Question for ya

[dwag70]

I fish both open water and ice fishing... I have an FL8 is use for both... I got $250 to spend...Should I buy a graph or an underwater camera ??????

Any help would be great !!!!!

[Willy]

Well, IMO a graph is more useful than an underwater camera. However, for $250 you can't get a whole lot of graph anymore. Sad, but true. A camera is neat and can be helpful at times, but I've had one(actually 2 different ones) for about 5 years, and I hardly ever use it.

[Hookmaster]

Get a graph. The camera gives me bonus information, but I fish looking at my graph. Eagle FishMark 480. $199 with temp. or $239 with speed and temp. This is probably the best buy under $250.

[Random guy]

I got a camera for x-mas a while back it's a blast to use until I relized how many fish I missed because I was so busy messing with the camera The camera is nice for ice fishing, especaily when you send your cel phone to the bottom...it helps the recovery effort.

[Phred52]

dwag70, I useta build cameras for the heck of it. YES, SOMETIMES they're worth their weight in gold, but most often their like the "cartoons at the movies". It's like, If ya can't find'em on your locator, the camera ain't gonna do ya any good. Spend yer bucks on a QUALITY(I wish I could BOLD that type) locator. Then, consider the "cartoons". IMHO,Phred52

[Jeremy airjer W]

Got your back phred52

QUALITY

I agree, If you can't find them theres no sense in trying to look at them. Of course Ice fishing is just 6 1/2 to 7 months away. It sure would be nice to have a camera . You can never start getting your ice fishing stuff too soon!

[Phred52]

Airjer, Yea, I took into consideration the season the question was posed in before I answered. I did go on the presumption that he was asking for the soft water season. HEY! For ice fishin', Let the spendin' BEGIN!!!! DWAG70, The only thing you need to BE SURE you have is infared lighting, It'll light up Mr. Wally's eyes like spotlights! If you aren't sure if you bought infared, try the camera on a dog in a dark room. Those eyes show up REAL well and it'll give you a whole new respect for the dogs ability to see in the dark!Phred52

[dwag70]

Well I broke down and went and got a the graph... I went with the 535pt humminbird.. Cost $200 Look like a decent unit.. This is the portable one and i went this route cause the boat I have is just the standard fishing boat.. 3 bench seats and it spends alot of time by itself..worried someone might steal it... Pretty nice unit comes in a hard case batteries are in the case too. Suction cup is how the transducer attaches to the boat so I get the whole thing off the boat in minutes... I am going out this weekend to give it the first test.... I will let you know !!!!

And thanks for all the advice...

[Ole1855]

dwag70,

Let me give you one small piece of advice on using the suction cup to mount the transducer!!! Many years ago, I bought my first flasher, you know the green box one, well it was all of 2 days old when my fishing buddy decided to take my boat for a ride. I didn't think much of it until I see the green box go flying through the air!! Yup, the suction cup came "un-sucked" and got caught in the prop!! So if you decide to use the suction cup as a way of mounting the transducer to the stern, make sure you tie it off somehow so it can't get caught in the prop.

Ole