best ice camera for the money

[Papa Sly]

looking to add a nice camera for ice fishing at a reasonable price with a company that has good customer service.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

looking to add a nice camera for ice fishing at a reasonable price with a company that has good customer service.

They all have pretty good cameras.....If you really dig into stuff you'll find most of them are made by Sony and that they actually aren't much different. I do like the color Cameras. They are handy for determining if weeds are alive or dead.

I think you need to give us a little more info on what your looking for. The Marcum and aqua vu have some smaller mobile cameras. And some have cameras where you use a phone, TV, or iPad for a screen. Depends what your looking for.

Personally, I found the best option for the way I fish was a vexilar double vision. I use the sonar most of the time, but by having a camera below the sonar puts me in a position where I always take in along, and it is never in the way. Plus it is always handy since it is right there. a lot of times when we mark fish and can't catch them I end up dropping the camera down to find that the fish are small perch saves me a lot of time and effort. with the video cord it is easy enough to plug into my ice castle and display the picture over the TV.

Overall cameras are great. I think the main thing is to have a camera the is very convenient to haul around and readily avalibile. My buddy has a nice larger aqua vu camera that is a stand alone and rarely uses it because it is a stand alone that needs to be hauled around separate and set up separate....etc......c onvenience is a major point when buying and using a camera.   

[Cw1036]

I bought an aqua-view 715c a few years ago. Used it twice before the wife found out😟  While I had it a buddy was using a Marcum camera. I found that The Marcum had a better picture, at least for my eyes. Others have told me there isn't a difference. Others have said they think Aqua-view has a better picture. It's really a personal choice. Unfortunately we can't take them all for a test drive. Ask some buddy's if you can tag along and compare them. By the way since the wife "caught" me and I liked the Marcum more it made it possible to return the Aqua-view. Now I have to wait until I'm not scared of her!!!

[Cw1036]

I bought an aqua-view 715c a few years ago. Used it twice before the wife found out😟  While I had it a buddy was using a Marcum camera. I found that The Marcum had a better picture, at least for my eyes. Others have told me there isn't a difference. Others have said they think Aqua-view has a better picture. It's really a personal choice. Unfortunately we can't take them all for a test drive. Ask some buddy's if you can tag along and compare them. By the way since the wife "caught" me and I liked the Marcum more it made it possible to return the Aqua-view. Now I have to wait until I'm not scared of her!!!

[hardwater diehard]

What kind of fishing do you do... Run n Gun...from a portable...etc ? Do you want one with a DVR. I have  AV Micros  5 and a Micro Plus both with DVR .  The Plus is great for scouting ...down a hole quick spin to check condition of weeds, bottom composition and structure . The larger 7 in screen cameras tend to be bulky for scouting . AV has  redesigned  the Micro 5 with a cable retrieval system for this season . The Marcum Recon units look good but have a old format(quicktime) for their DVR ...maybe they fixed that for this season. Aqua Vu customer service is top notch . Do a search for the make/model of the camera on IS lots of members have given some great real world reviews on UW cameras .

[Papa Sly]

Thanks guys, I currently fish with the showdown duel beam and the c-FISH camera...very heavy and works well only in a pop-up, difficult to see anything in sun(C-FISH). I think I am looking for the portable units and have read a lot of bad reviews for the Aqua View , mostly that they can't be read in the sun light. I want to check hole to hole and also see what my Showdown is showing that isn't biting. Any reviews on the Marcum recon?

[Papa Sly]

PS, don't need to record

[hardwater diehard]

I believe the new AV have sunlight readable screens . Also since AV is changing their line up there will probably be deals on the older style .

[celtbass]

The Marcum 825 is the best I've seen, but it really depends on what you target. Great picture quality and costumer service, but not cheap...  if you need to be more mobile I would give the recon a try.  I've been looking for deals all over and I think 650$ is the lowest price I found

[FishinDJ]

     I picked up a Marcum Recon 5 Plus this summer which I plan to use for scouting. After taking it out a few times to test from a boat and at night from a dock,I must say I was impressed with the image quality in low light conditions. On the downside, unwinding the cable is a complete pain, and I can tell it will really test my patience on the ice. The other big drawback for me is that I cannot see the screen whatsoever in the bright sun. Not too worried about that since I will mostly be using it in my flipover. I didnt want one of the bigger units since I wanted to be mobile, and having water temp, depth, and most importantly, the direction the camera is facing were a big selling point for me. I believe Aqua Vu is releasing a new model this fall that has a spool to wind up the cable as well camera direction on the display....might be worth looking into if you want a more mobil camera.

[Chris338378]

On the quaview cameras how do you turn the camera?  I didn't see any "tool" to do it with and it seems like trying to turn it by twisting the wire would only twist the wire.  What about the Marcum cameras without the adjustment "tool"?  I'm kicking around the idea of getting a camera also for scouting the lake bottom but I don't know anything about them other than I want to get a color one.

[ice dawg]

I have a Marcum 625 and a AquaVu Micro Plus. I like and use tbem both. Haven't had a problem seeing the AquaVu screen outside.

[Tackle]

On the quaview cameras how do you turn the camera?  I didn't see any "tool" to do it with and it seems like trying to turn it by twisting the wire would only twist the wire.  What about the Marcum cameras without the adjustment "tool"?  I'm kicking around the idea of getting a camera also for scouting the lake bottom but I don't know anything about them other than I want to get a color one.

I have an Aqua Vu Micro Plus DVR and to turn it on, you lift up black screen protector/sunshield and it automatically comes on.

You can use it with a Cam-Panner or whatever it's called, but really I just drop it down and adjust until I see my jig.

I'd be willing to sell if anyone is interested. Have a case and vexilar mount as well. I just don't use it as much as my vexilar.

[hardwater diehard]

On my AV Micros I added an anti-glare film helps some

On the quaview cameras how do you turn the camera?  I didn't see any "tool" to do it with and it seems like trying to turn it by twisting the wire would only twist the wire.  What about the Marcum cameras without the adjustment "tool"?  I'm kicking around the idea of getting a camera also for scouting the lake bottom but I don't know anything about them other than I want to get a color one.

AV MoPod  will work ...also I made some mods for my Micro use ...I took a Dollar Store solid rubber ball ...cut a slice into it and run the Micro cable through it ...it will work atop AV Ice Pod..I also mounted a GoPro adhesive mount and a GP Jaws mount to a Genz Box along with a eye bolt ...mount the camera and use the ball to control direction....also adding a clip on sounder weight to the bottom of the camera mount helps a lot ....small micro movements are also important....as far a color beneath the ice ....it varies based on depth, water clarity ,snow cover,ice thickness and amount of sun and angle

http://www.aquavu.com/Products/AV-LCD-Series-AV710-A715c-AV360LCD-AV740c-AV760c-AV760cz_2/Ice-Pod

[papadarv]

For reasonable and effective you could a DIY build, not real difficult. My build for basic camera to 7" monitor/TV came in under $75 excluding wireless stuff. Camera is low light, color Hi Def 900 mps 140 deg angle sellong for under $15.

[Royalwapiti]

I bought a Marcum 485 last Fall.  I thought I would use the heck out of it.    I think I used it twice last winter.    Of all the stuff I bought for Ice fishing, (Ice ducer for my HB 688, Marcum LX7, Clam Nanook Shanty,) That's the one thing I regret buying....I think with the LX7 in graph mode, who needs a camera...that thing is like a video game. 

The caveat is I don't fish a lot of super clear lakes.  So i got a green darker picture when i used it.  I use the Aqua View Mo-Pod with it.

[Papa Sly]

I was hoping to buy a smaller Aqua view or Marcum but many bad reviews for either as far as screen not viewable unless in the shanty.

[Papa Sly]

well after a lot of research I ordered a Marcum Recon 5. I didn't care about recording. Any reviews from the recon 5 users? Especially the visibility of the screen during the day?