This question is for all you guys that have had your graphs tuned, I guess what I'm asking is when they tuned them do they put it to one setting and leave it or are they teaching you how to change your settings as the bottom hardness changes to get the best image?
I'm constantly changing sensitivity and contrast as bottom hardness changes to get best image possible
I'm using helix 9si at console
Thanks guys

You missed a big point - water condition (not just the bottom composition). Settings used one day are not exactly applicable forever after as water depth, bottom composition and suspended particle content of the water change.....

Settings can also be shifted by moving or adjusting the angle of a transducer, or replacing a broken one.

Their is not a one setting fits all, it's constant adjusting from one lake to another, from end of a lake to another

I realize that , I hear a lot of people say " I got my graph tuned by so and so and its amazing now" what exactly are they tuning?

In my opinion it's those same people that don't have a clue on how to work their graphs are the ones mesmerized by the tune guide. It's not that hard to go out and get a Lowrance graph to show good images. Humminbird has a few more adjustments to fine tune.

transducer install is probably the most important. I am sure they will cover sensitivity, boat speed, screen speed , which frequency to use and when, si range, contrast, sharpness, color pallets , depth settings, ping speed, chirp for those units that have it, surface clutter, noise reduction and maybe more. Never been out with any of them but this would be what I would want to know if I was unsure about my unit

they are taking you from linking units together, adjusting the units to settings that work best on the water at the time and then the rest of the time is explaining how they work and what the adjustments are used . pretty much what 44diesel listed. Spending several hours driving around snd teaching how to interperate what you are seeing on your screen.

I had Slade do mine. I had no real previois knowledge and he taught me more than I could take in with just one trip. I have changed my settings all around since then. I can't get quite as good of a picture as he was able to get me but I can make it usable for me.

for someone without experience with the newer units, a guide just helps to speed up the learning curve

Im pretty familiar with everything but the ping speed, can anyone explain that?

It's the rate your transducer ping a signal, Lowrance has an adjustment, Humminbird are pre-programmed more less, no manual settings for the Humminbird

Ok I thought had seen a adjustment for ping,maybe in was on my lowrance unit.

You have to remember, some of us older fishermen were not brought up with electronics and are not able to keep up with all the constant changes. We need a little help from time to time. I'm able to run my Lowrance units fairly well but now and then run into problems. I talked with a local electronics guide last night about his program and he says that he tunes the units and then teaches how to do it yourself for different applications. He also informed me that my units can be linked together, which I was told by the salesman that they could not...so I'm already ahead of the game. It's kind of expensive but so are those fish finders and it would be a shame not to get all I can out of them. Just my opinion.