What's the best underwater camera?

[BigJoesFishing]

Im looking for the best underwater camera. I want to be able to record on it and if possible be able to use it at night. I mostly ice fish for panfish. Yeah I'm already thinking of this coming season lol

[mono_mono]

It is a year around addiction Joe! I have heard that the cameras don't work so great in the average lake due to water clarity. I see your also in NY - But I don't have one so I am sure there are guys here who can give you far better advice than I can

[hardwater diehard]

I have two Aqua Vu units ....the Micro 5 w/DVR and the Micro II w/DVR ....they work well . Every thing is self contained the battery and DVR ...easy to deploy ...and lasts 6-8 hrs . It has IR lights but the lakes I fish get a lot whiteout from the plankton etc after dark . As far as night recording/viewing not so good ...I never have backlit and tried it ...my 2014/2015 season during day light was tough for viewing ...12-15 inches of ice with 12-20 inches of snow atop that...not a lot of light penetration so tough for viewing but workable ...with the Micro units you can up view ...and with their new mounting rig a lot easier to switch up(45 deg) horizontal down (45 deg) and straight down. The smaller unit ,which I won via Aqua Vu, is great for scouting ...with the limited ice we had last year I was only able to fish where safe ice was ...and not the most productive water ...so on a large flat I was able to locate structure which intern held fish and eliminate non productive holes. As far as recording Vexilar makes a small unit for less then $100 to be used only with their units.

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=309081.0

I also use a GoPro type Jaws mount which I attach to the monitor and clamp it to my hoop pole of my flip over at eye level ...up and out of the way ...and can record at the push of a button.

Most of the camera units are/were too bulky/heavy for me ..I had an old AV DT unit ...small screen heavy PITA to deploy ..and it came out less and less each ice fishing trip ...although the screens and resolution got bigger/better ..most units are still to heavy in my opinion . The Micro is great for scouting ...identifying  fish species/structure/condition of weeds ...and takes up very little space.

[BigJoesFishing]

I heard good things about aqua view

[3300]

best for you would depend on how you want to use one. if you want to scout with it, the aqua-vu is the smallest and easiest to use and takes little space in your pocket. it is like a cell phone  with a cable and a small bullet shaped camera on the end of the cable, so you know about what it would be like like holding it while turning the wire to look at the bottom or for fish.
i might add one to my list of things to buy if i see a nice sale on one, but i don't need it.

i don't use a camera to scout or haven't yet because i know the waters i fish already. even then, i use the sonar to mark fish. it's much faster and more simple. if i buy the aqua-vu, it would to try to scout with a camera, but then it would be in the way when i start fishing.
i have watched an aqua-vu owner use his to find fish and then put it away to start fishing. it deployed fast and was back in his pocket fast. so it has it's purpose.

i bought a camera to see what fish they are and how they react to my fishing them, so i want one unit showing everything all at once in one unit and bought a marcum lx9 for that reason i can watch fish on the sonar and on the camera at the same time and nothing extra to carry onto the ice. it's self contained, one screen shows both. it's also a digital sonar. nothing compares. the camera is much larger than aqua-vu and has a compass and a water temp indicators on screen. good to know if you want to move to some thing you see under water so you know which direction to move to.

night fishing is limited to the plankton and how far the light can throw. the more stained the water and the more plankton the less you see. i do fish in the dark and do use the camera when fish are being marked but won't bite to see what they are. the light will attract plankton.

day time fishing is also limited to the amount of light your camera has. more snow means less light and same with deeper water and the clarity of it.

being hands free is important, so a motorized camera mount is needed. marcum makes a wireless version and wired. none of of any brand is that great and these need many improvements to be made.

marcum uses bright white LED's and aqua-vu uses infrared for lighting.

[Evan Pheneger]

I love my aqua-vu 5 with dvr. Like others have said it is all self contained and you can record with just the push of a button. I also mount it often onto my flasher too.

Here are some videos I took of some cribs I found on the back water of the Mississippi, not super clear water but its decently clear in the winter.

I found them after swiss cheesing out areas of water and coming across these goofy marks on my flasher that would move. I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES when I dropped the camera....so cool. These vids are from two separate cribs. The first one almost looks like an old train bridge or something.

[Old Goat]

good video thanks for the post

[hardwater diehard]

Cool Video EP

Aqua Vu will be introducing its new HD model at ICAST in  couple weeks so stay tuned

This video shows the comparison with brand "X" and brand "Y"

[papadarv]

I think underwater cameras are a personal choice. I like the WiFi models, Vexilar Fish Phone was my choice. It allows anyone with a smart phone within 100 feet of the camera view the camera output image. Marcum and Aqua both make alike unit.
As I mostly fish in my wheel house, I did add a remote controlled Camera Compass to rotate the camera via a remote control and makes it east to view the image on a digital flat screen TV.

http://vid358.photobucket.com/albums/oo27/darvbethke/BiDiEyePan%20A1sm.mp4

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Im looking for the best underwater camera. I want to be able to record on it and if possible be able to use it at night. I mostly ice fish for panfish. Yeah I'm already thinking of this coming season lol

IMO

I love my flasher. Tried the new electronic/computer type stuff....didn't care for all the tinkering.

I run a vexilar FLx28 double vision. Personally I feel it's the best thing I have done. I always have my camera with me to use....the vex camera is has good as they come for light and dirty water conditions. I also up on the DVR unit on it. Now I can record, play, and video with the unit. My buddy has a separate Aqua vu camera and it's good, but he hasn't used it much.....if you're looking for a sand alone camera he'd part with it so he could get his double vision.