Structure scan settings

I know this has been beat to death and don't want to start a long thread...
I also know that slade is amazing at setting up structure scans and Sonora and more power to him.
But should it really be this hard? I mean should we have to pay someone to get even close to the pictures we see online?
Surely it cannot be...
That's what these forums are for,no? To help each other and exchange knowledge? Not sell someone's service that should be common knowledge... Not to mention free to those that paid that healthy price tag on the top of the line units
I see people ask all the time for help on their structure scan settings and 75% refer the OP to pay their buddy....
It's frustrating to say the least to ask questions or read posts and it's a huge sales pitch...
So I'm not asking anyone to post their settings or send me to spend my hard earned money on something every single Lowrance user should know ..
What I am asking is that if anyone out there wants to help me with my structure scan please pm me
Thanks carry on

What's wrong? Bad pics, fuzzy pics, range???


Do you have a jackplate?

Lss2 or lss1?

Which graph models?

white specs all over the screen unless i turn surface clarity on high and noise reduction on high...
no jackplate
LSS2 on HDS8 Gen2
My images are ok
I can see things
but they are just ver fuzzy not near the clarity you see online and for others screen shots... brush looks a lot like my elite 7 downscale...
I would say my image on the LSS2 is an improved version of the elite downscale and about half as clear an image as I see online
my issue with paying someone to come and set it up is this
either there is a standard setup that is common to all units for all water and all lakes or... if i pay to have it tuned in logic would tell me that its only tuned for the water that i was on that day... go to different water or the water has a chance on the same lake then the settings are worthless that were paid for... now learning to use the unit and be able to change it every day on the water.. thats what every Lawrence user should have available to them ... and thats what i am seeking
thanks of the help

Definitely changes for each body of water. It can be close but typically to get those great images you have to play with it.

White dots are electrical interference. Are you running the elite and HDS at the same time? Could be crosstalking if they are on the same freq's. Run the lss2 on 455mhz for the best results.

I'd love to help but you are way too far for me to help you. Do you have any screenshots that you can post? What color pallette are you using? Blue & grey/brown are the best. Sometimes green can be ok.


Water clarity plays a big part. Dirty water is not helpful on images.


One more question, are we discussing the side scan image or the downscan image?

GS
my elite is on my TM and out of the water and on standby when i have my HDS on...
ill switch to 455hmz next time out! and I will start taking screen shots... and ill def upload here.. thanks for the help
yeah we have had lots of dirty water too last few weeks with the rain
but i still feel as my images are fuzzy and not near as crisp and clear as they can be...
thanks
JD

Yours better or worse? You talking downscan or side scan?

mine is not near as crisp and clean and clear... mine shows those images both on downscale and side scan however the image looks blurry.... a better way to explain it is i feel like I'm looking through dirty smudgy glasses ... I'm still looking at the image just not with the clear crisp image that i could if my glasses where clean.. sorry hope that explains it without pictures yet...

No, you make plenty of sense. If your transducer is low enough to not be obstructed and it's is level front to back & side to side then you have something wrong somewheres. It's not a setting problem, it's a defective transducer or LSS module.


Next time out try the blue palette, put it on 455mhz setting, set the range to 100' and make the contrast where it just starts to turn the image whiter. If the image is fuzzy then it's what I mentioned above. There are no other settings available for you to change.


Something else I just thought about. Lowrance kinda sucks in water less than 10', if you're in shallow water that is the problem.

ok sounds perfect ill make those changes and do a test run it won't be for about a week because i have
work
ill report back

[img]https://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics/usergals/2016/02/full-81191-97476-image.png[/

What should I do to my settings? Or do you all think I have it tuned in pretty tight?

Looks way better than mine...id be better off leaving mine turned off

Good to know on the 455hz ... Always heard the 800 was clearer. Maybe that's on the LSS1 not LSS2.

I've been working hard to tune mine in buddy
Lots of articles read and lots of time not fishing playing with the graph

Yes, 800 on lss1.

455 on the lss2.

Your pics aren't horrible; but give some feedback. What was the water clarity/visibility?

Are you sure that your ducer is perfectly straight with the boat, not level; but straight or parallel.

Lake had just turned over... Was very dirty and stained... Very red when normally clear.
And yes it is parallel when sitting still in the water however I was driving in a boat lane in a creek full of timber... I have a 18.8 boat so turning sharp turns in and out of wake taking those screen shots...
Why do you ask about transducer being straight?

In the image that you have to click on the link ......
is that a group of "fish" center right ???

Looks like fish to me.

Yeah you ran over a herd of fish. That image still doesn't look clear tho. How does that image compare to the images in demo mode.

That creek bed with rocks in it to the right side is holding fish for sure.

Agree with seeing if images are clear when you put the unit on simulator mode? I agree with scout grout, No setting on the unit will help with smudged images that is transducer/install issue. No expert but shouldn't be that hard to get good images. Do you have a pic of the transducer mount location from opposite side of the boat from where it is mounted? We can see it is clear and parallel to water line, Do you trim the motor up when idling and scanning?

^^^ This is why I asked about being straight. I had my lss2 a bit crooked (not parallel) and it had some blur kinda like yours.

Yours is pretty decent though, I'm not saying it's bad at all. Now there's some over on BBC that are horrible, it's weird.

Is the gen 1 the lss 1 and gen 2 lss 2?

Do you have the latest software on the unit? I get good images by adjusting it on auto contrast. Looks pretty good to me. I would look up cordinates of that spot on the screenshot, believe it saves the cordinate info, might even be able to pull up pic on unit and just mark a waypoint on those fish. Then go back to see if that school of fish is still there. I like to keep the range no more than 3 times the depth helps the detail. Got to remember the scale meaning if the range is on 60 ft it is a 120 foot scale so big things look small so rocks, old brushpiles look really small.

Lss2

I'll adjust it and make sure it wasn't level and I made adjustments to get to this...
It was bad when I first installed it myself...
This is all done by myself .... At first it was bad but with some efforts I'm pretty happy with results
And yes newest software updates today I'll upload more screenshots I took today

I was reluctant to load the new updates and I finally loaded 5.0 today. Gonna take me some time to relearn the menus. I know most like the new look; but I sure did like the older look more.


Do you feel like there were any differences in your sonar or SI after the update?

I took a level and marked the level where the bubble is while idling, then put boat on trailer and jacked it up to where it was same angle as it is while idling, then I got both of the transducers true level.

Level doesn't matter so much, straight matters a lot.

really? learn something new every day ill have to take a look at mine

Think about it this way. What happens when you turn your boat? The SI gets blurry, now if your transducer isn't perfect straight then it's always reading at an angle. Which makes is blur due to the odd angle that it's moving at.

Drive under a bridge and look at the shadows of the bridge pilings to the left and right. If the shadows are perfectly horizontal, left and right on the screen, you have the transducer set at the correct level.

Actually they both matter. That's why the flush hull mounting under a step or Jack plate works the best. Some require a wedge to get them level with the water line.
OP, typically with the Gen2 and Gen3 my experience has been that the auto settings work fine most of the time. The only time I change anything is on a super clear lake or very murky lake. Best way to learn is to get on the water and use it. Make a few adjustments each time you go out and see what settings work best for you.