Underwater camera from Harbor Freight

[schmidts]

Has any body tried this camera with monitor and what is your opinion of it. Is the screen big enough to see anything? Is the 70 degree viewing angle enough? At $99.00 I am considering getting one but would like to "hear" some reviews.
Thanks
Jim

[andy capp]

I have one and I love it. Works just fine.

[WinnebagoViking]

I have one and it works pretty well, but I've only used it for ice fishing. One criticism I have is that the picture gets really washed out on bright days severely undermining its utility. However, i don't think that is a problem unique to the HB camera. Another drawback is the long camera cable -- I never fish in 60' of water and the extra cable gets a little difficult to manage. I'm going to try and build a portable stand/storage unit for it this fall to help alleviate that problem (if anyone's done anything like that, suggestions are more than welcome).

Good luck.

[REW]

There are a couple of simple designs out there that work pretty good.
One method is to make an aluminum tripod, using aluminum angle. Then open the tripod - put over the hole and let the camera down the hole.

Take the cable and wind it on the equivalent of a bait shop sized line spool. Leave the monitor connector - hanging out of the center of the spool, by a 1/2 inch or so.

When, you go to lower the spool, you can use a jumper cable that you disconnect, to let the camera free spool. Simply make a bracket to hang the spool from the center of the tripod.

When, done - simply wind up the cable and you are good to go.
One thing that works nice is to use a cordless drill to wind and unwind the cable.

I simply use an appropriately sized soft sided tackle, gym, or duffle bag to hold the camera, mount, battery and accessories when not using it. It is a pretty small package and protects everything from being banged up, and pices being lost.

Take care
REW

[WinnebagoViking]

Thanks for the help. I think I can picture the set-up you describe. If you have a photo you could post that would be helpful.

I've found a few other designs that I will explore -- one built into a 5-gallon pail that looks pretty functional.

[perchjerker]

Andy bring that sucker the next time we go perch fishing so I watch the sheephead slam your bait

[AllenW]

Wondering if you couldn't wrap the 60' of cable on one of the H pattern plastic extension cord holders?

Also would maybe some sort of a lens filter take some of the brightness out?

Al

[rebs]

>Has any body tried this camera with monitor and what is your
>opinion of it. Is the screen big enough to see anything? Is
>the 70 degree viewing angle enough? At $99.00 I am considering
>getting one but would like to "hear" some reviews.
>Thanks
>Jim


is the cable only 60 ft long, I need a 100 foot cable for lake erie

rebs