Aquaview underwater camera selection advice

[enduro67]

I have been considering buying one of the Aquaview scout II under water camera systems. Not so much for locating fish but more to use a learning tool. It always anoys me to locate fish that you think are crappie and fish over them without getting any bites or getting tailbites only to find out they are merely small bluegills. It would be nice to be able to drop the camera down and find out what's going on.

So my question is which camera works better...the old IR illuminated or the new spectral cameras. It seems like the colored light would spook the fish more than the IR. Also how well do they work in stained water?

[eurolarva]

Hello and welcome to fishing minnesota. I have the scout and love it but mainly us it for ice fishing. I cant answer your question concering the new lighting but it is well worth the 200 dollars. Go to the ice fishing forum and click on search and then type aquaview and sit back and read. Lots of information here. Here is one of the many links I found from FM archives on AQUAVIEW

[Deitz Dittrich]

It all depends on if you plan on using it at night... I dont... so I went with a larger screen.. I have the Scout XL and love it and use it all the time open water!

[enduro67]

I looked at the Scout II and the Scout XL side by side at cabela's yesterday...the ScoutII had a distinctly clearer picture that the XL. I was wondering if that was just a coincidence or does the SR camera give a clearer image. I can't decide on which unit to get based on that observation....do I go with the pricier XL model which had the poorer quality image but larger screen or go with the Scout II and take a chance on spooking fish with the led's.

I had done a forum search for "camera" and aquavu and came up empty. I just figured out that I have to change the date range so I'll try it again.

[Kyle Sandberg]

I think it might have been the monitor. If I remember right, the cameras are the same. The only difference is the light. I have and IR and while using it at night isn't awesome, you can still see fish and the biggest bonous is that the light reflects the fish's eyes so you can see them moving in.