Smart troll review???

[final flight]

Anyone using one, would like to hear the pros&icons before I jump!!!

 

 

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[Yankee Troller]

Do a search....I did one last season

 

[TyeeTanic]

Good system, does things other systems can't. Yankee did do an informative review, search for it.

[Chowdaire]

I didn't have a very good experience with mine but I hope it was transducer placement. I'll be moving it for next season.

 

The pros are all already outlined. Cons for me were the transducer bracket being too big for a stern saver making it tough to mount on my Ranger. Shouldn't be a problem on a great lakes boat or even an aluminum multispecies with a large flat transom. The other con is seeing the android screen with sun glasses. 

 

[Silver Fox]

I'll do a review at another time, but as far as the transducer, if you have an I/o, I only was able to get my diver reading on the same side as the ducer. Not a big deal at all, I really like it.

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[brucehookedup]

You got too much money.LOL

[mudflat]

I have a Smart Troll on an I/O with a kicker motor mounted on the port side, the Smart Troll transducer is mounted on the starboard side.

Works best when I am running just the kicker, I do notice some interference and jumpy readings from the port side when I am running the main motor in rougher conditions but the readings are still usable.  I'm using a 8" Fire tablet ($49 from amazon) mounted up front in the cabin and I can still read it from the back of my boat , a 25' Penn Yan.

 

Last week I was running 3 probes -

Starboard side: Wire diver out 440' - down 142', and a  500' copper off the side on a board - down 112'

Port side: Wire diver out 360' - down 123'

 

Conditions were fairly calm -(1 footers) and the readings were stable most of the time but they would fade out once in awhile and come back.

Not too bad since Smart Troll only claims a 300' range

 

When I was trolling on the inside (80-120'), trying to get the stagers laying on the bottom to bite, I was able to keep my divers right near the bottom because I knew exactly how deep they were running.  This is probably the biggest advantage of the Smart Troll because I found out my divers aren't always where you think they are.  I also found that having the temp from several depths at the same time was also a big help keeping everything in the range.

 

The biggest con is $ and getting over the idea of hooking a probe onto 30# wire line and thinking about losing it.  Most of us sweat running a probe off a rigger and have felt the pain when ***t happens.  I almost lost 2 Smart Troll probes at the same time when low voltage caused my auto pilot to make a crazy Ivan turn in 3 footers and by the time I got the boat straightened out both my wires had been cut off by the kicker.  Fortunately I had a copper down the chute and both wires had tangled with it before they got cut off so I recovered everything.  Only time in my life I was happy to have my wires and copper tangled up.  When I think about it, over the years I have lost more rigger weights than I have lost divers because of break offs.  Most of time it's the leader on a diver that breaks off unless you have a bad kink in the cable. As it all worked out I made it thru the year without losing any probes.

 

The only other negative I can think of is that sometimes having too much info to keep track of can cause confusion.  There are times when I want to shut everything off and just fish like we used to.

 

[Traveling Circus]

Nice review Mudflat.

Thank You!

[Xxx]

Yes I second that, thanks for the detailed post, and what you had happen with the autopilot and luckily you retrieved your probes, that would have never happened like your experience!! Everything would have gone to the bottom of the drink for me  > <   Like mentioned above is a lot of $$$ for a weekend warrior, but if you and afford it, then by all means I do believe it will shorten your learning curve. IMO only this isn't for the average Joe.

[Fishnut]

So are they worth the $$$??


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[Yankee Troller]

Nice write up mudflat!

 

I will say one thing....this unit is very sensitive to interference. Motors idling at high RPMs to go into waves can effect them, and boats that are a wiring nightmares seem to have issues with them.

 

 

On 9/18/2017 at 0:05 PM, pap said:

YEEOOW!!  That's a nice answer

 

Sorry, I had the Flu Sunday night through Wednesday morning, so if it came off "dickish" it wasn't meant to. Review is below.

 

On 9/18/2017 at 7:03 PM, Silver Fox said:

I'll do a review at another time, but as far as the transducer, if you have an I/o, I only was able to get my diver reading on the same side as the ducer. Not a big deal at all, I really like it.

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My buddy on the North shore runs his with twin outboards and his picks up both divers. Hmmm....where's your transducer placement on the transom?

 

 

Edited September 22, 2017 by Yankee Troller

[mudflat]

1 hour ago, Fishnut said:

So are they worth the $$$??


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Short answer: IMO - Yes

 

Longer Answer :

Comparing apples to apples :

For your riggers, if you get a basic depth/temp/speed kit from Smart Troll it's about the same $ as a Fish Hawk X-4D.  Add another $50 for a tablet if you don't already have one. This would get you the same information with either system.  Both systems are good and both companies stand behind their product with excellent customer support.

With a Smart Troll you can then add more probes for your divers to gain depth/temp info from them but the extra probes add to the $ and can make the Smart Troll appear too expensive if you get the whole package.  You don't have to buy all the probes at once but can add them as $ allows. 

[Silver Fox]

Ducer is on port side. Tried 3 times on starboard side with no reading. No biggie at all, I just use it on the port side.
Never used it as much as I thought I would due to the fact that I just don't trust some of my clients on the rods.

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