I’m new to the forum. Been here many times over the years. Just never registered till now. Been thinking about getting for Father’s Day.  Anyone have any experience  with it. Or anything good/bad to say about it. Thanks in advance. 

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Welcome, new account here too.  I have the deeper pro (not plus model). Function wise it works well. I generally pond fish from the bank so don't use it as much as I thought.  I think ideal situation for this is a smaller boat or kayak were you don't want a permanent fish finder mounted but have some easily movable mounts for it and your phone.

 

If you are hitting the banks and usually the same areas, I think you will find you may not use it as much.

Edited June 13, 20205 yr by Supra

I do not have the Deeper Pro Plus but somewhere I have an iBobber. As a bank fisherman I found the iBobber to be just about useless as a fish finder for a number of reasons.

 

The first is that when I bank fish I cover a lot of ground and it gets to be a pain to carry two rods - one for fishing and one for the iBobber. Some anglers won't mind that.

 

The second issue was that once you cast it out there, you start looking at your phone for the results. Meanwhile, the wind keeps moving the iBobber all over the place so if you happen to see a fish on your screen you need to look up and find a reference point to cast because in 5 seconds the iBobber will be another 20 feet away.. You end up casting and reeling the iBobber as much as your bait.

 

The third issue is that it's fairly useless in the lagoons I fish because of its narrow cone. The lagoons I fish are only 8-10 feet deep so unless a fish swims right underneath it the sonar won't see it. Note: Deeper Pro has both a wide (55 degree) and narrow (15 degree) cone. Just be cognizant of how much that scan area is where you are fishing.

 

The fourth issue is that is uses Bluetooth and has less than a 100 foot range. But Deeper Pro uses Wifi (create a hot spot with your phone) and it says it's good up to 300 feet.

 

The last issue is unique to some of us in the south - it's an alligator magnet.

 

How does this relate to Deeper Pro?

 

Between the wind blowing it around and shallower depths near the shore I don't see it being very useful as a fish finder.

 

I do see one great application for the Deeper Pro Plus and that is you can create bathymetric maps from the bank. So if this works as I think it does you can cast it out, reel it in and scan the bottom of the basin. Move down the bank a few feet and do it again. Repeat again and again until you've covered as much of the basin as you can.

 

It looks like it will stitch all of these scans together and you can see a map showing the different depths. This can help you find drop offs, channels, etc. Unfortunately it does not look like it will map any structure. It would be fantastic if it would also map weeds, logs, rocks, etc.

 

As mentioned above, if you mount it in a canoe or kayak it might be OK but starting at around that price you can purchase mountable units.

 

I think the Deeper sounds like a great idea, but I don't see it as being all that practical as a fish finder.

 

 

On 6/14/2020 at 8:17 PM, Koz said:

I do see one great application for the Deeper Pro Plus and that is you can create bathymetric maps from the bank. So if this works as I think it does you can cast it out, reel it in and scan the bottom of the basin. Move down the bank a few feet and do it again. Repeat again and again until you've covered as much of the basin as you can.

I am primarily a bank angler and have one and use it rarely.

 

It is a good quality product that does what it says.  I haven't bothered to figure out if you can make the maps Koz mentioned.

**correction - the newest version looks like it has this feature - that would be good!**

 

 

It is cool and has one big pro.

 

Cons

Requires a separate rod to be practical

Creates a splash about as subtle as a cannonball when cast

Not very practical to use to hunt for fish using a 2-rod setup

A little scary that you might cast it off

 

Pros

Enables you to learn the bottom contours and conditions without going scuba diving

 

So, I have used it to learn about certain spots, usually on dedicated trips with the intent of just learning about the bottom, not fishing.

 

I have never bothered to figure out how to make electronic maps, but it has helped me identify structure and contours in general.