Posted By: Holding The Line
Software update makes Garmin LiveScope even better - 02/06/22 06:24 PM
Software update makes Garmin LiveScope even better (PHOTO BELOW)
A re-post from my article today in the Killeen Daily Herald (06 Feb. 2022)
On Monday, June 11, 2018, recreational fishing was forever changed with Garmin’s news release which stated, “Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., today announced Panoptix LiveScope™ — a live scanning sonar that gives anglers higher resolution and easier-to-interpret images of structure, bait and fish swimming below and around the boat than ever before.”
The release continued, ”Now, thanks to the active scanning capabilities of Panoptix LiveScope, anglers can see images and movement so clear and precise that it’s even possible to distinguish between species of fish.”
Shortly after this news release, LiveScope was physically revealed at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show in Orlando, Florida.
I had prior on-the-water experience with LiveScope’s predecessor, Garmin Panoptix, and had not been all that impressed with it, primarily due to the fixed position of the transducer and the fairly crude, grainy images it produced.
But, when I saw the LiveScope images, I was impressed. Before the summer was over, I had coordinated an on-the-water demo with Garmin, observed the technology’s strengths and weaknesses, and by October had installed my first LiveScope unit on my boat.
Fast forward to present day, I now have two complete, independently functioning Garmin LiveScope systems on my boat, each with a transducer, blackbox, and two monitors (four monitors total) thus allowing me, even with a full complement of six anglers, to place all of my clients in front of a monitor so they can all observe their presentations, and fish response to those presentation, in real time.
I just enjoyed the single most productive season I have experienced in 16 years of guiding. Over the course of 2021, my clients caught and released 20,434 fish. Garmin LiveScope combined with vertical use of the MAL Lure accounted for the vast majority of these fish. The Garmin technology has helped me become a better guide and provide a better experience for my clients.
Key to this LiveScope setup is the use of infinitely adjustable transducer poles, one on the starboard aft corner of the boat, and one on the port aft corner, which allow me to very precisely steer the LiveScope’s sound beam in order to keep all clients’ presentations visible, even when the boat lists one way or another due to unequal weight distribution.
This above-described setup has served me well. As of Jan. 28, this setup began serving me even better.
One day prior, one of the on-the-water sonar training clients whom I had introduced to LiveScope technology, and whom I had trained on its use after he purchased his own setup, contacted me. He had gotten word that a significant LiveScope software update had been released and he wanted my opinion on it.
I have been head-down, focused on the Belton Anglers Stocking Hybrid fundraising effort of late and had not yet heard of the update. To be able to answer my client’s question, I did some digging.
The more digging I did, the more impressed I was with what this latest software update offered.
I mentioned earlier that, way back when I went on a demonstration ride with Garmin, I had noted some weaknesses in the LiveScope technology. One of them was the appearance of unwanted electronic artifact at the outer reaches of the image produced by LiveScope. Some folks call this noise or static or interference or fuzz — whatever you call it, it was annoying. But, what I could see nearer the center of the image captured by the technology’s sound beam was so useful, I just learned to live with that artifact.
That is, until I uploaded this newest software.
Following instructions on Garmin’s website, I downloaded the files appropriate for my GPSMAP Garmin units (note EchoMAP units have a different software to download which will accomplish the same end result). These files went into the “downloads” section of my personal computer. I unzipped these files while still on the personal computer, then copied the unzipped files to a 32 gigabyte SD card.
This update can also be accomplished via Garmin’s ActiveCaptain app, but I chose to go the other route.
I placed the card in my unit, turned the unit on (which, with my setup, also turns on the blackbox and the transducer), and the unit recognized the SD card and the software update on it. I babysat the unit during the six-plus minutes the update took to process, observing the screen for a message which indicated the update was complete.
Once complete, I shut down the system on my starboard side and then did the same exact update process for the system on my boat’s portside. Both of these systems consist of a “master unit” which the transducer is wired to, and a “slave unit” which receives its information from the “master unit” via a networking cable. I ran my update in the master unit with the slave unit turned on and with the slave unit connected to the master via the network cable, and in so doing, updated the slave unit at the same time I updated the master.
The following day I invited the client who had alerted me to the software update out on the water with me to observe, first-hand, what the update did in a “real world” scenario.
We launched out on Stillhouse Hollow, pulled up into approximately 40 feet of water parallel to the Lampasas River channel, put the Minn Kota Ulterra on Spot-Lock, put the starboard side transducer pole into the water, fired up the fore and aft starboard side LiveScope units (I run a 1242xsv Touch as the master and a 1233 as the slave) and observed as we dropped white 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs down vertically.
After quickly making some setting adjustments, we watched our baits descend, watched fish approach our baits and then watched those fish attack the baits. My client reeled in a just-legal largemouth bass and I reeled in a 13-inch white bass.
![[Linked Image]](https://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics/userpics/2022/02/full-27317-127583-garmin_update.jpg)
Under the sonar appearance settings, a new setting called “Color Limit” has been added. That color limit setting is the jewel in the crown of this update.
By increasing the color limit from its default value of zero up into the mid-fifties range (53 to 56 worked best for my application) the peripheral artifact (a.k.a. interference, noise, static, fuzz) is all but eliminated.
With this artifact now no longer an issue, I found I could increase my gain (other brands call this “sensitivity”) much higher than I ever could before, thus making small objects, like my lure, stand out more than ever before.
Since that 40-minute test drive, I have now fished with four sets of clients and have gained valuable on-the-water experience with this new tweak to Garmin LiveScope. I have experimented with how adjustments to gain, color gain and color limit all impact the quality of the image in depths varying from 22 to 51 feet.
The upshot of all of this? If you own a Garmin EchoMAP or GPSMAP unit and use LiveScope, you owe it to yourself to take the time to execute the software update and set aside some time on the water to adjust your settings to get the most out of this new variable. This will be an investment in your 2022 fishing season.
A re-post from my article today in the Killeen Daily Herald (06 Feb. 2022)
On Monday, June 11, 2018, recreational fishing was forever changed with Garmin’s news release which stated, “Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., today announced Panoptix LiveScope™ — a live scanning sonar that gives anglers higher resolution and easier-to-interpret images of structure, bait and fish swimming below and around the boat than ever before.”
The release continued, ”Now, thanks to the active scanning capabilities of Panoptix LiveScope, anglers can see images and movement so clear and precise that it’s even possible to distinguish between species of fish.”
Shortly after this news release, LiveScope was physically revealed at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show in Orlando, Florida.
I had prior on-the-water experience with LiveScope’s predecessor, Garmin Panoptix, and had not been all that impressed with it, primarily due to the fixed position of the transducer and the fairly crude, grainy images it produced.
But, when I saw the LiveScope images, I was impressed. Before the summer was over, I had coordinated an on-the-water demo with Garmin, observed the technology’s strengths and weaknesses, and by October had installed my first LiveScope unit on my boat.
Fast forward to present day, I now have two complete, independently functioning Garmin LiveScope systems on my boat, each with a transducer, blackbox, and two monitors (four monitors total) thus allowing me, even with a full complement of six anglers, to place all of my clients in front of a monitor so they can all observe their presentations, and fish response to those presentation, in real time.
I just enjoyed the single most productive season I have experienced in 16 years of guiding. Over the course of 2021, my clients caught and released 20,434 fish. Garmin LiveScope combined with vertical use of the MAL Lure accounted for the vast majority of these fish. The Garmin technology has helped me become a better guide and provide a better experience for my clients.
Key to this LiveScope setup is the use of infinitely adjustable transducer poles, one on the starboard aft corner of the boat, and one on the port aft corner, which allow me to very precisely steer the LiveScope’s sound beam in order to keep all clients’ presentations visible, even when the boat lists one way or another due to unequal weight distribution.
This above-described setup has served me well. As of Jan. 28, this setup began serving me even better.
One day prior, one of the on-the-water sonar training clients whom I had introduced to LiveScope technology, and whom I had trained on its use after he purchased his own setup, contacted me. He had gotten word that a significant LiveScope software update had been released and he wanted my opinion on it.
I have been head-down, focused on the Belton Anglers Stocking Hybrid fundraising effort of late and had not yet heard of the update. To be able to answer my client’s question, I did some digging.
The more digging I did, the more impressed I was with what this latest software update offered.
I mentioned earlier that, way back when I went on a demonstration ride with Garmin, I had noted some weaknesses in the LiveScope technology. One of them was the appearance of unwanted electronic artifact at the outer reaches of the image produced by LiveScope. Some folks call this noise or static or interference or fuzz — whatever you call it, it was annoying. But, what I could see nearer the center of the image captured by the technology’s sound beam was so useful, I just learned to live with that artifact.
That is, until I uploaded this newest software.
Following instructions on Garmin’s website, I downloaded the files appropriate for my GPSMAP Garmin units (note EchoMAP units have a different software to download which will accomplish the same end result). These files went into the “downloads” section of my personal computer. I unzipped these files while still on the personal computer, then copied the unzipped files to a 32 gigabyte SD card.
This update can also be accomplished via Garmin’s ActiveCaptain app, but I chose to go the other route.
I placed the card in my unit, turned the unit on (which, with my setup, also turns on the blackbox and the transducer), and the unit recognized the SD card and the software update on it. I babysat the unit during the six-plus minutes the update took to process, observing the screen for a message which indicated the update was complete.
Once complete, I shut down the system on my starboard side and then did the same exact update process for the system on my boat’s portside. Both of these systems consist of a “master unit” which the transducer is wired to, and a “slave unit” which receives its information from the “master unit” via a networking cable. I ran my update in the master unit with the slave unit turned on and with the slave unit connected to the master via the network cable, and in so doing, updated the slave unit at the same time I updated the master.
The following day I invited the client who had alerted me to the software update out on the water with me to observe, first-hand, what the update did in a “real world” scenario.
We launched out on Stillhouse Hollow, pulled up into approximately 40 feet of water parallel to the Lampasas River channel, put the Minn Kota Ulterra on Spot-Lock, put the starboard side transducer pole into the water, fired up the fore and aft starboard side LiveScope units (I run a 1242xsv Touch as the master and a 1233 as the slave) and observed as we dropped white 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs down vertically.
After quickly making some setting adjustments, we watched our baits descend, watched fish approach our baits and then watched those fish attack the baits. My client reeled in a just-legal largemouth bass and I reeled in a 13-inch white bass.
Under the sonar appearance settings, a new setting called “Color Limit” has been added. That color limit setting is the jewel in the crown of this update.
By increasing the color limit from its default value of zero up into the mid-fifties range (53 to 56 worked best for my application) the peripheral artifact (a.k.a. interference, noise, static, fuzz) is all but eliminated.
With this artifact now no longer an issue, I found I could increase my gain (other brands call this “sensitivity”) much higher than I ever could before, thus making small objects, like my lure, stand out more than ever before.
Since that 40-minute test drive, I have now fished with four sets of clients and have gained valuable on-the-water experience with this new tweak to Garmin LiveScope. I have experimented with how adjustments to gain, color gain and color limit all impact the quality of the image in depths varying from 22 to 51 feet.
The upshot of all of this? If you own a Garmin EchoMAP or GPSMAP unit and use LiveScope, you owe it to yourself to take the time to execute the software update and set aside some time on the water to adjust your settings to get the most out of this new variable. This will be an investment in your 2022 fishing season.
