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Posts: 1455
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | I've been kicking around the idea of picking up a used unit for ice fishing as well as for checking out structures during the summer. I'm thinking I could squeeze out a couple more hours on the water with my 9 year old boy when he gets tired of casting.
I'm looking for some general advice...never used a unit before and want to make sure if there are some features I will want to make sure are included...(lights, IR lights???) I do fish flowages a good deal, so dark water is a factor.
Thanks in advance for your insights. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | You need an Aqua-Vu Micro if you want portability, great IR lighting, and a sharp color image. Iphone sized, runs about 6 hours on a charge, camera is about the size of an acorn. Unfortunately I don't think you will find many used.
I sure like mine. About $300 ready to rock retail. |
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Location: 31 | I have an old black-and-white aqua vu, if you're interested drop me a PM and I'll dig it out and send you some pictures.
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Posts: 1224
Location: Okoboji | +1 on the micro...got one this year...love it. |
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Posts: 1455
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | Thanks, bupt that micro is more than i wanted to spend. Are theere certain year models that introduced needed advances in lighting technology? Id hate to buy a model to find out the next year's upgrade had better lighting.
Thanks, |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | I realize this is a little old, and I don't know if you already sprung for a camera or not, but I recently got the Aqua-Vu Micro and I love it. You get what you pay for, really. I personally can't stand it when I buy something and find flaws in it the guy with the higher end model doesn't, so I know what you mean by not wanting to buy something only to have the next years model be superior in ways you wish you had. To answer your question about lighting, while I know you said the micro is above what you were hoping to spend, if the lighting is important to you, you may want to reconsider and spring for the Micro. This thing has a built-in ambient light sensor that automatically turns two invisible infrared lights on or off depending on the conditions. The handheld screen is only 3.5" but maintains crisp quality in the picture AND it's color. The actual camera is the size of an acorn and it comes with "fins" that keep it aimed the direction you want when your boat is moving, plus you can use the fin to adjust the camera to point up, down, or forward at just about any angle you want, which I find particularly useful and something I've yet to see on any other cameras. Plus, the fins allow you to either have the camera point in the direction your moving or point towards your "footsteps", like if you attach it to a downrigger ball or something. The cable is 50' long and super thin, yet durable, so all in all it's a ton of great features packed into a small package with superior quality. One tip - the fin comes with a little clip to attach a weight to in order to get it to sink faster and more friendly in currents and fast drifts, etc.. so I recommend you get yourself a 1 oz bell sinker for this purpose. Did you already pick something up? If so, what did you wind up with? |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | So will the micro face aft and pick up a lure when attached to a downrigger ball? .....can it record?...... can you see it in bright sunlight?
Thanks |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | As far as recording, the unit itself doesn't record into an SD card or anything, but you can add a small DVR to the camera to record (Aqua-Vu actually makes a unit to pair with it), although I would recommend using your smart phone to record (cheaper and just as good IMO. As far as seeing it in the sunlight, I can testify and say that you sure can. I was out over Memorial Day weekend under the sun with my wife and mother inlaw and they were both getting a kick out of seeing what was down there.. "It's like being in an aquarium". No towels over your head to make a dark room, just plain old good viewing under direct sunlight, although I will also admit that if you were in a shaded area, like an ice shack, or under overcast skies, of course the picture would show up all the better. |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Almost forgot to answer your first question. There's tons of ways you can get creative and be a MacGyver about rigging up the camera on a sucker rig, a downrigger ball, to the bottom of your trolling motor, what have you, but Aqua-Vu makes a rigger kit as an accessory just for rigging to the downrigger cable, otherwise, you could probably attach the fin clip to the cable but this would require some trial and error. Either way, the answer is yes it can be done and yes it can pick up the lure eaily according to some video footage out there on the web.
I'll be doing some filming/recording with it over some cribs in a Northern Wisconsin puddle in two weeks, as well as a few other various places in the next week. I'll be sure to post them here for you to take a look at. I'll also capture what the screen looks like under the sun, but for the time being, Steve has a pretty good video (many of them actually) that show this if you search Aqua-Vu Micro in the videos. |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | Does the Micro have Temp depth or direction features? |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | It's a hand held unit you hold on to with a tiny camera. The temp and compass would make the camera too unwieldy. |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | A couple latest vids.. Crib Crashing - Part I http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=5177 Crib Crashing - Part II http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=5178 Crib Crashing - Part III http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=5179 Steve, I've been having trouble getting the actual video's embedded into the body of the message; maybe you could get them in here. |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Check out the video section for some night time Aqua Vu action. I'll soon be compiling a bunch of footage for a demonstration of day and night Aqua Vu-ing in the stained waters of the Three Lakes Chain in Northern Wisconsin. This will answer questions as to how well the Aqua Vu cuts through the stain and darkness to show a good picture of what lurks below!
I still love this one! http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=5177
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Check THIS bad Boy out:
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/articles/08.29.2012/5165/Aqua-Vu.In...
(MICRO DVR Camera-014.jpg)
(MICRO DVR USB port-015.jpg)
Attachments
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 MICRO AV DVR-003.jpg (14KB - 271 downloads)
MICRO DVR Camera-014.jpg (14KB - 297 downloads)
MICRO DVR USB port-015.jpg (14KB - 271 downloads)
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Now if it would only make phone calls, text,and take a navionics chip we would have an electronic swiss army knife. I want one. |
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Posts: 555
Location: Tennessee | Dang you people finding new ways for me to spend my money! I am thinking of getting the micro. I just wanna prove once and for all that my local lake has no fish in it! |
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Posts: 86
Location: colorado | Love my micro. best tool in the boat to know in not wasting time working a school of suckers or carp
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Location: SE Wisconsin | cocathntr - 8/30/2012 9:41 AM Love my micro. best tool in the boat to know in not wasting time working a school of suckers or carp Just another way this thing makes it worth it! Just this spring I realized what I thought was a school of what could be perch on Pewaukee Lake was actually a school of Sheepshead. . Bust out the big Dawgs and start ripping! |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | http://upload.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=5454
By far the most haunting crib crashing parties I've ever hosted.. I was on a Norther Wisconsin lake and marked a piece of structure on the graph. My intention was to demonstrate the Aqua Vu Micro's ability to see better than one would imagine in dark tannen stained waters.. Mission accomplished. Watch this video all the way through! |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Sam Ubl could you explain how to record using your smart phone I 've reached the point of being able to make phone calls.
Thanks Frank |
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Posts: 1089
Location: Hayward, WI | Aqua View is showing some refurb Micros on thier website for $240. |
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