Deeper Spark Bait Boat

How well is it built?

The Spark uses the same twin-hull layout as the Quest, with a moulded grey hull, a central carry handle and LED lights front and rear. It's a compact boat at 47 x 30 x 20cm, and at 2.6kg it weighs about half what the Quest does with its batteries in.

That low weight is the point of the boat. You can carry it in one hand across a field with the other hand on your rods, and it takes up next to no space in the car.

The sonar transducer is built into the hull rather than bolted on, so there's nothing to snag on weed or knock off on the way to the swim. The twin motors sit in guarded housings at the back of each hull.

The battery is a 14.4V, 6.7Ah lithium-ion pack that charges through USB-C in around three and a half hours, so you can top it up from a power bank or the car rather than needing a mains charger on the bank. Deeper back the boat with a two-year warranty.

It's worth knowing what's in the box. The Spark is sold as the boat only, so the remote controller and the carry bag are extras. Budget for those if you want them, because the app alone gives you the shorter range.

What are the features like?

For the money, the feature list is strong. The three-beam CHIRP sonar scans up to 15 times a second, reads down to 99 metres and separates targets as fine as 2.4cm, and there's a temperature sensor built in. That's proper Deeper sonar, not a cut-down version.

The GPS side is just as useful. Navigation places the boat to around a metre, and the autopilot takes it to a saved spot and back, so you can find a feature once and return to it session after session.

Everything is controlled through the Fish Deeper app, which gives you the sonar picture, the map and the boat controls on one screen. The app's range is 150 metres.

The remote controller extends that to 250 metres and gives you a joystick for those who would rather not steer with a touchscreen.

Bait delivery is a single 1kg hopper. It's fine for a handful of boilies, some particles and a rig, but it won't do the job of a two-hopper boat that lets you drop bait and rig separately.

There's no sonar-free version and no bigger hopper option. What you're buying is the Quest's electronics in a smaller, lighter and cheaper package, and that's a clear enough proposition.

Performance & Handling

Deeper quote up to four hours from a charge, which covers a short session or a day's fishing with a few baiting runs in it. A cruise speed of 3.5km/h means a run to a spot 100 metres out takes under two minutes.

With GPS autopilot doing the steering, the boat holds a straight line to the spot you've marked and drops the bait where you asked, to around a metre. That accuracy is what you're paying for over a manual boat.

The twin hulls give it a stable footprint for its size, and at 2.6kg it sits high in the water. Like any light boat, it will get pushed about more than a heavier hull in a proper chop, so pick your moments on big open waters.

Range is the other thing to keep in mind. The 150 metres you get through the app covers most club waters and commercials, but for anything further you'll want the remote and its 250 metres.

The 1kg hopper sets the limit on how much you can do in one trip. For targeted baiting, single hookbaits and PVA bags it's spot on. For a heavy bed of bait, you'll be making several runs or looking at a bigger boat.

Is it good value for money?

The Spark sits at the point in the range where integrated sonar and GPS become affordable. It's less than half the price of the Quest, and it undercuts most other sonar-equipped boats by a long way.

What you give up for that is bait capacity and the extras in the box. The remote and the bag being sold separately does push the real cost up if you want both, so add them into your sums before comparing it with boats that include a handset.

Against a boat like the Rippton Catch X Mini, which has GPS but no sonar built in, the Spark makes a strong case for anglers who actually want to see the bottom before they bait. If you just want to get a rig out accurately, a boat without sonar will do it for less.

For the angler who fishes shorter sessions, likes to find features and bait precisely, and wants Deeper's sonar in a boat they can carry in one hand, it's very good value. For heavy baiting or big-water sessions, the Quest or a bigger two-hopper boat is the better buy.

It's a focused product that does one job well, and Deeper have priced it accordingly.