vexilar sp300 sonar phone

[3258brian]

Has anyone tried the new sonar phone from vexilar for ice fishing yet and if so how do you like it.

[Grizzly1]

Vexilar has the Fishphone for ice fishing and Sonarphone for open water. I'm gonna get Fishphone next fall, just in time for first ice here ;-)

[bean counter]

anyone try this thru the ice yet?

[gauglerb]

Sp100 sonarphone looks more ideal and designed for ice fishing than the 200/300 which is designed for permanent boat attachment.  I'd love to hear if anyone created a setup for one over a hole thou.

Fishphone is actually a camera system and not sonar.  I am not interested in that system.

The reason the sp100 isn't sufficient is because of the max depth of only 120'.  But maybe a new model will come out next year.

[Shack man Shoney]

I looked at the sonar phone as well this year.... looks to me like one drawback is the pod will only run for a few hours and then need to be recharged ..... otherwise I would have tried it already.

[flyfish413]

SonarPhone SP100 is not recommended for ice fishing. Direct from the Vexilar site, the T-POD is the transducer:

"Important: The T-POD is not intended for ice fishing. The wide cone and overall transducer design is for the open water. It will function floating in an ice hole, but you may experience excessive noise and difficulty seeing your bait. Consider a Vexilar Flasher for ice fishing."

The 200 requires a separate power source and is designed for permanent mounting on a boat.

As for the 300, you'd have to build a device to hold the transducer underwater and level, which isn't ideal either. It's a half-ass solution, even though its cool to have the picture on your phone or whatever.

Ultimately, none of them are designed for ice fishing, so it's going to be a compromise in any case. If you love the idea of using your phone as the display (which also has a million drawbacks) the FishPhone video system might be a good idea. Any of the SonarPhone units would be the proverbial square-peg-in-a-round-hole.

[jordy1380]

I've seen some reviews for the fishphone and they are mostly good! I haven't bought one or tried one myself but I'm thinking about one for next winter. I bought an aqua vu micro for pretty cheap im going to use as well.

The good reviews for the fishphone say that the pictures are good, lag is minimal, and the battery life isn't too bad as long as you can keep your phone charged. If you're in a shack or a hut with a heater then that will help your battery life. You can also drag around an extra 12v battery and rig up a car adapter on it to keep your phone charged.

The only negative thing that I heard about it was the lag. It's not going to be 100% perfect because of the wifi, but 1/10th of a second means the difference between setting the hook with the bait in the fish's mouth or not. Also, I've read some reveiews about the recorded video on your phone being somewhat pixelated due to the lag. I'm sure that the wifi lag could be resolved with an app update and possibly a wifi update on the system but otherwise seems like an overall good unit. I think that I'm going to wait for the 2nd version of the system before I buy one though so hopefully they make one this fall or winter.

[gearheart]

I'll stay with my Fl8.  Is's a little harder to accidentally kick down the hole. :