Real world experience with Vexilar Fish Phone?

Debating on investing in a Vexilar Fish Phone. Anyone have first hand experience with it? Reviews?

I don’t think that they are out yet. That and the FishSonar are supposed to be out around Christmas. I am thinking it might be the 1st of the year. I think this was supposed to be out before the FishSonar. The delay makes me a little nervous. I hope at $189 the hardware is fast enough to relay real time, non-stuttering video.

I saw them on the shelves at L&M here in Hibbing. I hear they are on hand a Reeds. As well.

Ah, I stand corrected! I hope someone comes back with a review. I am very interested as well. Maybe someone who saw it at St. Paul will chime in.

I heard a rumor of lag time. I am not to concerned about that for my purpose, then again, I don’t want to be frustrated by the unit.

You can download a free sonarphone simulator app on an iphone.

Already done that on both iPad and iPhone (Sonar Phone app). Problem is it is not real world. I want to know about real function. Lag time. Functionality. Etc.

Sonar Phone is the depth finder version too. I tried it on my Android and it looks pretty cool.

I’d be disappointed by lag time. Most people use wireless routers in their homes with no issue. I imagine this has to do the extra work of taking the transducer signal and converting it to something that can sent wirelessly.

You’d think they would have an micro USB port too so you could connect directly to the unit for better performance. There is nothing on the site that states that is in the specs.

This is definitely a product that you’d want to hear reviews about before purchasing. And I mean reviews by everyday users like us, not a fishing outlet like a magazine or TV show.

I talked to aqua view and vexilar dealers at the St. Paul ice show on Friday and they said it would be a few weeks before they got them. I did not see any at the show – they did have the vex sonar units there. Kind of a bummer being it was why I went.

I got a call yesterday that they were in. So I hope to get time today or tomorrow to go see how they work.

I took this screen shot from the app. It looks like you can connect it directly to a screen but it’s not USB.

Yes, that is a RCA video out cable. Old school.

What a coincidence. I got one today. They must have made it a limited release not knowing how many they would sell. I called all over and found 1 in stock at Trails End.

Looks pretty cool and had fun messing with it at the house.

One problem I found for Android is that it won’t play the video back on the phone. I think it is saved as AVI format. And it doesn’t save it to the public storage area where you can see it in the OS video/photo gallery. That also means that I can’t find it when I plug the phone into the computer. I got an email in to Vexilar. I think I might be able to access it if I install a super user app or some how make myself a super user. I have to look into that, but it could have been avoided. My phone and tablet are both Android 4.3.

This app and the SonarPhone app doesn’t apppear to be a native app or it was ported using 3rd party software. When that happens, issues like this arise and the apps aren’t as responsive.

That being said, if I can pull videos off and it performs well, I think I will be very satisfied.

I hope to run it through its paces and be able to post more info and be able to share images and video.

My first impression was that it works out pretty well.

I don’t know how much I will be using it with my tablet though. My phone has better contrast and because the video is small in dimensions, it actually looks cleaner on the phone. I might still keep it in the truck. But when you are outside and messing with it the tablet becomes too bulky.

The display is tough to see in the high sun. The picture will certainly look better if you are in the cab of a truck or a shelter. Still I was able to view it while hole hopping.

I ended up watching the one tip up from the truck. I noticed in the background a dense mat of vegetation occupying the entire water column. I could see fish swimming around it so I guessed how far from the camera it was behind the tip up. I immediately got on to some little panfish, so I am confident I’ll be able to use it as a scouting tool as I intended.

The second pict is the LEDs full blast.

so do you need an actual phone or can you use an ipod without internet access?

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so do you need an actual phone or can you use an ipod without internet access?

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you can use an ipod as long as it has wifi and you can install the app.

Pug,

Did you test how far the wifi signal will reach? Initially vexilar said 100 yards but the reduced that to 100 ft.

I am not sure how far away from the unit I was when I was sitting in the truck, because I am horrible at eyeballing things. I am guess it was about 30-50′. I would get lag (screen would freeze) from time to time, but it wasn’t happening enough or would not hang long enough to make it annoying. It was a very brief pause or stutter.

You failed to answer one question…Did you see any PIKE??

Mikie, did you have a chance to use it in the dark?

Looks like you’re starting to see snow flakes with the leds on.

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You failed to answer one question…Did you see any PIKE??

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No pike. Surprisingly, Hammerhandle Lake had no takers.

We did not use it after dark. The LEDs are variable and that is with then at 100%. I think it is a very muddy bottom. It was cool seeing all the little “plankton” “jumping” on the screen. I am not sure how the quality and resolution of the camera compares with others, but for scouting, it will do just fine.

Figured out how to share from Google Drive. It is blown up and a little blurry with artifacts. So shrink your browser window to get it back down to its normal size.

Video 1

Video 2

How far was the camera from the jig on the second video?

I’m not good at eyeballing things, but I would say about 3′-4′? The lake was pretty dingy with plankton and junk floating around.

That dark mass of weeds in the background of the sucker was probably 20′ or so and you can see fish swimming around it.

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I’m not good at eyeballing things, but I would say about 3′-4′? The lake was pretty dingy with plankton and junk floating around.

That dark mass of weeds in the background of the sucker was probably 20′ or so and you can see fish swimming around it.

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Thanks exactly what I needed to know.

looks pretty good to me as a scouting tool as well. Thanks for the field testing mplspug

It’s my first camera and it is hard to get used to. It’s hard to get the camera facing the right way or know it is facing the right way. I twist it with one hand and sweep my spoon way up and down until I see it. I think I might need to start with one of my big chubby darters. That way it will be easier to spot and I can judge by the size of it on camera if the distance between the hole and the camera is good.

Looks like a pretty cool toy! Thanks for the info!

They updated the app today.

“What’s new
Improved video image quality”

Hmm, I wonder if they lowered the compression? I wonder what they did and if it will be noticeable.

I guess you’ll be posting more images…

How to get out laker fishing this weekend. If not, I’m hitting a local pond for a couple hours. We’ll see if changes are noticeable. I know a member here is a field tester. I was hoping he’d chime in by now. I’ll send Navionics a email too.

Whoops, wrong company. I sent Navionics an email too about their Android HD app.

Remind them to get a Windows Phone app as well. I have requested it a few times and nothing.

WOULD LOVE THAT APP ON MY WP!

Sorry about yelling, but damn.