I've had my Ice Troller now for 3 years, I bought the power pack two years ago. By itself on AA power, the battery life is pretty short- usually a couple hours of good usage. The power pack really helped with this problem, and in fact I noticed a gain in performance. I was able to see my lure and pick apart fish in relation to the bait a lot easier. I am considering upgrading to a Vexilar FL-28, but I'll keep the showdown for when I have someone along who doesn't normally do much ice fishing. I also have noticed that in really shallow water this unit doesn't do so great.....which kinda sucks because one lake I fish often for walleyes is pretty much a shallow water game 95% of the time. SO I have to turn down the sensitivity to a point where I can pick up my bait most of the time, and keep my transducer at the top of the hole. It's a great entry level unit, but I need to be able to see fish inhaling my bait, a 2 inch target separation is almost too far away for me
