Aqua Vu

JB

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: Aqua Vu

What the heck are you talking about??
 
eurolarva

eurolarva

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jun 24, 2003
Messages
4,182
Re: Aqua Vu

I have had an aquaview scout for three years. I use it when fishing shallow ice fishing and looking at structure transitions I see on my graph. They are not very good in murky or stained water, and they are pretty worthless at night. I have the sunfish camera and I think it scares walleye however sunfish and crappies will school with it. They are a fun toy and well worth what I paid for it. A decent one can be had for under 200 dollars. Even used it to fix my dishwasher. Found the upper spray bar was not turning.
 
ondarvr

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
Re: Aqua Vu

I've had one for many years, they work fairly well, you'll learn more about the bottom and where the fish are in ten minutes with one than in several years of just fishing. Kids love watching the fish and many times it gets in the way of fishing because everybody wants to see what's going on down there.
 
M

MrBigStuff

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 7, 2004
Messages
497
Re: Aqua Vu

I have a scout w/sunfish head too. They are best for icefishing or completely calm water. Any boat motion and the camera is going up/down with it and that makes it hard to see. Have had many fish encounters with it. A buddy of mine had one before I did, his almost got pulled down the ice hole by a big musky that grabbed the camera head and took off with it. I've had some very large yellow perch approach and start flaring their fins, putting on quite a show trying to intimidate the camera.

Even with the sun shield, the screen brightness and contrast level can make seeing things difficult. Would be nice to ditch the tube and have some better technology, especially if only used in milder temps.

When you're not moving, it's almost impossible to know which direction the camera is facing and trying to turn it by twisting the cable does't give you much control either.

Another source of frustration is the cable maintenance. It's kinda clumsy to deploy and wind back up.

Overall, it was a worthwhile toy. It's lost some of the novelty but still entertaining.
 
E

evinice66

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
Messages
181
Re: Aqua Vu

ive got the ovs 300 which is made by marcum and is the same as the marcum vs 305 and its a little better than the aquaviews... only has a 4 inch screen, but side by side the ovs 300 is better, and guess what? you can order them online for 99$!!!!!! haha its actually better for 1/4 of the cost!
 
waterinthefuel

waterinthefuel

Commander
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Messages
2,728
Re: Aqua Vu

I've owned one for a long time. I have one of the original ones, where it looks nothing like a fish, it just looks like a camera with a fin. I've bumped fish with it, and watched it happen on the screen. It's way way cool! I had to stop using it because I spent the entire trip with my head buried in that little 6" black and white screen.

The only problem with it is that the original 12v battery went DEAD. I can get a new battery for 20 bucks for it, and I might one day. It's just too cool not to. To lower the camera down into a thicket of timber and see a huge bass just sitting right off the bottom looking at the camera, that's something you have to see to believe!
 
M

marquette

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Messages
372
Re: Aqua Vu

we use one ice fishing. in the house withthe windows covered it's pretty easy to see the screen but outside it is impossible to see the screen.
 
1

1Archery

Recruit
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
4
Re: Aqua Vu

I have the aqua vu smart vu 100 and notice the battery goes dead in short order. Question: Can I hook the aqua vu directly to my 12 V boat battery system? Has anyone done this? Thanks,1Archery
 
waterinthefuel

waterinthefuel

Commander
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Messages
2,728
Re: Aqua Vu

Yes, archery, you can. 12 volts is 12 volts. As long as your camera uses a 12v battery, that's the same voltage as your boat and so the boat's battery is fine. I actually had considered wiring mine up to my boats battery with a custom made cig-lighter adapter. It's so cool to see the fish, for instance, right off the bottom over an old road that goes under the water!! Well worth it!

What's really cool is now that I have an inexpensive laptop computer and I bought a cheap analog-to-digital converter that plugs right into my laptop, I can use an RCA cable from the camera to the converter and make the video digital and post it on youtube!! I just realized that! How cool is that??? That way you can see exactly what I see!
 
ondarvr

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
Re: Aqua Vu

Aqua Vu sells a plug in adapter for the lighter socket, all it is is a normal plug with alligator clips that clamp to the unit. Very easy to make one from any power cord from an a old phone or whatever.

My Aqua Vu battery lasts a very long time, I've used it for hours on end and its never gone dead, it must be almost 10 years old by now.
 
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