Author Topic: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?  (Read 36810 times)

Offline pikeking

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Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« on: Sep 18, 2008, 11:00 PM »
I was just wondering if any of you have seen it or used it? I was thinking of getting one but I know if you guys aren't using it I don't want it.

Cabela's has it on sale for 249
If fishing was work I'd never be sick!


Offline Mainehazmt

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #1 on: Sep 19, 2008, 01:10 PM »
my stepson just got one   this years model    looks ok to me different   he is here as jjwills123
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Offline sticks

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #2 on: Sep 19, 2008, 04:03 PM »
a few guys i fished with last winter bought one and seemed to workout well for them, i just pulled one out of the bargin cave at cabellas for 130, had to get a new charger for it but other than that it seems to work fine.

Offline Mainehazmt

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #3 on: Sep 20, 2008, 08:31 AM »
a few guys i fished with last winter bought one and seemed to workout well for them, i just pulled one out of the bargin cave at cabellas for 130, had to get a new charger for it but other than that it seems to work fine.
I saw that one    but had the vex anyway    and if it causes interferance    we know well who will be out somewher on a bucket and not with me in my warm shack!   lol    :laugh: :tipup: :tipup:
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Offline phesant

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #4 on: Sep 20, 2008, 12:35 PM »

The showdown has that problem fixed .... quit bringing up old news.... and stay on subject

Offline pikeking

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #5 on: Sep 20, 2008, 03:21 PM »
Play nice boys, It was just a question
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Offline Mainehazmt

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #6 on: Sep 20, 2008, 05:57 PM »
The showdown has that problem fixed .... quit bringing up old news.... and stay on subject
we are!
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Offline rich81

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #7 on: Sep 21, 2008, 07:27 AM »
 ;D  you guys are funny!  is  this fishfinder a flasher type?

Offline Mainehazmt

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #8 on: Sep 21, 2008, 07:44 AM »
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Offline UserX

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #9 on: Sep 21, 2008, 11:39 AM »
i think ill be buying one this year.
     
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Offline pikeking

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #10 on: Sep 21, 2008, 07:15 PM »
I am also going to buy one. Read the specs it has ans does all the same things as the Marcum and the Vexilar, and it's 100 bucks cheaper. I have never had one so I won't know the difference between them, as long as they mark fish. I used my portable fishfinder last winter and it drove me nuts with the scrolling screen, but it did work.
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Offline Neptune

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #11 on: Oct 06, 2008, 04:43 PM »
I just bought one!  Can't wait for it to get here!!!

Offline stumper

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #12 on: Oct 06, 2008, 05:13 PM »
The showdown has that problem fixed .... quit bringing up old news.... and stay on subject

 ::) LOL, He asked about the unit and got an answer which was " on subject" , I wouldnt call it old news though since they still have interference problems, just not as bad as they were.

Offline panfishman13

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #13 on: Oct 06, 2008, 06:53 PM »
i want one but i can't afford it. :P i think it's the bestof all cuz it isn't circular but that's just me.

Offline mdeutsch

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #14 on: Oct 06, 2008, 07:54 PM »
I bought one of these last year and it worked great for me.  It is my first fish finder for ice applications and I guess I don't have any negative comments.  My brother will probably be buried with his Vexilar and even he was impressed by how it worked.  It is very easy to use after a little bit of time get the sensitivity dialed in, but it helped catch fish and that's what is important.

Offline Neptune

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #15 on: Oct 06, 2008, 08:20 PM »
I don't think that interference is an issue anymore...if you watch this video they have a vexilar FL-20 running not 5 feel away and they adjust the interference out no problem
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2272560849604659746&ei=BLnqSMnaPKfcqAOAhY3DAg&q=showdown+fish+finder&vt=lf&hl=en

Offline Skipper

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #16 on: Oct 06, 2008, 09:00 PM »
I have fished with one in a shack with a marcum and a vex in it also... guess what? NO INTERFERENCE PROBLEMS AT ALL.

I will say that it did work well, but not as well as a flasher. It lacked the "feel" of a flasher and I felt totaly lost without my colors. When you get really good at reading a flasher, you look for flickers and color bleed to tell you about movement in the water colum. A flasher can paint you a very clear picture of what is going on down there.

I am not going to hack the showdown because it does what it says and it does it well, but I think a flasher adds a whole new dimension that a VPG misses.

This unit is in the same price range...Marcum VX-1

This is just my humble uneducated oppinion, I dont mean to offend any die hard showdowners. ;)

Offline pikeking

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #17 on: Oct 06, 2008, 09:06 PM »
Neptune, Thanks for the video link. I knew I was buying that for a reason.
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Offline anderson_dc

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #18 on: Oct 07, 2008, 07:40 AM »
Ive never fished with one personally but i will chime in on what Skipper said.  How are you able to tell fish mood and responsiveness to your presentation with the showdown?  Fish size, proximity to your hole, etc are all things that i dont think the showdown would do a good job of showing you when comparing it to a flasher.  Just my two cents...

Offline Neptune

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #19 on: Oct 07, 2008, 07:45 AM »
Neptune, Thanks for the video link. I knew I was buying that for a reason.
the Video is what sold me also.  And the fact that I've never used  a Vexilar\Marcum\Lowrance\Humminbird circular flasher....well actually about 20 years ago the Lowrance Flasher was all my dad had on his fishing boat, it wasn't multi-color and we were always trolling so different application.

the reason I didn't go with a color flasher is number one, I have a video camera.  I don't need the finder to tell me what is going to bite...I'll be watching   8).  I really just want an acurate bottom reading and something that tells me where in the column the fish are!  If I was going to by a color flasher, I would be hard pressed to buy anything but a marcum.  On paper I don't think they can be beat...on paper mind you!

Anyways, my Showdown should arrive in a week or so and I'll give it a try.  My buddy is thinking of getting a Lowrance Ice machine, if he does we will have them side by each and test them out.  I'll try and remember to report back here.

Good Fishing :tipup:

Offline Neptune

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #20 on: Oct 07, 2008, 07:47 AM »
Ive never fished with one personally but i will chime in on what Skipper said.  How are you able to tell fish mood and responsiveness to your presentation with the showdown?  Fish size, proximity to your hole, etc are all things that i dont think the showdown would do a good job of showing you when comparing it to a flasher.  Just my two cents...
Well the LCD isn't just Black/White, on/off.  There are 4 levels of gray for every bar on the screen and the larger a target the more bars it uses to designate the target.  So a fish that isn't directly below the hole is the lightest mark and one that is directly below the hole is black.  Watch the video, you can see exactly what I'm talking about....

Offline Mainehazmt

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #21 on: Oct 07, 2008, 08:55 AM »
::) LOL, He asked about the unit and got an answer which was " on subject" , I wouldnt call it old news though since they still have interference problems, just not as bad as they were.
And if I cant haunt my own kid  esp here he WILL be sitting out on the bucket!   LOL    :roflmao: :roflmao:
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Offline Xpressman

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #22 on: Oct 08, 2008, 11:13 AM »
I bought one of these last year and it worked great for me.  It is my first fish finder for ice applications and I guess I don't have any negative comments.  My brother will probably be buried with his Vexilar and even he was impressed by how it worked.  It is very easy to use after a little bit of time get the sensitivity dialed in, but it helped catch fish and that's what is important.

yes I will be buried with my vex and a couple extra sets of batteries too.  I would hate to run out of juice when I get where I'm going!  ;D

Offline jjwills123

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #23 on: Oct 08, 2008, 11:28 AM »
I just bought one a couple of months ago, and it appears that it will work good! I have owned another unit in the past that was a vertical unit as well, it was a zercom. It worked quite well with no real issues. So when I heard of the showdown, I didn't hesitate on buying it. Cant wait to bring it to moosehead and use it and show it to other people. As soon as I get it out on the ice and fish with it a couple of times I will write a review on it and post it!! :icefish:
Just one more bite!!

Offline Neptune

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #24 on: Oct 08, 2008, 11:45 AM »
Once mine gets here I'm going to try mine in open water first for some Crappie and see how it works out of the canoe!


Offline Airs24

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #25 on: Oct 22, 2008, 11:58 AM »
Defiantly the best unit out their for the price!!!! 

Offline buddah

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #26 on: Oct 22, 2008, 12:42 PM »
At 1000 watts of power the showdown should really shine for deep dwelling creatures like lake trout.It looks like it operates just like the a-scope feature on your high end open water fishfinders like furuno,raymarine,sitex etc.It's just too bad they didn't make it color,I bet it's not far away.

Offline Neptune

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #27 on: Oct 22, 2008, 02:11 PM »
At 1000 watts of power the showdown should really shine for deep dwelling creatures like lake trout.It looks like it operates just like the a-scope feature on your high end open water fishfinders like furuno,raymarine,sitex etc.It's just too bad they didn't make it color,I bet it's not far away.

I know I'm going to get my head bit off for this, but believe it or not the whole color thing is less definitive than one is lead to believe...I will explain...

this takes a basic understanding of geometry, so if you don't have that, you're on your own    ;) 

Transducers all produce a cone in which they "ping" for the bottom and targets within that cone.  Have you ever wondered how a Fish Finder "sees" objects within that cone?  Draw a triangle on a piece of paper and place three dots in a straight line across the interior, one being in the middle, one halfway between middle and the left leg of the triangle and one virtually on the right leg of the triangle.  Using this as our example, would you guess that your fish finder would put all three of these at the same depth?  I use to believe this, but if you measure from the top point of the triangle(the transducer) to each point you will get three different measurements.  This school of fish would show up on your vexilar or on your showdown as 3 fish all at different depths, when in fact they are all at the same depth.  Now you may be thinking, "I have a dual beam transducer on my Vex."  This only gets you a transition from outer to inner cone(which is somewhat of a benefit, and will appear as a rising fish), but still nothing definitive.  Without three transducer points you can't triangulate exact position, which only leaves "guestimation".

Where does this leave us in relation to Color, well the Vex uses color to delineate  several different situations, signal strength, movement from outer transducer "cone" to inner transducer "cone", and fish size.  In the scenario above a Vex would have 3 different color marks, leaving you to wonder which of the three situations above you are dealing with.  The Showdown is showing equal signal returns at different depths, that's it.
Often when you see a fish appear that it is moving up to your bait on any fish finder, it is actually just moving across the same plane toward your bait.  This whole situations impact is greatly dependent on just how deep you are fishing and what scale you have your finder set to.  Have you ever wondered why the bottom reflection on a Vex/Marcum/Lowrance/Humminbird is some mass of Red then the scale of colors below that?  That is the degree at which your device is sensitive to the conical effects I described above and of course the bottom density, ie. mud or rock.

So until three zone transducers are common place, color is just another marketing tool...oh and it looks pretty    ;D


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Offline Mainehazmt

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #28 on: Oct 22, 2008, 02:42 PM »
once you said geometry I got lost   great info   but I like all them pretty colors!   about the only thing that may get me in the Christmas spirit!
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Offline buddah

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Re: Showdown Digital Fish Finder?
« Reply #29 on: Oct 22, 2008, 03:21 PM »
"Transducers all produce a cone in which they "ping" for the bottom and targets within that cone.  Have you ever wondered how a Fish Finder "sees" objects within that cone?  Draw a triangle on a piece of paper and place three dots in a straight line across the interior, one being in the middle, one halfway between middle and the left leg of the triangle and one virtually on the right leg of the triangle.  Using this as our example, would you guess that your fish finder would put all three of these at the same depth?  I use to believe this, but if you measure from the top point of the triangle(the transducer) to each point you will get three different measurements.  This school of fish would show up on your vexilar or on your showdown as 3 fish all at different depths, when in fact they are all at the same depth.  Now you may be thinking, "I have a dual beam transducer on my Vex."  This only gets you a transition from outer to inner cone(which is somewhat of a benefit, and will appear as a rising fish), but still nothing definitive.  Without three transducer points you can't triangulate exact position, which only leaves "guestimation"...................... ...................... ...............



This is why fish show up as "arches" on a traditional fishfinder if you don't have the dumb fish symbol option on.I don't know a whole lot about flashers,but I am familiar with a-scope on traditional sonar and this is what the showdown appears to be using.I understand what you are saying,but on an a-scope the colors definately help you distinguish between a school of small fish and one single large fish(the color is different because of density)it is also helpfull when distinguishing between fish and the bottom when fish are laying right on the bottom,the fish will be a slightly lighter color(orange,sometimes blueish green)than the bottom itself(deep red if your on ledge).It would depend on the scenario that you fish how helpfull the color would be.It's definitely not the end of the world if it's not in color,but once you get used to the color and you know what species show up as what color it's hard to go back.It might not make a difference with flashers,but it does with a-scope.Here's a picture of a color machine with the real-time a-scope mode on the right half of the screen,looks a lot like how the showdown operates,you can see the densist part of the bait ball from the darker color,if there were bigger fish after the school of bait you'd see even darker lines showing up sporadically through the yellow/orange mass.Also notice how easy it is to distinguish between the ball of bait and the bottom.Either way I think the unit will work great.


                                           

                                                               

 



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