Aqua vu HD700i or Marcum VS825SD

[kudu63]

Was looking at underwater cameras and thinking about either the Aqua Vu HD700i or the Marcum VS825SD.  Looking to see if anyone has experience with either and if you can see the screen outside in daylight.   From what I can tell the Aqua Vu doesn't have any direction indicator which I think would be very useful.  Think both can be run with a pod to turn the camera.   In general just looking for Pro's/Con's for each.    I don't need any recording features and will be use primarily for ice fishing in both portable and permanent house (TV hookup of course....).

[YettiStyle]

I have the Marcum VS625SD, same thing as the 825 but with just a 6" screen instead of an 8" screen.  The video is great and looks awesome on the 50" TV in my shack.  I have about $2k in Marcum electronics but I would still consider the new Aqua Vu HD700i.  I've seen one in action for a brief amount of time this year and the clarity was awesome.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the low light/dark performance of the unit but I would be very intrigued by the IR lights. 

 

You can't go wrong with the 825sd but the Aqua Vu HD700i is pretty legit. 

[AlwaysFishing23]

I don't own a camera. But I've herd a lot of good things about the aqua view HD 700i. That's all I know. Hope this help!

[vtx1029]

On 2/10/2017 at 2:27 PM, YettiStyle said:

I have the Marcum VS625SD, same thing as the 825 but with just a 6" screen instead of an 8" screen.  The video is great and looks awesome on the 50" TV in my shack.  I have about $2k in Marcum electronics but I would still consider the new Aqua Vu HD700i.  I've seen one in action for a brief amount of time this year and the clarity was awesome.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the low light/dark performance of the unit but I would be very intrigued by the IR lights. 

 

You can't go wrong with the 825sd but the Aqua Vu HD700i is pretty legit. 

Does the 625 have the direction arrow? If not go for the 825. My friend has the 825 and I have the LX9 pretty much the same thing both are usable in the day as long as you turn so the sun isn't shining  directly at the screen. That said I think you would have that problem with most any screen. I've been happy with marcum and had bad experiences with aqua vu's so my vote would be a marcum.

[YettiStyle]

2 hours ago, vtx1029 said:

Does the 625 have the direction arrow? If not go for the 825. My friend has the 825 and I have the LX9 pretty much the same thing both are usable in the day as long as you turn so the sun isn't shining  directly at the screen. That said I think you would have that problem with most any screen. I've been happy with marcum and had bad experiences with aqua vu's so my vote would be a marcum.

 

625 is exactly the same, just a smaller screen.  Has the direction arrow, depth, temp, ect..   Personally, I like the 625 over the 825 because of the smaller screen.  Smaller screen is easier to shade in the sun and in the shack you don't really need a bigger screen if you're just going to hook it up to a TV anyways. 

[kudu63]

thanks for all the replies, maybe I can find some end of season discounts.  For the Marcum, the 625 will be fine for screen size being it is same as the 825.   I think I really would want the direction indicator from people I talked to.   But I won't rule out the Aqua Vu HD700I as picture quality I hear is great on them. 

[kudu63]

So what is the difference between the 825C and 825SD?  is the C just color and SD take a SD card ?   If so I really don't need the SD and I don't see myself recording anything.   I see some used ones online for around $450-500 range.  Is this a good price and should I really just look at new ones for a little more money and get a warranty ?    Are the newer ones the same technology as one 2-3 years old (like camera lens, lights...)

[Nordern]

I have the VS825SD and really like it.  (The VS825C is color only, SD does not mean SD slot)

The SD uses a better Sony camera which captures a better image with less light in the water, and it comes with the $50 camera panner included in the box.

The SD also lets you set the camera to color or to black/white, to fine tune to the viewing conditions. The color-only cameras gray-out or brown-out as the light conditions darken.

The SD has a new monitor which is 3x brighter, so you can easily see it in daylight conditions, either on the ice or in a boat.

And the SD has on-screen information including the camera direction, depth and water temp, the previous model doesn't have any of that info.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Nordern

[walleye44]

On ‎2‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:11 PM, kudu63 said:

Was looking at underwater cameras and thinking about either the Aqua Vu HD700i or the Marcum VS825SD.  Looking to see if anyone has experience with either and if you can see the screen outside in daylight.   From what I can tell the Aqua Vu doesn't have any direction indicator which I think would be very useful.  Think both can be run with a pod to turn the camera.   In general just looking for Pro's/Con's for each.    I don't need any recording features and will be use primarily for ice fishing in both portable and permanent house (TV hookup of course....).

 I would get the Aqua Vu HD 700i. That camera looks awesome. I have the Aqua Vu 760CZ with the old style video rca jack. I really like that camera too, but the Aqua Vu HD 700i camera is so much clearer. Aqua Vu is always moving forward and makes great products. 

[magicstix]

I'd lean towards the Aqua VU just because I'd tried a Marcum before and wasn't all that impressed.

[kudu63]

On ‎2‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 0:32 PM, walleye44 said:

 I would get the Aqua Vu HD 700i. That camera looks awesome. I have the Aqua Vu 760CZ with the old style video rca jack. I really like that camera too, but the Aqua Vu HD 700i camera is so much clearer. Aqua Vu is always moving forward and makes great products. 

 

On ‎2‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 10:14 PM, magicstix said:

I'd lean towards the Aqua VU just because I'd tried a Marcum before and wasn't all that impressed.

thanks all for the replies - how does this Aqua Vu HD 700i display show up outside?  So from the replies I'm sure I narrowed my search down for either the Marcum VS825SD or Aqua Vu HD 700i.  Not just have to see if I can find some year end ice specials.

[Hawg]

I would definitely go for the warranty, both brands have a very high failure rate. Both are good about replacements but both fail a lot. It's mostly a moisture/waterproof camera issue. 

[walleye44]

On ‎2‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 6:55 AM, kudu63 said:

 

thanks all for the replies - how does this Aqua Vu HD 700i display show up outside?  So from the replies I'm sure I narrowed my search down for either the Marcum VS825SD or Aqua Vu HD 700i.  Not just have to see if I can find some year end ice specials.

I have the slightly older 760CZ with no "i" at the end. The sunshield helps a ton. Great design.  The new "i" models are way brighter & also have a sun shield.  The Aqua Vu HD 700i is the best camera on the market!