This thread will be used for information on Garmin SONAR. Please respect the idea behind these and keep the cross brand fighting out. I

Feel free to add pictures from your Garmin unit, or if you are a Garmin Guru feel free to help us get this thread going

thank you,...

I was wondering why no Garmin thread.

Looked at a Garmin earlier today at Bass Pro. The map is screwy on Falcon. What’s the deal?

I got two Echomap Ultra 122svs units and Livescope. Maps are really good in my opinion. I do have the upgraded mapping. The sonar is really good as well. One of the big things I like is the units are really easy to use. My setup is not cheap but the competitors with their top end features are just as expensive.

Any chance you scrolled to Choke? I’ve been wondering how their Choke map was.

I did look at Choke. Amistad too. They looked fine. Never been to either lake though.

Here’s what it looked like. This is the Echomap 93sv UHD.





That red lined area isn’t on any other lake that I saw. I couldn’t find any water level correction capability. Isn’t that pretty much standard?

The salesman tried helping but wasn’t any more successful than I was and couldn’t explain why Falcon was like that.

I’d like to find the old Echomap 93sv and a 73cv. They’re on clearance but I can’t find them in stock anywhere.

I’m guessing the lake was 20’ low (Give or take) when they surveyed it, my navionics card is missing 20’ also. Contour lines aren’t too impressive there, but might be better in other parts of the lake. I’ll have to take a look when I run into BPS next time. Thanks for responding.

The red striped line looks fairly accurate to the current water level but the waters edge isn’t 10’ deep. I looked at choke and Amistad specifically because I know both are way low and they don’t have that.

Best Settings for Livescope Video - Hope this helps someone
https://www.wired2fish.com/electroni...-best-picture/
A fellow fisherman from Austin posted this link to a video on Garmin settings. I found it to be really helpful.

They have red lines on Fairfield also. It shows where timber is. It is not that the lake is low but that it could have hazards..

Linky no worky for me. I really would like to have seen that, got a 93sv uhd set up on my livescope and haven’t been in the water yet. It would be helpful for sure.

Here it is.


The 10 Best Garmin LiveScope Settings to Get the Best Picture

By Jason Sealock •Aug 18, 2020
John Soukup, owner of TheBassTank.com and professional bass and crappie tournament angler, is one of the most knowledgeable anglers of Garmin LiveScope. He was one of the first guys in the nation to have it and he's seen all the applications for bass and crappie. He can practically apply the knowledge of these technologies to catch more fish as well as address any of the common install and usages issues anglers will have through his years of installs and troubleshooting.

We asked Soukup to give us a rundown of the 10 best settings for Garmin LiveScope to help anglers get the best looking picture on their units, and be able to see the fish, their lures and the cover in all fishing situations.

Here are the 10 settings and we'll give you link next to the title to the specific place in the video where he talks about each specific setting.

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Jason Sealock
1. Noise Reject (39 seconds)

Noise reject helps filter the information that is coming into your unit from your LiveScope processor and transducer. When you have it turned off you'll see a lot of clutter on the screen. You will want a little clutter to filter through because you want to be able to see your line and small jigs on the screen and you need some of the information to pass through. But the Noise Reject setting at high will eliminated a lot of unwanted clutter.

To set it go to your LiveScope screen and choose Menu > Sonar Setup > Noise Reject and choose High.

2. TVG (1 min, 28 secs)

TVG stands for Time Variable Gain. This is filter information top to bottom to let you see further into the water. When you're in water less than 15 feet deep, you'll want to set TVG to off as it will filter too much out on the top part of the water column and you could miss some fish up there. Deeper than that and you can start with low.

To set it. Go to your Livescope Screen and choose Menu > Sonar Setup > TVG and choose OFF.

3. Color Gain (2 mins, 6 secs)

Color Gain is a way to set the intensity of just the objects that Livescope will detect. Instead of pumping up the gain and contrast of the whole screen, color gain just pumps up the fish, brush, your lure and other objects in the water. So this is a setting you can turn way up if you're having a hard time seeing fish or your lure at a distance. Soukup talks about his favorite settings in the video above, but each person needs to find their happy medium for where they fish.

To set it, go to your LiveScope Screen and choose Menu > Sonar Setup > Appearance > Color Gain. It defaults around 50 and Soukup often runs his up to 83 or 84 to really make those returns stand out on the screen.

4. Gain (3 mins, 5 secs)

After you get Noise Reject, TVG and Color Gain adjusted, then you can start tweaking your Gain up and down to see how much clutter you like cleared or showing to make sure you see the cover, the fish and your lure if necessary to make the most precise presentations to the fish. This is truly a user preference and you will find at times you will turn it up and other times you'll turn it down as you change locations and depth.

To set it go to your LiveScope Screen and down at the bottom towards the right you'll see Gain. You can click the + or - to increase and decrease your Gain.

soukup-color-palettes.jpg
Jason Sealock
5. Color Scheme (3 mins, 23 secs)

Everyone sees a little differently. It's this way on Marine Electronics for sure. Some folks see amber better while some see blue better. Sometimes on a cloudy day, one palette draws a better picture than another for different people. So that's why there are so many options. Soukup was a big fan of Black Emerald when he was here fishing the Crappie Masters tournament on Kentucky Lake looking for crappie in stake beds and brush piles that were covered in shad fry. I like the Blue and the Amber palettes.

To set it, go to your LiveScope screen and choose Menu > Sonar Setup > Appearance > Color Scheme. Then choose the color palette that you can best see everything with on that body of water.

6. Range (4 mins, 48 secs)

Range understanding is critical to distinguishing not only species of fish but size of same species of fish. So if you're hunting bigger crappie and not wanting to cull through a lot of little ones, you can learn what they look like by keeping your range in close and keeping it consistent. Same with your depth. As you stretch and constrict your screen sideways (range) and up and down (depth) you change the scale and detail LiveScope can display.

Soukup has some good feedback on how far out to use Range in the video above.

To set Range, go to your LiveScope screen. At the bottom left is the Range option. You can expand out or pull it back in.

Usually I stay between 25 and 50. I use 25 when I'm fishing for a specific fish on the screen. I use 50 when I'm trying to see a piece of cover before I get on it or if I want to sit off a school and make sure my bait is landing in the right place every time.

7. Depth (6 mins, 36 secs)

Like Range, keeping your depth consistent helps identify fish and how big the fish are before you ever put a lure in their face. Soukup recommends keep the depth setting on manual so the screen won't auto range in and out. Then set the depth to 3 or 4 feet deeper than the depth you're in. That will keep the menu items out of the way and below what you want to see on the screen.

To Set Depth, go to your LiveScope screen and choose, Menu > Depth Range then select a depth a few feet deeper than where you're fishing.

8. Bottom Fill & Trails (7 mins, 58 secs)

When you are fishing for fish that are hunkering on the bottom, something Walleye often do, you might want to use the Bottom Fill and Trails features.

To set these, go to your LiveScope Screen. Then choose Menu > Sonar Setup > Appearance > Bottom Fill or Trails. See a more detailed explanation of what each does in the video above.

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Jason Sealock
9. Orientation (Perspective Mode): 10 mins, 39 secs

You bought the new Perspective Mode Mount and are having trouble with it auto sensing and showing you the new perspective mode. Turn the transducer to Perspective mode. Then go to your unit and on the LiveScope screen choose Menu > Sonar Setup >Installation > Orientation and choose Perspective. Or set to Auto and it should autosense when you move the transducer.

10. Transmit (overheating fix): 11 mins, 46 secs

If you are having issues with Panoptix shutting off because the transducer is overheating while it's on the deck in the hot scorching summer heat. You can fix this by turning the transmit off while the Panoptix LiveScope transducer is out of the water.

To turn it off, go to Menu > Transmit > Off.

Featured Fishing Gear:

Garmin Panoptix Livescope
Garmin GPSMAP 8612 XSV
Xpress Boats X21 Pro
If you're in the market for a new unit and LiveScope system, you should consider calling the guys at TheBassTank.com. They have everything you need, can address any issues you might have and will support you after the purchase. That's reason enough to buy from them with technology this advanced. Check them out at TheBassTank.com.

TomRom, thanks for that. It should be very helpful for a new-to-sophisticated electronics guys like me.

You are welcome. I have been looking at more videos on sonar, livescope etc since I got all that money tied up in that system and I feel that I am getting more out of my investment. My previous other brand units were good units but I did not find them to be very user friendly. Way too complicated to find and or change settings. So I did not mess with them much and consequently I did not get the best out of those units.

The thing I really like about the Garmin unit is it is very user friendly. Really cant mess them up. Most of their auto modes work very well. Nothing is really hidden. I made those adjustments I posted above and they did improve what I was seeing and or able to see. Especially keeping the depth setting relatively close to the depth you are fishing. You might find a different lake might show up better with different settings or minor adjustments. Also I think things like algae bloom or other turbidity issues could impact what you will be able to see. Like I say watch the you tube videos and/or the Garmin webinars. They are really helpful and you will find and learn little things that will really help you get the most out of your units.