The Complete Boat Package!
CARPology’s YouTube presenter and product reviewer, Iain Mitchell, has been using Rippton’s CatchX Pro since the beginning of the year, here are his opinions and answers to our questions…
Build quality: is it any good or will it leak and sink within two sessions?!
When you consider this is at the cheaper end of the GPS and autopilot-enabled bait boat market, the build quality is quite surprising. Strong, durable and yet lightweight. ABS plastics have been used throughout and the carbon fibre pattern offers a sleek and modern look. So yes, the build quality is good, and no, it won’t leak and sink!
That’s a tick then! How easy is it to load and use?
Extremely! When you combine the user-friendly, single-handed remote with a tried and tested bait boat design, it was always going to be good. The twin hoppers allow you to load up to 3kg of your chosen bait, while the separate hook release keeps your rig tangle-free and guarantees the hook isn’t masked in any way.
What features have you been particularly impressed with?
The GPS and autopilot functions. 100%. Whether you are plotting a course for the boat to scan so you have a biometric map of the lakebed, or you are setting points for your rods, enabling you to bait and drop accurately, even on the darkest of nights, it really is an impressive piece of kit. The built-in fail-safe means you are in total control, even when you’re not! A loss in GPS signal or a low battery will cause the boat to automatically return to a pre-determined home point. The days of watching your boat spin helplessly (and embarrassingly) around in the middle of the pond due to a battery failure are, thankfully, over!
What is the range like?
The boat has a range of 300m, so more than any reel spools hold.
I think I’m right in saying the CatchX Pro comes with a sonar. How easy is it to set up and how effective is it?
The sonar is also pretty neat, as it can be used as a single device (castable—like a Deeper) or fixed to the bait boat. It’s as easy to use as connecting any other WiFi-based device in your home. Select the ‘Hydrobat Sonar’ from the WiFi menu on your iOS or Android device, input the password and you will be finding spots in no time.
What range does it work to?
When used as a castable device, circa 80-100m. However, fit it to the boat and some key features are unlocked, the most notable being the built-in range extender, taking the range to a massive 300m, thus matching that of the bait boat.
I’ve read that you can record spots on the Rippton app—does that work very well?
Yes, and it’s dead simple to do! Think of it as dropping pins onto your maps or SatNav app. You can drag and drop pins to where you are placing rigs or points of interest. These are then all stored, so should you return to that lake or swim at a later date, you’ll have information on hand to look back on.
Talking of the app—there looks like there are a lot of features on there. How did you find it?
The app has a nice and intuitive interface, making tasks seem effortless, which is important. When a company crams so much tech into a product, it can become frustrating and cumbersome to use. That’s not the case here—many functions are a few taps on a screen and the boat does the rest. That said, the manual supplied is very easy to follow, so if you do any problems, it will point you in the right direction.
Anything else I should know?
Price-wise, it’s £1,499, which, as I mentioned earlier, is a very competitive price for this part of the market. I’d also suggest checking out the Ripppton website—www.rippton.com—as it has loads of information on.
