Smartphone fishfinders give the angler without a boat that can take a hull mounted transducer a piece of the action when it comes to fishing with the aid of sonar fishfinders. Whether you fish from a smaller vessel, such as a canoe or kayak, from the shore or bridge, or if you just need to get an underwater look somewhere where you can’t navigate your vessel to, a mobile fishfinder could be for you.
These types of sonar units connect wirelessly to your smart device, and you can usually cast them from your fishing rod for maximum range. In this article, we will be reviewing the Fish Hunter PRO.
The Fish Hunter PRO
The Fish Hunter PRO is a small package at 5 ounces (155g). This unit has a depth range of up to 150 ft (45 m), with up to 160 ft (50 m) of width beam. The unit requires that it be placed in at least 4 ft (1 m) of water to function.
To use the device, you will need to download the Fish Hunter app from the Android or iOS appstore.
The Fish Hunter PRO will connect to your device (Android or iOS phone or tablet) via either Bluetooth or WiFi. WiFi is faster and will have a somewhat longer range than Bluetooth; you can choose what works best for you, as you can use both WiFi or Bluetooth with this unit. On the Fish Hunter website, they state that this unit is superior to competitors because it features WiFi connection capability. The reason they state is that the WiFi is more reliable, since you don’t need a data plan on your device for the WiFi. This implies that Bluetooth needs a data plan, which is not true. Bluetooth connects on a closed circuit between two devices; it does not need any network connection outside of the two Bluetooth enabled devices. Still, WiFi will technically reach longer and faster than Bluetooth. The Fish Hunter PRO has a connection range of up to 150 ft (45 m). This type of connection requires ideal conditions to get the maximum range, so expect inferior performance in rough conditions.
The sonar in this unit comes from a Tri Frequency transducer, rotating between 381 kHz, 475 kHz, and 675 kHz. This essentially gets you the closest to CHIRP sonar that you will probably get in a smartphone fishfinder, giving you sonar feedback in high definition.
The PRO’s battery has a 10 hour continuous usage time, or 500 hours on standby, before recharge. The unit recharges via standard USB cable.
The Fish Hunter PRO has several very nifty features. You can view the sonar feedback in RAW view, which is the plain, traditional sonar view. This view shows you everything as captured by the sonar scan. This mode gives you the highest detail, so you can pick apart anything that is happening down there.
If you are just looking for a simple way to find fish, switch to FISH view. This mode eliminates the reverb type feedback, which can be confusing to the newcomer. Instead, FISH view draws a simple view of a water column, and places an icon of a fish along with a depth reading where a fish appears. Use this mode when you don’t need to analyze every detail of the water column, and just want to easily find fish.
The Fish Hunter PRO also functions as an ice fishing flasher. The flasher uses dual beam sonar, 475 and 675 kHz to give you an enhanced detail readback. You can also use RAW view in split screen mode with the flasher, to give you a real time view of the water column from the side in conjunction with the flasher. With a temperature threshold of down to -22 Fo (-30 Co), you won’t have to worry about your Fish Hunter being damaged by cold in the water.
You can also troll with the Fish Hunter behind your boat. Optimizable settings allow you to customize your sonar feedback to your needs. An alarm gives you the option to pocket your device and be alerted when a fish enters your sonar “net.”
Conclusion
For the shore or small boat fisherman the Fish Hunter PRO is an affordable and very helpful tool for finding fish, something previously available only to boat fishermen.