It doesn't use the transducer. It uses it's own gps

The way I understand it is that my XI5 just goes to the coordinates that the Lowrance says to go to which works for me because when I fish off the front of my boat i am right on top of the brush pile that I marked on the console so BINGO FISH ON!!!

Boat 1: Any Lowrance units at bow and console that communicate with Xi5. This means you have a NEMA network and Motorguide Gateway. Transducer at bow and stern. No external GPS (Point-1).

Each unit (console/bow) are set to mark wpts where that unit resides because this feature (marking wpts) uses the internal GPS of that unit. The console unit could be set to use the GPS of the bow and vice versa but this is not what this explanation is about.

The Xi5 is capabable of storing 'x' nbr of wpts too, which cannot be shared with the units. Ignore for this explanation.


Boat 2: Any Lowrance units at bow and console that communicate with Xi5. This means you have a NEMA network and Motorguide Gateway. Transducer at bow and stern. External GPS (Point-1) is installed at the stern near the transducer.

Each unit (console/bow) are set to mark wpts where that unit's GPS resides. In this case, the bow unit uses its internal GPS BUT the console uses the Point-1 GPS at the stern, which is menu selection/option. The console unit could be set to use the GPS of the bow and vice versa but this is not what this explanation is about.

The Xi5 is capabable of storing 'x' nbr of wpts too, which cannot be shared with the units. Ignore for this explanation.
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Now visualize a boat sitting perfectly still with a pole in the water at the bow (A), side of console (B) and one at the stern (C).

Wpts are set at the bow and at the console (because the internal GPS is used) respectively. And because units are NEMA connected, the bow wpt is marked on the console unit and the console wpt is marked on the bow unit.

Boat 1 moves 100 yds. away. The Skipper, using the bow unit tells the TM to go to A. TM goes to pole A. Skipper moves off 100 yds and using the console unit, tells the TM to go to pole B. TM goes to pole B. The bow is at pole B and the console is some feet away (distance between console unit and bow unit). Skipper moves off again, and using the console tells TM to go to pole A wpt. Remember, the console stored this wpt because of NEMA. TM takes off and the bow is now at pole A although the console unit was used. Skipper moves off once again and wants the TM to go to pole C. Skipper realizes he can't because there in no pole C in this scenario simply because there is no external GPS. The GPS is at the console and bow. And now the Skipper realizes TM will always be off x feet from the wpt if using the stern transducer used to mark wpt.

In other words, pole C cannot come into play without moving the boat.



Now visualize Boat 2 with Point-1 sitting perfectly still with a pole in the water at the bow (A), side of console (B) and one at the stern (C).

Wpts are set at the bow and at the console respectively, however the console is using the external GPS so the wpt is marked at the stern (almost exactly where the transom transducer is located). And because units are NEMA connected, the bow wpt is marked on the console unit and the console wpt from the Point-1 (stern) is marked on the bow unit.

Boat 2 moves 100 yds. away. The Skipper, using the bow unit tells the TM to go to A. TM goes to pole A. Skipper moves off 100 yds and using the console unit, tells the TM to go to pole C. TM goes to pole C. The bow is at pole C. Skipper moves off again, and using the console tells TM to go to pole A wpt. Remember, the console stored this wpt because of NEMA. TM takes off and the bow is now at pole A although the console unit was used. Skipper moves off once again and wants the TM to go to pole B. Skipper realizes he can't because there in no pole B in this scenario simply because the internal GPS was not used. Skipper now realizes he could have had wpt B marked if he had realized the following.

Pole B did not come into play BUT can! If the skipper had wanted pole B to be marked, the console unit using menus, could have been changed to use 'this unit' instead of Point-1 to mark pole B's wpt. Then the Skipper actually could have had poles A, B, and C marked because 1) external GPS is available and by 2) changing the unit's GPS selection to 'this unit', not external after having marked pole C's wpt. I wouldn't do this but as an example, remember we are sitting still. I would have moved the bow to pole B to simply mark the wpt. I would find this much easier than finagling with the menus.

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Some will say Point-1 at stern, or maybe the bow, and still others will have two, one each at the bow/stern. Just depends on how you want it to work for you and $.

My head hurts now

Thanks.
Mo