Ice-55 or Showdown

[1900_LE]

I have a Ice-55 but was looking at the Showdown. Is one better then the other? Or should I just order the Showdown and sell which ever one I like least?

[tsande00]

Check out the Lx7!

If it were between the two you mention though I'd probably stick with the 55. It's all a matter of preference though.

The Lx7 gives you the best of both worlds and then some.

[CJH]

Ice 55, hands down in my book.

[Steve Foss]

I've used them both.

Any of the ICE series flashers are more effective than the Showdown in my lake trout world. My preference when it comes to value and what I fish for is the ICE 45, but regardless, the Showdown comes in second compared with the 55, 45 or 35.

Panfish or walleyes? That could be a different matter altogether.

[fisherman-andy]

No doubt the bird gets the nudge here easily.

[hookncook]

I love the Marcum Showdown. I have both models the ice troller an the 5.6. Personally, I like the vertical display. I have a hard time understanding the circular flashers.

Although if I knew it was coming, I would have held out for the newest model. Bells an whistles, I like the ability to know your cone.

[pushbutton]

I am with Hookncook, maybe were just in the "special" category Ice fishing is relatively new to me and did not grow up with staring at the whirling, blinking, flashing screens........way too much going on for my self induced deteriorated synapses. Also wish i had the duel beam, but still catch plenty of fish......

[PerchJerker]

I have a Ice-55 but was looking at the Showdown. Is one better then the other?

Both of those units do a good job of what they're supposed to do, ie. mark your bait and mark the fish. If you go with a ShowDown you should consider the ShowDown Dual Beam model, having the narrower beam option is a very nice feature in many situations.

Other than that, the biggest differences you're likely to notice are that the display on Bird is circular and the display on the ShowDown is vertical, and the Bird is color and the ShowDown is grayscale. Another difference is that the Bird is bigger, ie. it sits up higher, it has a bigger display, it takes up more room in the house, etc. Hope that helps!

[fishwater]

Any of the ICE series flashers are more effective than the Showdown in my lake trout world.

I've had the opposite experience . I've only used the dualbeam Showdown a few times deep, but I found the showdown had much better jig tracking fishing water over 140'. Did you try the dualbeam Steve?