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Hello everyone,
This past weekend was my maiden voyage on my Outcast Fish Cat 4 Deluxe. I took it out on Hume Lake up in the Sequoia National Park and wanted to do a quick review of my FishHunter Pro castable sonar unit.
The FishHunter Pro is the middle level sonar unit from FishHunter that is a bobber like sonar unit that streams its readings into your smart phone. It pairs with your smartphone via WiFi as opposed to the entry level unit that pairs via bluetooth. It competes with other units such as the iBobber, Deeper, and SonarPhone. I decided to go this route with my float tube due to it's smaller size and easier hook up capability compared to traditional sonar units.
I only have basic first hand knowledge of the traditional units so I cannot make too many comparisons, but I can offer my initial experience with the FishHunter. My first test of the unit was at my local park attaching the unit to a heavy bait caster rod setup. The unit weighs in at 5.5 oz. so it is heavy. This has an impact on what rod you can use to cast and also the amount of splash created by casting. I used 40lb. braided line and limited my casting to short distances to be cautious. Pairing the unit was simple enough. You connect with your smartphone via wifi just like you would at home and the brochures claim a range of 150 ft. I never casted much more than half that distance. I did get some occasional connection issues but repairing takes up little time. The unit must be in a minimum of 4 ft. of water to work and reads to a depth of 150 ft.
At the local park, I didn't find much in the way of fish with the sonar unit. For all I know, I may have scared them away with the heavy splash. The sonar brought back info on the depth which let me know the depth in my local park with my casting range was not more than 14 ft. deep. The unit also reads out water temperature and produces sonar images of the bottom contour. I keep my iPhone in a waterproof see through pouch that hangs around my neck and keeps it from getting wet. My major issues with this test was casting weight related.
This past weekend I used it on my maiden voyage of my float tube. This time I tethered it to my float tube with the included 15 ft. tether and drifted it out as I kicked around the lake. No issues with weight or splash with this hook up and only one disconnect from wifi, when I retrieved the bobber out of the water to toss into a different spot. The sonar unit worked out so much better in this set up and found all sorts of fish as I drifted around. There is a small alarm that sounds when fish come into view and I found many fish hovering around the 10 ft. mark in what I found to be a 24 ft. deep lake with a relatively flat grassy bottom. So the unit definitely finds fish, but catching them is a all on you. I had a hard time setting up a rig that I could present at the 10 ft. level but did eventually hook up to a nice rainbow trout. I did get the sonar tether line tangled into my fishing line as I reeled in the trout, but I think that was just me getting all excited about finally catching a fish!
The battery life of the unit itself exceeded the battery life of my iPhone. After about 3 1/2 hours, I had 59% battery left in the unit when my iPhone warned me that I was down to 10%.
All in all, I definitely prefer it tethered to my float tube opposed to casting it from shore. When casting, I fear breaking the plastic housing or eyelet where you tie on if I hit a rock. No such fears when trolling it. The complete unit fits in it's own pouch about the size of a softball so it stows away very easy. I will continue to test this unit and hopefully find more useful ways to integrate it into my fishing.
The entry level unit goes for around $120 which is blue tooth connected and has shorter limits to range and depth. The advanced unit produces 3D imaging of the bottom which looks excellent, but that unit goes for $250 and would put you into the price range of the nicer traditional sonar units. My mid level unit went for $180. I am still considering trading up to the 3D unit as it has five transducers and resulting bigger sonar cone and really produces great bottom contour images that I think would come in very handy to find structure.
Please let me know if you have any questions. My next test will be in the bays when I get up the courage to get in the salt.
This past weekend was my maiden voyage on my Outcast Fish Cat 4 Deluxe. I took it out on Hume Lake up in the Sequoia National Park and wanted to do a quick review of my FishHunter Pro castable sonar unit.
The FishHunter Pro is the middle level sonar unit from FishHunter that is a bobber like sonar unit that streams its readings into your smart phone. It pairs with your smartphone via WiFi as opposed to the entry level unit that pairs via bluetooth. It competes with other units such as the iBobber, Deeper, and SonarPhone. I decided to go this route with my float tube due to it's smaller size and easier hook up capability compared to traditional sonar units.
I only have basic first hand knowledge of the traditional units so I cannot make too many comparisons, but I can offer my initial experience with the FishHunter. My first test of the unit was at my local park attaching the unit to a heavy bait caster rod setup. The unit weighs in at 5.5 oz. so it is heavy. This has an impact on what rod you can use to cast and also the amount of splash created by casting. I used 40lb. braided line and limited my casting to short distances to be cautious. Pairing the unit was simple enough. You connect with your smartphone via wifi just like you would at home and the brochures claim a range of 150 ft. I never casted much more than half that distance. I did get some occasional connection issues but repairing takes up little time. The unit must be in a minimum of 4 ft. of water to work and reads to a depth of 150 ft.
At the local park, I didn't find much in the way of fish with the sonar unit. For all I know, I may have scared them away with the heavy splash. The sonar brought back info on the depth which let me know the depth in my local park with my casting range was not more than 14 ft. deep. The unit also reads out water temperature and produces sonar images of the bottom contour. I keep my iPhone in a waterproof see through pouch that hangs around my neck and keeps it from getting wet. My major issues with this test was casting weight related.
This past weekend I used it on my maiden voyage of my float tube. This time I tethered it to my float tube with the included 15 ft. tether and drifted it out as I kicked around the lake. No issues with weight or splash with this hook up and only one disconnect from wifi, when I retrieved the bobber out of the water to toss into a different spot. The sonar unit worked out so much better in this set up and found all sorts of fish as I drifted around. There is a small alarm that sounds when fish come into view and I found many fish hovering around the 10 ft. mark in what I found to be a 24 ft. deep lake with a relatively flat grassy bottom. So the unit definitely finds fish, but catching them is a all on you. I had a hard time setting up a rig that I could present at the 10 ft. level but did eventually hook up to a nice rainbow trout. I did get the sonar tether line tangled into my fishing line as I reeled in the trout, but I think that was just me getting all excited about finally catching a fish!
The battery life of the unit itself exceeded the battery life of my iPhone. After about 3 1/2 hours, I had 59% battery left in the unit when my iPhone warned me that I was down to 10%.
All in all, I definitely prefer it tethered to my float tube opposed to casting it from shore. When casting, I fear breaking the plastic housing or eyelet where you tie on if I hit a rock. No such fears when trolling it. The complete unit fits in it's own pouch about the size of a softball so it stows away very easy. I will continue to test this unit and hopefully find more useful ways to integrate it into my fishing.
The entry level unit goes for around $120 which is blue tooth connected and has shorter limits to range and depth. The advanced unit produces 3D imaging of the bottom which looks excellent, but that unit goes for $250 and would put you into the price range of the nicer traditional sonar units. My mid level unit went for $180. I am still considering trading up to the 3D unit as it has five transducers and resulting bigger sonar cone and really produces great bottom contour images that I think would come in very handy to find structure.
Please let me know if you have any questions. My next test will be in the bays when I get up the courage to get in the salt.
Last edited by ghodaddyyo on Mon May 23, 2016 5:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
