Showdown

[aquafang]

i'd like to hear from some dedicated users of this LCD flasher. I bought one last year and only played with it. I bought it as a backup and never have really given it a chance. I always just use my LX-3. What do you all think of it? does it see small panfish jigs with some maggies easily? how about interference next to other flashers? I've heard target ID is great. let's hear your comments.

thanks

[aquafang]

Come on man! you mean no one out there uses a showdown? just want a little info.

[Deitz Dittrich]

For the money, its a great unit. I have one, but like you often bring My LX-5. I have it for times when I have a bunch of friends with. When my wife goes, she actually prefers it. She said its easier to read than other units. As far as interference, I saw a guy using one at the Brainerd fishing contest and was able to get rid of all the problems that hardly anybody else was able to.

I have had no problems picking up small lures on it.

[deadeye]

My Dad and one of my freinds both have one and both like it. I have used it and do like the display, its very easy to interpret. I like that the display shows the exact depth, and the zoom works pretty good too.

I sent my Dad's in to get updated and they had it back to me in three days. Its kinda nice that you can send it in and they can reprogram it to make it work better. Can't really do that with a flasher.

My vexilar still comes with me all the time but I don't have a problem taking the showdown with if my battery is dead on the vex.

[Woody61]

When it works it's great but I just got rid of my 3rd one.1st was very erratic having problems with the bottom in dep water or over brushpiles so I had it swapped out and the 2nd one burned up fuses left and right. Swapped it for another and it wont hold the bottom.Called NV and was told to manually set the range, well last week in 15 fow it started reading 236 FOW turned it off and back on(did this last year also)then it works for awhile then acts up again.Got a vex now and i've only used once but like it better so far.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I've got the old VPG with the upgrade done to make it the showdown. Works great. When I use really small jigs sometimes I have to switch off the automatic settings, and set them myself. Besides doing that I haven't had any problems with the unit. I did get the vex float and float stopper to put on the unit for the transducer which was a nice add on IMO. Overall, not a bad unit. I've also found out that it is a little easier to teach people on how to use a sonar with this unit vs. the flasher types if they haven't been around sonar units before. The target seperation seems to work well for me, When fish are close to the bottom I can tell when there is a line just off of the bottom. If the fish are hugging really really tight to the bottom the depth will change to a foot or two shallower and you know that there is a bottom hugger. If your comparing using the showdown to using your LX-3, and you are comfortable with reading the LX-3 I doubt the showdown will add anything or give you anything more then what the LX-3 does, and should make a nice back up unit.

[rocutler]

"received first unit and used 2 days and lcd screen went out. called manufacturer and they said they would send out fully tested unit to replace first unit. received second unit and found transducer to be defective. had to turn sensitivity all the way up to get a jig flicker at 15 foot of water. I know these units to be defective because i tried the second transducer on first unit and still not working, and tried the first unit transducer on second unit then that cured having to raise sensitivity all the way up to see jig on second unit. Too many other issues to mention so i sent both units back and asked for refund. I would change my rating from 1 star to 5 stars if the manufacturer would work out all the bugs."

[charlie1959]

i have the vpg and love it never had any problems,i would buy another