Underwater fishing cam

[bearb8er]

I'm using an older marcum that is starting to have some issues. Are these budget amazon cams any good?Better to just stick with another marcum or aquaview?

Thanks

[Fradaburidi]

I have a $200 Eyoyo that is better than nothing but I don't recommend it. Maybe is just me abusing it but some of the cables broke at the connectors and this is my first season with it. But regardless of that, you can tell is not very good quality.

As they say, you get what you pay for.

I'll have to stick with it for now.

I don't know about other cameras but what I hate the most about this one is the time it takes to point it to the other hole where your lure is and after you can see it it keeps moving either because of some water current or the cable keeps untwisting.

[Brodhead]

Get another Marcum. The base model(385 or 485) is plenty good enough. I've used the cheap Amazon ones and they are cheap for a reason. And my base model Marcum blows the top end aquaview out of the water

Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk

[mlee]

My eyoyo has been great....6 or 7 years old and no issues.

[thorne]

I have a Marcum 825SD going on 14 years now....Can't see me changing brands if this beast ever dies...lol...some of the best money I have ever spent!

[bearb8er]

Originally Posted by thorne

I have a Marcum 825SD going on 14 years now....Can't see me changing brands if this beast ever dies...lol...some of the best money I have ever spent!

I'm still using a vs250 that is about 17-18 yrs old. It's been really good but is developing some issues. It's been discontinued since about '08 so I'm sure fixing it probably isn't a real viable option.

Anyone have some wisdom on when stuff like this is most likely to go on sale?

[fish99]

I have had a few marcum cameras and they don’t seem to last.
I have a vexilar now for 4 years and no problems and way better picture quality.

[-JR-]

Are any of them working once the sun goes down

[Fradaburidi]

My Eyoyo has IR lights and they work out of the water but not in the water.

All I can see it's a lot of circles/bubbles that constantly seem to move towards the camera. Maybe if the fish is very close you can see it, but I stopped using it at night, it might even be illegal in Alberta since the light is not attached to the line. (It Is Unlawful To: Use lights to sportfish unless the light is attached to a hook or line used in angling. This includes visible lights that are emitted
by underwater cameras.) I'm not sure if IR are visible or not.

I guess you need distilled water for them to work, it seems like the lake water has too many impurities.

I've heard none of them really works.

It's almost impossible not to stir up some impurities either when setting up the camera or jigging or pounding the bottom to attract the fish.

[Poppa]

Give me AquaVu or give me death... Gussy swears by 'em, good enough for me! We have 2 AV715c's that we never leave home with out. Some just use 'em for scouting, but I enjoy leaving it up and watching for signs of life while fishing...

[SamSteele]

I’ve had a Marcum VS485C for at least 10 years and it still works great. I swapped the battery for a Dakota Lithium 10 amp hour and it ran all day today without any issues.

SS


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sns2]

Originally Posted by Poppa

Give me AquaVu or give me death... Gussy swears by 'em, good enough for me! We have 2 AV715c's that we never leave home with out. Some just use 'em for scouting, but I enjoy leaving it up and watching for signs of life while fishing...

I have had the marcum 485 and currently have the Aqua Vu 715c. I’d give a hearty recommendation to either unit.

[Frank_NK28]

Originally Posted by Poppa

Give me AquaVu or give me death... Gussy swears by 'em, good enough for me! We have 2 AV715c's that we never leave home with out. Some just use 'em for scouting, but I enjoy leaving it up and watching for signs of life while fishing...

Yes anything Gussy promotes is good by you, we get it. Every post...if it's good enough for Gussy..

You may want to try some real world experience some time...I had an AV715 for a couple seasons. Guess what? It's nowhere near the camera the Marcum LX9L I replaced it with is.

[Prvallee]

I have the cheap Eyo cam with IR lighting (2023), I have the original Cabelas fish hunter 10 inch screen (early 2000 ish) and i had and aqua view 614C [2024}, that bought used once and was defective from cabelas, have since bought a used Aqua view 614c[2017]. All of the cameras have there good and bad, at night time you have to remember light or IR need something to bounce off of. At night i have been able to use all of these units the trick is to point them vertical straight down and they will all work.Tthe view is limited to about 6-15 feet depending on the camera, the eyo is about 6 feet with the IR option, the Cabela's has both IR and white light, it is good for about 10-15 feet at night straight down, the Aqua vu, is about the same at night 10-15 straight down, as for day time they all show fish about 15-20 feet away depending on water clarity (sylvan lake), after that is becomes a shadow on the screen. I have the expensive ones and the cheap ones, if you take care and use caution the Eyo will last for year my fishing buddy had his for 6 years now and still works like new, i guess it all depends if you treat the $120 Eyo with the same care you would the $1200 marcum or the $600 Aqua vu, then it will probable last just as long. The eyo is deffenitly made to get replaced every 3-5 years, at the cheap price point it serves as its intended purpose. and on the bright side technology is always improving so new cams will get better over time. just my $0.25 lol

[Frank_NK28]

Originally Posted by Prvallee

I have the cheap Eyo cam with IR lighting (2023), I have the original Cabelas fish hunter 10 inch screen (early 2000 ish) and i had and aqua view 614C [2024}, that bought used once and was defective from cabelas, have since bought a used Aqua view 614c[2017]. All of the cameras have there good and bad, at night time you have to remember light or IR need something to bounce off of. At night i have been able to use all of these units the trick is to point them vertical straight down and they will all work.Tthe view is limited to about 6-15 feet depending on the camera, the eyo is about 6 feet with the IR option, the Cabela's has both IR and white light, it is good for about 10-15 feet at night straight down, the Aqua vu, is about the same at night 10-15 straight down, as for day time they all show fish about 15-20 feet away depending on water clarity (sylvan lake), after that is becomes a shadow on the screen. I have the expensive ones and the cheap ones, if you take care and use caution the Eyo will last for year my fishing buddy had his for 6 years now and still works like new, i guess it all depends if you treat the $120 Eyo with the same care you would the $1200 marcum or the $600 Aqua vu, then it will probable last just as long. The eyo is deffenitly made to get replaced every 3-5 years, at the cheap price point it serves as its intended purpose. and on the bright side technology is always improving so new cams will get better over time. just my $0.25 lol

Well said and real reviews by someone who has owned several and learned the differences between each. Great post.

[bearb8er]

Originally Posted by Frank_NK28

Yes anything Gussy promotes is good by you, we get it. Every post...if it's good enough for Gussy..

You may want to try some real world experience some time...I had an AV715 for a couple seasons. Guess what? It's nowhere near the camera the Marcum LX9L I replaced it with is.

How do you like the LX9? Has both the sonar and camera? Both work in laker deep water? The unit intrigues me, just not sure I want a 2in1 system. Got to play some with the LiveScope/panoptics a couple weeks ago and think I'd like a separate head that I could add that to.

Who is Gussy BTW?

[Egymcara]

Originally Posted by bearb8er

How do you like the LX9? Has both the sonar and camera? Both work in laker deep water? The unit intrigues me, just not sure I want a 2in1 system. Got to play some with the LiveScope/panoptics a couple weeks ago and think I'd like a separate head that I could add that to.

Who is Gussy BTW?

I've had an LX-9 since 2012! Great unit at the time but I wouldn't buy one nowadays. I do use the camera still, when I'm scouting. If you want a camera for deep water, get an aquaview with 125' cord. If you want a sonar, buy a vexilar. I use my livescope 95% of the time now, my vex for early ice lake trout.

Just my 2 cents

[jpohlic]

I've had a few Eyoyo, the picture is really good, the wires are very thin and we've torn one and had to replace it after about 5 years. Had one Eyoyo get water in it after only one full season. Since then I've bought two of just the camera, no battery or screen, for about $65 each on amazon, and hook them up to the 12V in my ice shack and then to the TV. I couldn't imagine spending $400+ on a brand name unit.

[Fradaburidi]

Originally Posted by jpohlic

I've had a few Eyoyo, the picture is really good, the wires are very thin and we've torn one and had to replace it after about 5 years. Had one Eyoyo get water in it after only one full season. Since then I've bought two of just the camera, no battery or screen, for about $65 each on amazon, and hook them up to the 12V in my ice shack and then to the TV. I couldn't imagine spending $400+ on a brand name unit.

How much the shack and the TV?

[thorne]

Gonna bring up another thing with these cameras...there are a lot of posts about batteries and hours of use and all that...so being a guy that likes to think outside the box and just try stuff of a typical "Unconventional" nature, just to see what happens...I looked at what exactly the power requirements of a unit like my Marcum 825sd required around 5 years back and did a little experiment. So I always have a Nautilus booster pack in my truck just in case, and have on occasion clipped the leads to my camera when the camera batter died...ok no issue. So eventually that's all I used was the power bank since it could go for weeks. Hooking the leads from the booster to the camera wasn't a huge issue...but was a bit finicky. So I went to the garage to come up with an easier system to do so...not really a big deal, but then I had an idea...I looked at what the provided battery charger output was that came with the camera, and it was actually withing what was needed to actually power the camera itself...k...so I took the batter charger, clipped the leads on that to the power hook up leads on the camera and plugged it in the 110v in the garage...and the camera ran perfectly! So of course I needed a real world test, so next trip to the ice I just used the Nautilus power pack as usual, but this time plugged the new set up into the 110v AC output of the power pack instead of directly from the 12V DC and again, the camera worked perfectly...been doing this now on my and my wife's camera for the last 5 years with no issues. Cameras can go for days on end non stop if I wanted to. I'm sure there will be many comments as to why this is wrong and "Don't do it!" And ya maybe not on an in warranty item and what not...but math is pretty simple...a device is labeled with its power requirements...as long as you provide those requirements regardless of delivery source...then it should be all good. I have since also used this exact method to power remote panners and all other sorts of stuss since electronis theses days use less and less amperage, and it seems as if the chargers can themselves can provide the required amperage to operate. The other question I had is would the higher usage of the charging devices cause those to fail....well I guess time will tell, but so far 5 years an no issues, no overheats or such. I periodically hook them to a multi meter to make sure they still put out the required power...and again, so far so good! Just convenient for me to have one power source to run everything knowing I don't have to worry and batteries dying. Ya it's a few more cables, but I still find it's easier and simpler then charging a bunch of batteries after every trip and watching them slowly die one by one into the late afternoon. The pack also powers a fan, light, and recharges phones and such if needed....anyway just my 2 cents and sharing a little experience with my little experiment. Now for the blah, blah, blah...I don't recommend or suggest anyone try this unless you have a working knowledge of electrical functions, and have a 100% expectation that you will fry what ever electronic device you attempt this with...using any electrical device outside the manfactures stated specifications can result in damage to the unit, possible fire, personal injury, or even death. There it is...do not try this at home unless you know with100% positivity that you know what you are doing!!

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Fradaburidi

My Eyoyo has IR lights and they work out of the water but not in the water.

All I can see it's a lot of circles/bubbles that constantly seem to move towards the camera. Maybe if the fish is very close you can see it, but I stopped using it at night, it might even be illegal in Alberta since the light is not attached to the line. (It Is Unlawful To: Use lights to sportfish unless the light is attached to a hook or line used in angling. This includes visible lights that are emitted
by underwater cameras.) I'm not sure if IR are visible or not.

I guess you need distilled water for them to work, it seems like the lake water has too many impurities.

I've heard none of them really works.

It's almost impossible not to stir up some impurities either when setting up the camera or jigging or pounding the bottom to attract the fish.

Most people likely aren’t even aware of the fact that using lights of any kind on your camera while fishing is illegal here.

[Frank_NK28]

Originally Posted by bearb8er

How do you like the LX9? Has both the sonar and camera? Both work in laker deep water? The unit intrigues me, just not sure I want a 2in1 system. Got to play some with the LiveScope/panoptics a couple weeks ago and think I'd like a separate head that I could add that to.

Who is Gussy BTW?

I can't say about laker deep water as I have never run it deeper than 12 feet to date. I have used the sonar side to 30 feet when locating bottom and it works very well. It's neat that you can overlay different screen options on while running the camera but 99% of the time once I am set up I just run the camera by itself. I LOVE the built in recording feature, especially pre-record. You can select from 1 to 15 minute video captions. If you catch a fish once you land it you click on one of the arrow buttons and it saves the past number of minutes you pre-selected up to when you pushed the button so you have your strike and fight recorded if they were visible without having to leave the camera on continuous record. I got some great pike action on it this past winter including a 15lb-11oz that hammered a 2 3/4" perch rattlebait I was jigging. It came up and bumped the camera. I jigged a couple hard short strokes to make some noise and sure enough it turned, looked at my jig and swam over and inhaled it. Got it all on video. Was really cool. The Lithium battery is great. How long it will last I do not know but I have put two 10 hour days back to back without running out of power.

[I’d rather be outdoors]

I’ve had 2 marcum units fail on me. Think the Eyoyo is 7 or 8 now and only had to replace a battery (found on Amazon). All electronics are hit or miss, it’s a gamble.

[Frank_NK28]

Originally Posted by bearb8er

How do you like the LX9? Has both the sonar and camera? Both work in laker deep water? The unit intrigues me, just not sure I want a 2in1 system. Got to play some with the LiveScope/panoptics a couple weeks ago and think I'd like a separate head that I could add that to.

Who is Gussy BTW?

He is poppa's hero...

https://www.facebook.com/gussyoutdoors/

Here is some pics I was looking for from the LX9L in different modes...

Here is a video...the camera had what looked like a water spot but it must have been a factory defect so they replaced it with a new camera under warranty.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1522892551620840

[Speckle55]

I use an Aqua-Vu Micro 5.0 which is awesome.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fbq_bfhIB4

Small camera does not bother fish

David