iBobber by Reelsonar is a cheap, compact, and lightweight castable fishfinder that is designed to show you fish, water depth, water temperature and bottom contours. It does this by connecting to your phone via Bluetooth. First, you need to install the iBobber app, then pair it with the fishfinder. The iBobber sonar has other fine features like up to 135ft scanning depth and up to 100ft castable range. This is an in-depth review of the iBobber fishfinder. We’ll go over all the features, the pros and cons to help you decide if this is worth investing in.
Frequency: 118kHz | Battery Life: 10hrs | Inbuilt GPS: Yes | Sonar beams: 90° (675kHz) | Weight: 47g Casting range: 100ft Scanning Depth: 135ft
iBobber Fishfinder – How it Works
Just like other castable fishfinders, the iBobber fishfinder is based on the same principle where you install an app on your phone, pair it with the castable fishfinder and it shows you what is in the water.
One of the pros of the iBobber fishfinder is that it’s very easy to setup and use. First, you will need to install the iBobber app which is available on both the Apple apps store and Google Playstore. The app is compatible with iOS 10.0+ and Android 4.3+.
After installing the app, you will need to fully charge the iBobber fishfinder, then cast it into the water. Once in the water, you can pair both your phone and fishfinder from the app. After successfully pairing the two, the iBobber fishfinder will show you images of whatever is in the water. It gives readings like water depth, temperature, images of bottom structure, and of course images of fishes.
iBobber App Features
The iBobber app has a clean interface that’s easy to understand and use even for a beginner. It also has some interesting features that can improve your chances of landing more fish. Some of these features include,
- You can log your trip on water from the app. You can log trips based on time, location, date, temperature, and more.
- As a result of the built-in GPS in the fishfinder, you can mark your favorite spots.
- You can choose between raw sonar and normal sonar. The raw sonar will identify fishes by dots while the normal sonar identifies fish with an image and also tags them with a color based on depth and size. Orange color indicates fishes less than 15 inches while green color indicates fishes bigger than 15 inches.
- From the app, you can also monitor the weather. It shows the current temperature, wind speed and direction as well as high and low temperature.
- Fish strike alarm is also available. This will beep when iBobber detects a fish. There is also a battery level indicator.
iBobber Castable Fishfinder Review 2024
Design – Very compact and lightweight
If there is one thing you will really like about the iBobber fishfinder is that it’s very lightweight and compact. It weighs just 47grams. It’s also durable to a great extent, although not the best of quality. Due to its compact design, it’s easy to carry this along. It’s designed to switch on automatically when it’s cast into the water, this way it can save the battery life. As a result of its portability, the iBobber sonar will make a great choice for kayak fishing, SUP, or any other type of small boat where space is greatly limited.
Connectivity
The iBobber fishfinder is equipped with Bluetooth 4.0, which allows it to connect to your phone, and this is the only means by which the sonar transfers data to your phone. You don’t need internet connectivity on your phone to stay connected or to see images of what’s in the water.
It’s quite unfortunate that the iBobber fishfinder lacks WiFi which is present in many Deeper fishfinders. WiFi is faster than Bluetooth. Perhaps, this may be the reason why many anglers complain about the iBobber disconnecting even for as low as 40ft away. Although it’s specified to cast up 100ft, this isn’t the case for many anglers.
Nonetheless, iBobber will keep you connected without the internet on your phone and no doubt does work well when it does.
Sonar and Frequencies
Going by the price tag of this fishfinder, it’s not surprising to see that it has a single beam. Thus, you don’t have the option to choose between different frequencies like you would with a fishfinder that offers a dual beam like the Garmin Striker Cast or triple beams like the Deeper CHIRP 2.
The iBobber fishfinder sends out a single beam continuously at 118kHz, and it has a scanning depth of up to 135ft and a 90° beamscope. From my observation, this fishfinder does a fairly good job of showing what’s under the water. It isn’t spot on in locating fish, but it will give you a rough estimate of where the fish are biting. An alarm goes off when it picks a fish and from the app, you can choose to see fish as images or the raw sonar that shows fish as dots.
To get the best experience with iBobber, you need to cast it in water more than 7ft deep. Many users complained it gives false signals when cast in a local pond or similar very shallow water. My recommendation is to cast it in the deepest part of the pond.
I won’t recommend iBobber for ice fishing, the single beam sonar and lackluster connectivity don’t make it an ideal choice. You might want to consider Deeper CHIRP 2 or the Garmin Striker Cast.
GPS and Mapping
Another fine feature of the iBobber fishfinder is the built-in GPS. This allows the device to scan and map the bottom structure of the water you fish on. This map can serve as a reference point for future trips. You can also mark your favorite spots on the water as you travel. Moreover, this fishfinder will show you the water temperature and water depth.
Battery Life
The iBobber fishfinder is equipped with a rechargeable battery. It also comes with a USB charging cradle and takes about 2 hours to fully charge the device when it’s completely depleted. On the company’s official site, iBobber is estimated to last up to 10 hours when fully charge but that’s far from the truth. From our findings, you can expect at most about 4-6hrs of battery life from this fishfinder. This is abysmal and certainly means you need to charge this every time you wish to go fishing.
Pros
- Compact and very lightweight design.
- It’s very easy to setup. Takes less than 10 minutes to setup.
- It’s also very easy and simple to use for beginners.
- It’s one of the cheapest castable fishfinders.
Cons
- Not a good choice for ice fishing.
- Doesn’t work well in very shallow water.
- Disconnects when 40ft away from the phone.
- Battery life isn’t so great.
- Not the best experience when trolled from a boat. Even when trolled at a low speed. Works best when cast.
Conclusion
In final words, the iBobber castable fishfinder is no doubt a fine fishfinder. It has a very lightweight and compact design, it’s also very cheap. Moreover, it’s easy to setup and use. However, it’s not so reliable considering the quality of the sonar. It also disconnects when very far from your phone and the battery life isn’t something to boast about.
It’s one fishfinder that needs some additional work to get it right. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a very cheap fishfinder that can give you a rough estimate of where the fish are biting, then it’s no doubt worth checking out.