anyone fished with a showdown?

I just got a showdown never used it before…its an older model I think, has anyone used one and have an opinion of it? How do I tell which version it is? Also is there a software upgrade for it? I just finished rigging a switch to it so that I don’t have to take it out of the case to charge it every time. Seems to work pretty good.

Do’nt worry guys I’ve still got my baby(Lx-5) this one is just for a backup and for people I bring with that don’t have one. Or possibly for fishing 2 flashers at once.

If its old like you say, its probably one of the original showdowns before marcum bought them. There is no software update, but there is a firmware update (5.6). You can send it in to marcum and they will update it to 5.6 and put on a new faceplate, essentially converting it to a current showdown. I think it is $50 plus shipping.

And its funny you say fish two at once, because that is exactly what I did a couple years ago. I was fishing with the marcum in front of me, jigging.. and then had a deadstick in a hole about 3 feet away with a zercom in that hole so I knew if anything took a look at my minnow.

Do not under estimate the power of the Showdown. What makes you think it is an “older” model?

my buddy had his showdown next to my lx-9 last monday, no problems at all. i think he liked my color version of the vertical display tho

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my buddy had his showdown next to my lx-9 last monday, no problems at all. i think he liked my color version of the vertical display tho

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Yeah, there is that isn’t there.

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and then had a deadstick in a hole about 3 feet away with a zercom

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B BK are you a relatic of Suzuki?

Sorry for the hijack.

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and then had a deadstick in a hole about 3 feet away with a zercom

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B BK are you a relatic of Suzuki?

Sorry for the hijack.

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Relatic? You mean relative? No, don’t think so!

I got it from a buddy who’s had it since new. never got used much since he’s got an ice 35 and ice 55. He just said that its the original. It does have the av markings on the side of the base, is there a way to tell if its been updated?

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I got it from a buddy who’s had it since new. never got used much since he’s got an ice 35 and ice 55. He just said that its the original. It does have the av markings on the side of the base, is there a way to tell if its been updated?

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The 5.6 upgrade added adjustable zoom in 1 foot increments. If it has that, its been updated.

The battery is dead but I’m pretty sure when I was playing with it earlier that it was 5ft increments on the zoom. Is there any other benefits to updating it? just trying to figure out if its worth the money for it.

zoom in 1ft increments and a better IR system was the 5.6 upgrade. If you fish around a bunch of other guys, you might want to consider it.

My wife cannot seem to interpret the round face of my LX-5 so I got her a cheap Showdown on E-bay two summers ago. She used it a lot last year and liked the vertical display and automatic depth display, but response was really slow even with ice mode on. Also, the depth was incorrect in weeds.
The sticker on back said VPG3.2 so I assume it was a really old pre-Marcum model and sent it in during summer to do the $50 upgrade. They sent what appears to be a whole new unit but I haven’t remembered to take it with me fishing. I plan to get on the ice tomorrow and will take it out for testing for sure.

John S.

I have a Showdown Toller and a LX3. I prefer the Troller. I like the digital unit compared to the mechanical. I also like the vertical display and the AA battery power. I need to look into some Enloop rechargeable batteries for it. It will run 2 days straight on a set of 6 batteries.My next one will be another digital once the Marcums come down in price or show up in the classifieds.

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My wife cannot seem to interpret the round face of my LX-5 so I got her a cheap Showdown on E-bay two summers ago. She used it a lot last year and liked the vertical display and automatic depth display, but response was really slow even with ice mode on. Also, the depth was incorrect in weeds.
The sticker on back said VPG3.2 so I assume it was a really old pre-Marcum model and sent it in during summer to do the $50 upgrade. They sent what appears to be a whole new unit but I haven’t remembered to take it with me fishing. I plan to get on the ice tomorrow and will take it out for testing for sure.

John S.

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I took the wife’s upgraded Showdown to Rock Lake today. I was very impressed how it worked compared to the old one. It found bottom reliably, displayed correct depth everywhere I went, and response was fast. Every so often I’d see a thin gray line show up so I had to turn on the LX-5 to compare and learn to trust what I was seeing. Very nice separation and resolution.
For the wife (who cannot interpret the round dial, colors, or decipher the depth) the Showdown is perfect. I feel lost without color, and don’t like not having depth hash marks displayed. So the LX-5 is perfect for me.

John S.

I, too, fish with a showdown and I love it! As mentioned earlier it would be wonderful if it came with a color display but the B&W works.

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my buddy had his showdown next to my lx-9 last monday, no problems at all. i think he liked my color version of the vertical display tho

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Funny you say that. I was out with my LX-7 this weekend, and was thinking if Marcum made a color showdown… they would sell a ton of them.