Mine does that on a low battery

Yep, voltage problem, I had the same exact thing with mine, and some days it'd be fine, then it'd do exactly what yours is. I had tapped into a line going to the bow console (small diameter) and apparently somewhere there is/was a weak connection.
Finally bit the bullet, was upgrading my bow light socket to a 3-pin to enable a "task light" up front, and pulled new 10ga power cables from the battery (for other future options if desired). No problems since, and when disconnecting things, I noticed where a frayed connection was on the old line that was probably the problem (I thought I was "in front of" the power connection for that switch, but looks like I was tapping a secondary connection leading from that, so that connection was old and faulty.

I was out on the lake using my down scan to look at some spots and my screen became very dark the illumination was set to 10, but it was very dark. Turned the unit off and cut the power to unit after it powered down. After waiting for approx 1 minute I powered the unit back up and It was bright again. this happened one more time during the day. anybody had or heard of this happening and a possible cause/solution.

On another note I tried to put an 8 gig card in my unit and it totally locked up. took the card out and the unit worked again.
don't know if these two problems are merely coincidences or are related.

any ideas?

One of my units did the dark thing. I was told to do a soft reset. It seems to be cured now.

Don't know about the card as 16 gig is supposed to work just fine.

Ok thanks Dayne

Need Help
I have and 8 hds (hds used basically for maps) in dash with shoot thru hull transducer in order to read depth while on plane.
I have 10 hds on ram mount by dash with stern mounted transducer
I have 8 hds on bow with u2 transducer built in minn kote tm
All 3 units are set with DI and SI and are linked with ethernet and nmea2k
The questions are
I want to be able to have bow mount hds to read only sonar and depth, temp from trolling motor and nowhere else, but also be able to use SI and DI.

I want the dash mounted hds to read only skimmer transducer with depth,temp, sonar and SI and DI

I want the ram mounted hds to read only stern mounted transducer with sonar,temp and depth along with SI and DI.
Hopefully someone can help me Thanks

HDS Gen2 are about to hit the market. As I surmised based on the current "clearance/rebate" price cuts, something new was about to come out.
Received the "Offshore Angler" Bass Pro catalog which is now advertising all HDS as "Gen2" models.
Can't find ANYTHING elsewhere on the web, so posting what little I gleaned here.
Basically, the improvements are:
1. New - StructureMap function. Now overlay your side/downscan imaging directly on the contour maps of your choice, for a "picture" map of the bottom.
2. "Faster speed" - presumably a faster processor, probably why it can do the StructureMap now.
3. "More advanced memory" - no details given about this item
4. SolarMax Plus screen (don't ask me what plus means, that's all it said)
Anyhow, these are the only HDS listed in that new catalog, and are listed as "new for 2012", so presumably they are trying to clear the inventory of the "Gen Old" units first. Worked for me, for an HDS-8 with skimmer transducer for $1299 total after rebates. I figured based on the "worldwide" price drops and rebates this was coming, so not too disappointed, although that structure map is kind of cool.

Update:
Cat's out of the bag officially!
<edit> Well, the link I previously posted, as mentioned, stopped working, I read the article at lunch, when I got home that night it had already been "pulled down". Looks like they also maybe "jumped the gun" and someone said pull it back. It basically said everything I already posted (which wasn't much), plus it said they are removing the "capacitive flywheel". Don't know why they would, and hope they don't, as that's a nice feature, the pics of the Gen2 look like it's still there. Maybe they changed the style, but it's still a flywheel? Anyhow, On bbcboards I also posted there, and after my post someone took a pic of the cataloand uploaded of the Offshore Angler pages that the Gen2 appeared in, for those who don't have the catalog. Sorry that BassAnglerMag had to apparently pull their posting back down, but it really didnt't have a lot more detail than the catalog.

Did that 1299 include the LSS-1 and one of the map upgrades?

Forget I said anything. Looks like you got a great deal.

Link dont work.

Anyone know the transducer and power cable that carries the eagle seafinder 320?

Thnaks.

Found a link to more info on HDS Gen2


http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=65819&forum_id=20

Where is the best price on a HDS7 right now? Looking for one for my trolling motor.

We still have quite a few of the GEN 1 units in stock at great prices.

Brian



HDS units still on sale !