Portable/Bluetooth Fish Finders

[mbhunter]

Hey all,

Just seeing what everyone's experience is with these little units. Been seeing a lot of ads and a few sales on the "Deeper" and "FishHunter" and others.

Has anyone used one or seen one in action? Any idea on battery drain on a smartphone or tablet (ie. Can it last 4 hours in the hut)?

Any feedback is appreciated as always.

MB

[DUXX]

My phone only lasts a day normally. And when using it heavily it needs to charged towards the end of the work day. If your phone is a couple of years old i doubt the battery could handle it. And the cold of ice fishing would shut my iphone off sometimes if in an outside pocket.

[mbhunter]

My phone only lasts a day normally. And when using it heavily it needs to charged towards the end of the work day. If your phone is a couple of years old i doubt the battery could handle it. And the cold of ice fishing would shut my iphone off sometimes if in an outside pocket.

Mainly asking how phone batteries have been holding up when using the bluetooth fishfinders. I know the cold will have a factor vs being inside the heated hut etc.

[Mdiddi]

I don't have experience with the new Bluetooth fish finders yet. I'm anxious to get one once my current standard finder konks out or I mount it.

I have a Samsung galaxy that is use for music when up north that powers a Bluetooth speaker. I can get two days out of the phone IF I turn the phone to airplane mode. It stops it for searching for towers and updates and greatly extends the battery life. if you can do that while using the finder you will likely get the same results.

[scarkner]

I looked at those units but am skeptical about getting them to work. For example the iBobber only works on Android 4.3 and later (I use an old tablet when fishing that is Android 4.04, so kinda screwed there since my tablet is too old). Conversely, I have a new iPhone running iOS 9, but the iBobber only supports up to iOS 8.1.

I think this really highlights the problem with highly customized devices like this. They are only good as long as the companies making them keep releasing updates.

I had one of the first wireless bobber/sonars from Hummingbird about 6 years ago, and within 2 years I could no longer buy the bobbers, so ended up with a screen system that was basically a paperweight.