in it.... see when there is a BIG red mark, and not a little one...... it mean a big fish.........well I'm sure you know how to read your 2 flashers... Right? if not I know a guy that is an expert at teaching how to read them ....
And FYI, if you read the first post Marcum did clue in the "Pro Staff Rep"... Here's Your Sign"
Well, I look forward to reading more of your "Fishing" reports, take care

sorry if i ruffled any feathers, it's not my intentions. but let me say a few things. i watched this forum for years. i used to post on it a lot when i was in n.y.. a matter of fact i fished with timmy, big buce, tony on ice, billy 2 buckets, kevin riley. i have spent many evenings at the 19th hole at ely park with jay, augerboy, big buse, tony on ice. i met maki, and a ton of guys that know their stuff... i have had dinner in tanks home. i have fished with all the guys that used to post here, but now they don't post any more. i wonder why? i been gone for a few years. i sold my own business that i had for years in n.y., i had other business ventures calling. this is Keebo. i missed all the guys, i think about many of you guys, and the fun i had fishing together. you guys that know me, know i try to buy the best i can find, and yes, i have bought equipment when i watched what some of the guys bought, and tried out. all the guys that post here now, are all new guys, the only originals are jay, and timmy... i went to the dealer who i bought my lx-5 from, i wanted to know who was going to warrant my unit. he is warranting the flashers he sold. he kept a few units to give his customers if they failed. i'm happy with this, he's a good business man, he has to keep his customers happy, even though the warranty may have been void since the sale of marcum. the dealer seemed to know a lot about marcums closure. the dealer down here kinda knew about the sale, so someone had to tell him, probably the factory rep.....and to the man that said i never posted on this sight, well i probably had hundreds and, hundreds of posts on here when i lived in n.y... i don't believe any one, when they tell me their flasher tells them what kind of fish is under them, unless they're fishing a hatchery, thats hype. i been around too long to listen to it.

hey salmonsucker, please be curtious, use my screen name. if you noticed my post, the reason i wanted an lx-5 is because i wanted a unit with more options. you will also note that i said i am happy with the unit. oh, by the way, i don't need anyone to show me how to use a flasher. i think your post was completely out of line toward me... the other issue i had a question on was factory warranty, the dealer solved that for me. another question i had in my mind was why it took 3 or 4 days for a factory pro staff rep to find out that the company, that he was supposed to have his fingers on the pulse of, failed to let him know the co. was being sold out? that seems a little strange to me. the dealer down here knew they were on the auction block for awhile. the post i put in about the sale was in the financials in the journal april 30th. the rep mentions that it was last friday when "corporate" got in touch with him, when "corporate" was sold the 30th of april.. i'm sure that the guys that owned marcum poured their hearts, and souls into their company, i'm sure they had a valuable company. if it wasn't of value, the other guy wouldn't have touched them. read the pr i posted, it tells you that. also take note that the other co. is publicly owned, so a vote had to take place before they bought the co.. the stock holders voted for the sale. they bought them with cash. you bought a flasher but did you buy any marcum stock? i looked at nrvn, the anacronym for nat. vision on the nazdaq, they're stock was down when they bought marcum. if you want to help a company, buy their stock. i see the post from timmy says he has some news from friends, that will come out later. if you want to know about the sale call your broker, and become a stock holder, and you'll know everything that is going to take place with the sold company, and the buyer. it's not mystifying or secret.

Keebo - Holy smokes man how the heck are you, wonder where you went to man? Pennsylvania eh?
19th hole man that does bring back some good memories.

Well some people that use to post got banned, even meand I think Jay too.... Some don't post much at all like Riley and Billy Gunn comes in from time to time. On the MarCum sale I kind of had a feeling it was in play in December but I was hoping they could slug through it. I know that the big three did all they could to keep em going but here we are now.

Keebo - I just wanted to say to you that Salmonseeker73 is a good guy it's just that a certain individual has been flapping his ego on another board and copy and pasted my post here. No biggy... HEY GUYS THIS IS Keebo welcome him to the board!

You still smoking those stoagies?

Hey all, lets play nice or you'll get sent to the principals office...

Keebo - Great to hear from ya! I had a sneaky feeling that was you way back when you posted about fishing up this way and all the eaterys you stopped at. Things have changed in here - all things change. The 19th Hole is no more. It was time for us to get out and move on. Just like you and your business. Rob and I made some money and had a ton of fun up there, learned alot too. You certainly spent your fair share of time gawking at the waitresses up there...
Things blew up in here and many went thier own ways. I still talk to most everyone, well all but one. I chat with B3b often and he always asks about you - I told him you became a Budhist Monk somewhere in PA, lol...
I see Buce around town and talk to him. My sister bought a house over in Endwell and Dan has done some work there. I was at a friends house today who graduated with Dan. I looked up his picture in the yearbook, funny stuff but Dan-o dosen't look much diff...

As far as the Marcum thing - I never cared one bit what brand my flasher was or what kind of vehicle I drove. I had all the vex's except the 20 and my LX-3 had more featurs and I certainly liked the display better.
I could see how those that put alot into the company would be saddened but in the long run this will probably be a good thing as companys need competition or they'll just sit on thier heels. So as Marcum did and Lorance has done im sure Nature Vis will step up to the plate with something to offer that will move technology forward...
Let me know if your ever up this way...