Got a chance to use my 560 all last weekend, and thought I'd give a quick report on my thoughts.
Wow.
How's that for a concise opinion ?
I really think the 560 is going to be a super unit. Simple to operate, and all the features live up to their billing as far as I can tell.
The rotating camera is really slick. It took me a couple minutes to get my bearings with how the directional arrow worked, but once I had the hang of it, it was really easy to control the camera to point it where I wanted it. The pan feature was pretty slick. Just leave it panning till I spotted a fish coming in, then could focus on it and watch the fish move in and react to the bait.
I fished solo on Friday in my one man flip-over, and I drilled a hole just outside the shelter for the camrera. Could control the direction from inside, and didn't have to mess with the extra hole between my feet. Sat and Sun I was with another person in my Frabill 2-man, and could watch both sets of lines hands-free with the camera panning.
The lighting system also seems to really cut down on reflective 'snow' in low light. Friday I was on some fairly dingy water with a lot of particulates, and based on experience on the same water with other cameras, I am pretty convinced having the lights above rather than around the lens does help you see better. You could see the reflection off the suspended stuff in the upper 1/3 of the screen. With a different lighting system it would have all been reflected right back at you, but I was still able to see when it was dead dark out.
I only tried down-viewing briefly, but that seemed to work fine as well. It's something I plan on doing more of in the future.
Overall, as you can tell, I'm pretty pleased. Going to be a very handy unit I think. Best thing is the BOSS (my wife) loves the thing, so now hopefully she'll keep her mitts off my flasher Also really curious to see how it works in open water...
I just figured that it is easy enough to just get a 3 bank so when the boat is not in use I can keep all 3 batteries charged. I have not bough a charger yet, maybe I will give it some more thought.
Edit: After thinking this over, with the size, weight, and heat output of the charger (as well as the cost) I think it makes sense to just
buy a 2 bank charger, I have a smaller charger i can use on the starting battery when the boat is sitting at home. Forgive me, for i am a retired engineer and I have to obsess over everything...
Congrats on the motor! I think you’ll like it.
I can’t say much on the charger location but I’ve seen them under the lid in back compartments and under center rod lockers. 160 degrees is more than I expected to hear.
Curious why you’re opting for a 3 bank charger with a 24V trolling motor. Unless you don’t feel you be running you big motor enough to keep that battery up as well?
I did buy an Minnkota Ulterra, thanks for the recommendations. I had a bunch of Cabela"s bucks saved up, which helped. Now i need to
get an onboard battery charger. Where do you guys mount these things in your boat? The manufacturer I am looking at {Noco genius)
says tht their 3-bank charger will run at 160 degrees, seems like a lot of heat in an enclosed compartment? Thanks for any input on this.
Wasn't terrible at a state park beach. Antelope island maybe. I wouldn't recommend it as a beach destination tho. Figured I was there, I'm getting in it.
Question
RK
Hiya,
Got a chance to use my 560 all last weekend, and thought I'd give a quick report on my thoughts.
Wow.
How's that for a concise opinion ?
I really think the 560 is going to be a super unit. Simple to operate, and all the features live up to their billing as far as I can tell.
The rotating camera is really slick. It took me a couple minutes to get my bearings with how the directional arrow worked, but once I had the hang of it, it was really easy to control the camera to point it where I wanted it. The pan feature was pretty slick. Just leave it panning till I spotted a fish coming in, then could focus on it and watch the fish move in and react to the bait.
I fished solo on Friday in my one man flip-over, and I drilled a hole just outside the shelter for the camrera. Could control the direction from inside, and didn't have to mess with the extra hole between my feet. Sat and Sun I was with another person in my Frabill 2-man, and could watch both sets of lines hands-free with the camera panning.
The lighting system also seems to really cut down on reflective 'snow' in low light. Friday I was on some fairly dingy water with a lot of particulates, and based on experience on the same water with other cameras, I am pretty convinced having the lights above rather than around the lens does help you see better. You could see the reflection off the suspended stuff in the upper 1/3 of the screen. With a different lighting system it would have all been reflected right back at you, but I was still able to see when it was dead dark out.
I only tried down-viewing briefly, but that seemed to work fine as well. It's something I plan on doing more of in the future.
Overall, as you can tell, I'm pretty pleased. Going to be a very handy unit I think. Best thing is the BOSS (my wife) loves the thing, so now hopefully she'll keep her mitts off my flasher
Also really curious to see how it works in open water...
Cheers,
RK
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