aqua vu showdown

[Sullymon]

I must agree BigRedOnIce ... I could care less what the pros use as well.  The Vexilar works the best for me and that's that! 

It's no coincidence that 10% of the fisherman catch 90% of the fish ... and most of them use use a Vexilar. 

Just ask any dealer that sells ALL flashers: Hummingbird, Vexilar, MarCum, and the Showdown flashers which ones they think are the best all around ... Vexilar comes out on top every time.  Also ask them how many problems they've had with the Showdown.

Truth is they ALL work ... any flasher is better than no flasher!

This is very informative + I recommend reading it for those who would like to learn about sonar + flashers: http://www.vexilar.com/pages/support/support_tips.html

[Sullymon]

As for what the pros use, I could care less.  I only pay attention to what the most successfull fisherman that I know use.  And they ALL use Vexilar.

You hit the nail on the head BigRed

[Sullymon]

most pro's fish with vex cause they get sponserd by them and they have to. and the marcum lx-5 does have a low power setting. I dont know I'm just not impresed with a vex, it just does not do what my showdown can. expecailty in the weeds with a vex you see this blob of greens reds and yellows, you cant tell what is what, with my showdown the weeds show up as a light gray blob, and when a fish comes through it shows up as a solid dark black line, there is no guessing

I wasn't aware that it has a low power setting.  Are you sure?  I'm not talking about lowering the gain setting, I'm talking about an actual low power mode that cuts the power 50%.  I've found that this feature is absolutely critical for fishing 18 fow or less ... the difference is HUGE.  Without it I noticed fish get spooked very easily.

[fathead]

got the chance to use a showdown last year for the season.
1st flasher i ever used. i wasn't impressed enough to buy 1 so
this year i borrowed a fl-8, the bottom line vex, from a friend that
had an extra 1. not even close once you figure out the vex and
the gain you can't beat a vex save your money and buy a VEX
don't get me wrong they all work, but save you money and
buy the VEX!!!!!!!! 

[ICEROGUE]

yes it has a 0-20 low power setting, my buddy has a marcum lx-5.

[Sullymon]

Yeah for me the low power mode is crucial ... if I have my FL-18 set on 0-20 low power ... then switch it over to 0-20 normal ... the fish scatter and spook big time.  If I pick up the transducer and point it towards me, then switch between the 0-20 normal and 0-20 low power ... the difference is HUGE!  My first Vex ... the FL-8  didn't have that feature so I had a tough time fishing 18 fow or less without spooking fish.   The low power mode and auto-zoom are features that are much more important than I thought they would be.  Originally I didn't think I needed that and went with the FL-8 ... boy was I dissapointed.  90% of my ice fishing is in 20 fow or less.