Marcum VS 560 report

[RK]

Hiya,

Got a chance to use my 560 all last weekend, and thought I'd give a quick report on my thoughts.

Wow.

How's that for a concise opinion ?

I really think the 560 is going to be a super unit. Simple to operate, and all the features live up to their billing as far as I can tell.

The rotating camera is really slick. It took me a couple minutes to get my bearings with how the directional arrow worked, but once I had the hang of it, it was really easy to control the camera to point it where I wanted it. The pan feature was pretty slick. Just leave it panning till I spotted a fish coming in, then could focus on it and watch the fish move in and react to the bait.

I fished solo on Friday in my one man flip-over, and I drilled a hole just outside the shelter for the camrera. Could control the direction from inside, and didn't have to mess with the extra hole between my feet. Sat and Sun I was with another person in my Frabill 2-man, and could watch both sets of lines hands-free with the camera panning.

The lighting system also seems to really cut down on reflective 'snow' in low light. Friday I was on some fairly dingy water with a lot of particulates, and based on experience on the same water with other cameras, I am pretty convinced having the lights above rather than around the lens does help you see better. You could see the reflection off the suspended stuff in the upper 1/3 of the screen. With a different lighting system it would have all been reflected right back at you, but I was still able to see when it was dead dark out.

I only tried down-viewing briefly, but that seemed to work fine as well. It's something I plan on doing more of in the future.

Overall, as you can tell, I'm pretty pleased. Going to be a very handy unit I think. Best thing is the BOSS (my wife) loves the thing, so now hopefully she'll keep her mitts off my flasher Also really curious to see how it works in open water...

Cheers,

RK

[hanson]

Good Report RK-

I'm super excited to get mine. It should be coming anyday now in the mail.

[Dan Wood]

Thanks for the great report RK. The VS 560 is in a class all by itself. It truely has every option you could possibly want. The panning camera head is the ticket. Absolutely no limitations with the panning head - your not limited to 1/4 screen or viewing at those specific spots. No more bulky tripod to get in the way along with the akward and slow response of rotating a cable to rotate your camera head. The lighting system as you mentioned is also exclusive to MarCum and the best available.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

I agree!!!!!

What do you guys use to hold the cable when using a third hole, which what I normally do.

[rod bender]

Also agree that this is going to be the unit of choice. As far as holding the camera, there is a hook on the back left side of the unit to hold the cable. Then if you want it deeper or shallower, just let more cable out or pull some in.

[Surface Tension]

Thanks for the detailed report. How did you like the on screen depth and temp and did you notice any temp changes through the water column?

[Wiskers]

All I hear is good about this unit.. Just can't wait to get mine.. Was hopeing it was here by xmas but not yet.. sigh sigh.. Maple lake over here is very clear this year and will be a great testing area for it.

[BradB]

I'm not convinced that the OVS 560 will long remain the unit of choice. I was going to buy one last year, but things didn't work out as many of us know. Instead I purchased a Aqua-Vu SV-100 with the Aqua Vu Mo-Pod2. At a MSRP of $450 for the camera, and $110 for the motorized remote-control tripod, that adds up to $560 which is $39 less than the OVS 560 (MSRP = $599). The Aqua Vu has the fish shaped camera which Marcum does not and does not have the depth measurement which Marcum does. Depending how you feel about those things, it more or less equals them out as comparable products.

So to my mind, there are two real choices here for this particular suite of features. The SV-100 is supposed to be available the first week in January, which is soon to arrive. I'll post a full report when I receive mine, and let you know all the good and any of the bad that I find out while using it.

Just to let everyone know, there soon will be more than one choice and you should keep your options open.

[Skeets]

I have had bad luck with the OVS 560. After turning the on/off button a few times, the button quit working. The only way to shut it off was to disconnect the battery cable.

The remote push button was sketchy at best. The buttons are very small, and you have to be fairly close for it to work properly.

I do, however, like the pan feature.

[berke99]

I went ice fishing on Thursday for the first time. Took the OVS 560 with. When I put the camera down the hole I couldn't get it to pan at all. Pulled it up and checked things out and tried again. Finally looking close I noticed the camera puck had water in it. Yesterday I took the unit back to Sportsman's Warehouse- the 560's were all sold out. They just swapped the camera and the cord with the display model. They also told me that this is the second unit brought back because the camera puck leaked. Still am anxious to get out and use it!

[rod bender]

Had mine out for the second time last night. Really like the pan feature and the lights work well. Maybe too well. The fish were very finicky last night and didn't seem to like the light. It sure is nice to see what's down there after dark though.

[Chad711]

A guy I work with had the same leak problem. Nice...

Of course none available right now.

[Fergus Mor McErc]

I've used my 560 4 times now (all four times went into the evening/dark) and I couldn't be happier. Ok, I guess I could because the remote control could work a little better, but other than that, no complaints. I love it and the entertainment it provides. I don't see me leaving it home very often.

[BradB]

What's the warranty on those 560's? The year I built my own underwater camera I had a leak, and it was a fatal flaw. Electronics and water don't mix, for long anyway. When I bought my Aqua-Vu this year I got an extra 3 year warranty. With any new electronic device, especially from these smaller companies that may not have large QA/QC staff and systems in place, buying an extended warranty is probably a wise move.

[bearminimum]

when i first got my camera the battery would not hold a full charge, so i had to send it back to marcum. of course i had to pay for shipping charges. also i did not get a remote control with mine, are these extra or did i just get screwd. otherwise when i did use it i thought it worked really well. so far im happy with it.

[berke99]

When my camera puck leaked- I took it back to where I bought it. Of course they were sold out of the 560's. I got them to exchange the camera puck and cord with the display model. I used the camera yesterday. I saw 3 northerns go by. After dark I left the camera on and had the lights turned off. When I saw something on the vex. I turned the camera lights on and saw 3 walleyes looking at my jig. A second after I turned the light light on they took off. Maybe the light needs to stay on all the time when using the camera at night. I will have to play with it some more to figure everything out.

[ChuckN]

bearminimum,

If you bought the 560 it should have a remote. The 460 model does not. The remote is quite small and I found one in a side pocket on the case. When I looked at it in the store the sales guy said that it never came with a remote, until I found it in a pocket. It worked great too. I will get one of these unit someday..

[Lundman]

Other than the remote not working real well and the directional arrow not being the most accurate I think the 560 is a nice unit. But don't kid yourself. Everything can be improved or enhanced.