The new Vexilar SonarPhone looks really promising.

I plan to pick up the portable one with the suction cup and 12 volt battery pack (SP300). They also have a smaller version (SP100) but I wanted one that I could use out of my motor boat also.

Any one else looking at these (or have one)?
Any thoughts?

Now I am going to have to buy a backup battery charger for my phone. But it sure will be nice to have a good color graph in the BW.

I recently got one - not planning to bring it to the BW, battery life isn't great.

I do a lot of shore fishing on rivers, planning to use this to get a better feel for new spots. Took it out to try it twice on proven spots and it shows promise. The app runs fine on my crappy phone. It takes a fairly stout rod to cast it, I haven't tried dragging it behind the canoe (yet) but drifting it down the river works so I'm sure it will be fine in more canoe-worthy weather

quote schollmeier: "I recently got one - not planning to bring it to the BW, battery life isn't great...."

Since you mention casting, I assume you got the SP100 (ball style).
I intend to get the suction cup one with the 12 volt battery. I'll have to run some tests to see how long that battery holds up (before I take it to the BW).

Yup I have the ball style. I would guess a 12v will last much longer but they aren't light. But everything is a trade off. Like I said I really only plan on using it for shore fishing, I usually use my flasher (or do without) in a canoe

I do think castible one is major improvement on the humminbird smartcast for those of us who spend time a lot of time on the bank

I picked up the SP300 on Friday.
I have a Galaxy S3 that I will use it with and I had to turn off "Mobile Data" for it to work with the unit's wifi (basically my stupid phone thinks that if I am using a wifi connection it should be connecting to the internet - so it throws an error since it isn't an internet wifi signal)

I gave it a test run yesterday from my boat.
I was pretty impressed. It gave a strong signal up to 20 MPH and seemed to have a quicker response than my older Lowrance unit.
I liked the color and it has some good options.

Can't wait to use it in the BW this summer - trying to find elusive Lakers or walleye schools.