Aqua VIew VPG

[aquafang]

this is the second year for these. Anyone care to give me a report or experiences. How are they? I have a marcum lx-3 and an FL-8 vex. Just looking to get a new toy this year. are they as accurate and do they read small panfish jigs easily. I mostly fish for perch crappie and bluegills. I use small jigs with maggots mostly.

[hardwaterfishing]

I bought one last year. It worked good until one day it wouldn’t read right. I sent it in and they fixed it for me for free. They also put in the new upgrade for me so that it is up to date with the newer models. As for performance. I like it a lot better than my dads vexilar. For some reason I go stair crazy when I look at that thing for a while. It does not have color. It has five shades of gray. to me it doesn’t make it any harder to read than a vex. I actually think it is easier to read because it is in a vertical column. It also tells you the depth and it automatically sets the range for you the instance you put it in the water. one thing that I noticed about it right away is that there is no noise when it is on compared to a vex. As for viewing small jigs it does not have a problem. it is the same as a vexilar would. Some people say they worry about it going down the hole because it is smaller than a vex. I have found out that it is more stable than one would think on ice. if it is not stable enough im sure you could fasten a piece of plywood to it somehow. The only downside to the VPG is that when it is cold out like say 0-10 degrees it might take 2-3 minutes for it to heat up. I usually just turn it on before I start to set up and its ready when I finish How would you chose between the three when you go fishing? Hope this helps...

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Red rock has them on close out for $89 bucks i just ordered one to cheap to pass on, and I also ordered a power tower from thorne brothers to put my Aqua vu camera and vpg graph in. (mine won't go down the hole now.)Oh can't forget the SOS for on the Cord. Figured If I was going to do it might has well do it right.

[aquafang]

What is Red Rock? Info PLEASE!

[Deitz Dittrich]

I got one last year as well... I also have an LX-5 and LX-3 and an FL-18... I thought the VPG(now called the Showdown) held up just fine! It read small jigs great, and I was very surprised in how easy I was able to see the different colors of grey. My wife loved it as well! For the money, I think its a great unit!

[Agronomist_at_IA]

IT'S AN ONLINE STORE

JUST TYPE IN AQUA VU VPG AND LOOK DOWN YOUR SEARCH ENGINE UNTILL YOU SEE THE RED ROCK STORE.

THE AQUA VU VPG IS $89 ON CLEARENCE FIGURED IF GUYS WERE HAPPY LAST YEAR IT SHOULD WORK FOR ME.

[JP Z]

Agronomist,

What you are going to want to do if you buy it is call the Aqua-Vu customer service and get your software upgraded. Then it will have all the upgrades that were done for this season.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

REALLY! DO YOU SEND IT IN OR DO THEY SEND YOU A SOFTWARE UPGRADE. WHAT ARE OR IS THE UPGRADE TO THE VPG TO MAKE IT LIKE THE SHOWDOWN?

[JP Z]

You would send in the head unit as it is a program flash. You get a better noise reduction setting. Auto Sensitivity settings, noise settings, range settings. A better low batter indicator. I believe it is $10 to cover the shipping.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Sounds like a good deal I'll end up witht he aqua vu show down for $99 bucks gotta love Aqua vu.

[JP Z]

Agro,

did you buy that unit? I see it is no longer available so I figured that meant you bought it.

[blueroof]

I snarfed one up this morning too, a little after 8am. Hard to go wrong as a backup for that price. The boss doesn't enjoy using the Lowrance graph much and I'm not ready to give her the the flasher yet. Thanks for the tip Agro!

LB

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Yes, bought one late last night. They e-mailed me and it should be here on the 5th of October. Must have only had 2 of them. Guess a blind squirl even finds and acorn once in awhile.

[ilovehardwater]

Do they make them so they wont interfrence with a vex/marcum???

[aquafang]

I got one this morning around 5:30am. I was telling a co-worker about it and we tried to find it and it was then priced at $229. I figured I must have got one of the last ones. So, Is the upgrage free other than the shipping cost? Is it then as good as the new showdown?

thanks

[Deitz Dittrich]

Yes as far as I know, the upgrade is free except for the shipping, and once the upgrade is done, it will be the exact same thing as the Showdown without the faceplate saying Showdown.. LOL

JPZ i'm hopeing will correct me if I am wrong.

[JP Z]

Deitz is correct.

Call Customer Service at 866-777-0733 and ask about the VPG upgrade.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Quote:

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Yes as far as I know, the upgrade is free except for the shipping, and once the upgrade is done, it will be the exact same thing as the Showdown without the faceplate saying Showdown.. LOL

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Are you or did you update yours?

[aquafang]

I haven't heard back from them yet. of course I just sent an e-mail to their customer service. I really should call them to get an instant response.

Is the upgrade worth the time to send it in? are there any real advantages that are noticeably better?

[blueroof]

I got the VPG Monday evening and sent them an email yesterday morning around 7:30 regarding the upgrade. I got a fast reply with an RA# back by 8:30am. Already in the mail to be upgraded.

Regarding the changes, I don't know anything specific. In the response I got it said "there have been several changes from the battery power cord to the upgraded software." No specific software features mentioned.

LB

[Deitz Dittrich]

Agro-IA

Quote:

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Are you or did you update yours?

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Yep, there were some issues when you got a VPG too close to another depthfinder when over some bottom contents. The update, has more interfierence modes. The update has quite a bit more to it.. but I figgured it was free, why wouldn't you do it?

So, yes, I sent mine in.. got it back in a few days. But have not tested it yet to see the changes made to it. To be honest, I never really had too many problems with the interfierence to begin with.. but they said this was better.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Quote:

---

I got the VPG Monday evening and sent them an email yesterday morning around 7:30 regarding the upgrade. I got a fast reply with an RA# back by 8:30am. Already in the mail to be upgraded.

Regarding the changes, I don't know anything specific. In the response I got it said "there have been several changes from the battery power cord to the upgraded software." No specific software features mentioned.

LB

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I sent a message from the naturevision site, is this the site you used to get ahold of them to do the upgrade or did you use a diffrent site?

[blueroof]

Ag - yes, I filled out the Help Zone form on the contact page. I got a response from Nina. LB

[JP Z]

Here are the changes. And you can just call NatureVision at 866-777-0733

Automatic modes for SENSITIVITY and RANGE

Auto SENSITVITY – Automatically selects the optimal sensitivity setting given depth and particle density.

Enter auto Sensitivity mode by pressing the SENS button, then hitting the UP button until you reach the top of the range (just past 25). You should see a flashing “A” icon appear above the SENS indicator bar at the bottom of the display.

To re-enter manual Sensitivity, simply press SENS again, and begin adjusting the levels with the UP / DOWN Keys (from 0 – 25).

Auto RANGE – Automatically chooses the optimal depth range for on-screen display.

Enter auto Range by pressing the RANGE button. You should see a flashing “A” icon appear above the RANGE indicator bar at the bottom of the display. (NOTE: You can also enter Auto Range by adjusting Range with the UP key until you have moved past 0.)

To re-enter manual Range, which allows you to manually select depth range, simply press the RANGE key, and begin adjusting the depth range levels with the UP / DOWN keys. (You should see the digital depth range values flash on the left side of the display).

Bottom Track Zoom - Bottom Track Zoom is a valuable new feature that locks onto and zooms in on the

bottom 25-percent of the water column (i.e. In 20-feet of water, Bottom Track Zoom will display just the

bottom 5-feet of the water column.)

Enter Bottom Track Zoom by pressing the ZOOM key until you see the ZOOM indicator bar and the “A” icon appear and flash simultaneously. (NOTE: You can also enter Bottom Track Zoom

By pressing the ZOOM key and then pressing the UP key until you have moved the zoom level past 0.)

To leave ZOOM mode, simply press the ZOOM key again, so the ZOOM indicator icon disappears

from the top of the display.

Updated Manual Zoom – Allows you to adjust Zoom level to focus on any 25-percent of the water

column (i.e. –You can zoom in on the 10 to 15 foot level at a depth of 20-feet)

Enter Manual Zoom by pressing the ZOOM key, then adjusting Zoom level with the UP / DOWN keys.

To leave ZOOM mode, simply press the ZOOM key again, so the ZOOM indicator icon disappears from the top of the display.

New Settings Memory – All active user-defined settings are saved and present each time your shut down

and restart the VPG-ShowDown.

Low Battery Warning – VPG-ShowDown beeps every 30 seconds when Low Battery icon begins flashing.

We recommend recharging your battery immediately.

Ice Mode Modification – VPG-ShowDown displays top 5-feet of water column while in (screen-heated) Ice

Mode.

Advanced Interference Filter – Updated programming effectively eliminates most of the signal

interference, or “noise” emitted by sonar units used in close proximity to the VPG-ShowDown.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Sent in the head unit and got it back about a week ago. ready for the Ice. Lets hope for a cold snap. Got some waxies in the fridge with some crappie minnows in the fish tank.