hey guys... can anyone help me, i think i need some help atleast... this is a pic from my graph of a redfish school... how come the arches are always "broken" i never get the solid non broken arches. I have tried all kinds of sensitivy settings but higher just makes all these "speckles" on the screen... I have noise rejection on "low"... unit is HDS 5

Another little school but the arches are still broken

"my cranker didn't have quite enough juice" Do tell? Because this is one of the "trouble shooting" issues I had to go through was "Is the unit hooked to a aux. battery or your cranking battery". My answer was both. How can I Have 10.9 to 11.2 on a start, and 12.0 12.08 on stand and not have "enough juice". Don't sound right to me. Is it the Amp pull that may what they are saying? Well, mine does the reboot running, idling, off, on.........

I also have a SEVER heat problem. My LCD get so hot that you can not lay the back of your hand on it for more than 2 seconds before you HAVE to move it or it would burn you.

It is a Gen 1 and I am running 4.1 update.


On your response to the red fish school. It is a tight packed ball of fish that is returning numberous pings back off of several fish and they are sharing the same return. Nice school!

I got a return number to send it back in. Now the question is what can I expect for a turn around before I start lighting up asses over at Lowrance.

so are you saying that is normal? The reason i don't think it's "normal" is because my buddy on his boat he's got the hds10 and he gets amazing clear shots on his and i've even tried using his exact settings and still can't get as good as shots as him... here is a shot of a school when i was fishing with him for comparison...to me his arches just look more "complete" and more clear.. do you think so too? and if you notice on his you can even see his downrigger weights running at about 20ft... on mine i can't see my weights usually... sometimes i can see them but not always, and it's usually when the weights are shallow..say 10ft. or so

JSB, I'm not expert on sonar but it could be something as simple as the angle of the transducers. Or if it's a shoot thru, one hull might be thicker or have air bubbles, etc. I know the arches are prettier but they don't really mean anything extra, if your getting blobs, dots, lines and red splotches thats all that really matters.

hmmm i have tried messing with angle of the transduer and never really gotten any better, but i know how finicky they are so might have still had it wrong.. i've tried flat, angled front, angled back... i forgot to mention earlier that and even sometimes the unit will not read bottom it can't find it and flips from 70ft. to 10ft. back and forth and won't read fish or bait. I can't seem to figure out what's wrong with it at all.. I do know it's not working right that's for sure lol... I agree "kinda" on the clear arches thing, except sometimes it's easier to spot reds on the bottom when they are not schooling when it's clutter free. I just know this unit is capable of better picture just trying to get the max out of the unit..

You running a tunnel hull? Maybe post a pic of where the sonar ducer is at on the transom and somebody can spot something that might not be just right.

I have an extra ducer if you need to try it to see if that is the problem.

no sir, i have a 13' boston whaler.. no tunnel... here are some pics of the transducer... i have tried moving the ducer where it's at now is the third different spot...

Def. low enough. About the only thing I can see that I might try (and you might have already tried) is to tilt the back of the ducer down slightly. I think the nose cone is lower right now and I believe the back is supposed to be a hair lower.


Maybe you and your buddy need to swap graphs for a few minutes to see if yours gets arches with his set up.

Pictures tell a thousand words. You're much too low, much too close to the transom and likely too far to starboard.
Safe boating...

whenever I had it higher if someone like 200#'s sat up front it wouldn't sit low enough in water would get all kinds of bubbles etc... any closer to the middle of the boat then its where the engine is and it was real bad there and there's also a fin under the boat that's in the way... if u look at pic u can see the 2 other spots I had it mounted (where I repaired the holes) I don't know what else to do!?!?!

An unbalanced load, or changing weight distribution will throw everything off, even your prop pitch should change. When adding or deleting a big fisherman (or woman) in the bow, you can expect to experience a 13 Whaler transom to raise...I had a 13 at one time. At speed though, you should be able to raise the bow with proper hp. How big is the captain?

Please provide more info. Are you wanting to use your electronics at speed and at drift or simply at drift? You generally always set up a boat for performance (to include your electronics)with proper weight and its distribution as recomended by the mfgr. Anything else is a compromise. In my previous post to you, my theory stands!

Safe boating...

well.. i am wanting to read the graph at trolling speeds with my outboard... so anywhere from 3.0-5.0 mph... don't really need to read it going any faster.. i weigh about 180lb's... and i do agree you are correct about saying it's too low, but like i said it's the best i thought i could do? I am open for all suggestions, i just got frustrated because everything i've tried hasn't worked. Im not trying to debunk your ideas or suggestions, just trying to clarify my situation.. thanks alot for your help sir.. where i had it before it was getting way too much prop disturbace when it was closer to the middle of the boat.. since you've had a 13 whaler you know how narrow they are! just not much transom space to work with

Well, I'm going to stick with the try swapping graphs for a day test, heck it'll only take 2 minutes to try. It will tell you more than anyone can do typing to you. It will eliminate the is it: the ducer, the current update #, electrical interference, etc. Try your unit on his setup, since you know his is working like you'd like yours too. Best place to start.

JSB, grout-scout is on part of it. But a dirty transducer will cause some of the "noise" you are seeing too. Expecially in Calavaeras! Not to be mean, but your ducer looks pretty crusty by the back of it.


Fishing calaveras I know that sometimes, depending on water generation, boat traffic, water temp, bait consentration.... and on and on is how clear my returns are. Also, you are running a HDS 5 which does not have the same pixel ratio as a HDS 10. The 10 can collect and report clearer pixeled returns than the 5 just because of the vertical pixel ratio. The HDS 10 looks to be on palette 13 and yours appears to be on maybe palette 1. I don't know anything about the HDS 5 but that might be another issue. My bet is transducer issue, and biggest is the pixel return on the vertical side of your screen.

One last thing, are you running at 83 or 200 I can't tell by your photo.