All-In-One Ice Electronics: Are we close yet?

[deadeye]

Someone will come up with a tough tablet. The iPads are very popular so it won't be long before someone else will make a tablet that can be used in a outdoors situation. It would really be a good idea considering the size. Think of how useful it would be for someone working with a trimble, doing surveys(animal,vegetable and mineral), construction ect.

With Android OS starting to show up on these it shouldn't be long. They make it alot easier for developers to make programs do this kind of thing (less hoops to jump through). We already got Navionics on android phones so we are part of the way there, plus they already can display video...Now just for a Humminbird program with a micro usb transducer and a micro usb fish camera you drop down the hole! Man I almost want to learn how to program this kind of stuff just so I can do it LOL.

[My_Key]

I've noticed that no one has mentioned the Humminbird Ice 55/385ci combo. A local store is selling that unit for $999.99. It has everything but the camera. Personally, way too much money for this guy.

[Chode2235]

The best thing would be to have outputs on all of the electronics. Hbird is doing this, and most of the cameras already have it too.

These outputs could then be strung up to a nice robust netbook with a good screen, a bit of HD space and the like.

You could build some sort of little box that holds the units, the battery etc with your netbook attached to the top.

I know a couple guys who have shockproof netbooks with built in GPS, loaded with the new lakemaster software that they use in their boat. A bit of video in on one of these, coupled with the video out...

The hardware and software is mostly there, already off the shelf. Someone should work and put it all together.

[Ed Carlson]

Large commercial marine crafts use Garmin software on PC's and laptops, in unison with the Garmin sonar module, with multiple video feeds. The most compact self contained version of this is the Garmin 5208, 5212, and the 5215. They system will run from $4,000 on to $7,000, or more.

So it is here, just not in a compact economically viable version. I can't see it being very coat effective to be configured into a small ice-portable unit for a while.

[McGurk]

Surely there can be a unit created that does NO MORE than act as a flasher/GPS combo with a video input for an underwater camera, for less than $1000. Flasher = $500, GPS = $300, Camera = $300. I don't want it to run Windows7, be wifi enabled, or have Microsoft Office on it. Just a single TFT screen, single battery, 3-function unit in one bag that does only those 3 things. What Vexilar did is just like duct-taping a digital camera to your cell phone, so you now have a camera phone. I also don't understand the whole H'bird Ice55/385 combo. It's just 2 separate units, with some accessories for mounting options!

Looking at what is out there now, I'd think Lowrance has the best chance of actually doing this in the near future. They had the x68 Ice Machine that was a GPS and flasher all-in-one, and I know you can convert alot of their existing units to become an ice machine. They already have some great units for boats, and they already sell a bag/battery/ducer package to change them over for winter use. The only thing they would have to do is add a generic camera input and power adapter and some programming to work with other existing camera units, or make their own plug-in camera add-on package for the future. No email or internet explorer needed (yet).