i cant seem 2 get my lowerance hds 5 sonar adjusted right? where should my contrast be,which tranducer setting 200 83 or 50 ghz, i need some help guys, my structure scan seems 2 read just fine,thanks 4 the help,i need it

Hi SC,

It can depend on what you want to do. For most freshwater fishing situations, the 200 kHz works great. Of the three you mentioned, the 200 kHz has the smallest cone angle (20 Degrees). So you will see more detail, but view less bottom area. This diagram might help clarify the cone angles:



The 83 kHz will give you more bottom coverage, but pin pointing objects, fish and bait becomes a little more difficult because the object can be located anyplace within the cone's circumference.

If you are using the down scan and side scan, you don’t really need to go as wide as the 50 kHz would provide. You also may not want to use the 200/83kHz combo, again because it will make it harder to "pin point" fish and other objects. I personally like to set my HDS 7 for 200 kHz. I'll use the down imaging and side imagining (on my Hummingbird 997) to figure out if the fish/objects are left/center/right of my tranducer.

Setting like "contrast" are more geared towards side imaging and down imaging. They were disigned to let us try and fine tune the pictures that we see... similar to the way contrast works on a TV.


Here are two nice video tutorials for the HDS units:

SONAR:




STRUCTURE SCAN:


After watching these two videos, let me know if you have any more specific questions...

Happy New Year...

BC

thanks brendan, that was a fist class learning curve 4 me,i never new that about the tranducer,and how the the khz worked,and never new,you had install and tell your unit which trans you where using,now i just need 2 find out which transducer came with the hds5 bundle package and install and the maybe i can actully put that thing 2 use,

Thanks Brendan, great video tips. As you know I just bought the HDS7 and this is very helpful!!!!

No problem SC and Nunz... glad you found the info helpful.

Just be aware that the HDS 5 had some problems with water getting into the unit through the screen. I went through about 3 units before Lowrance upgraded me to the HDS 7. Don't let that unit sit with the screen facing up in heavy rain. They may have fixed the problem by now, but I honestly am not sure.

You should be able to find the transducer info on the cable, it should have a tag wrapped around one end. If not, check the box that it came in (assuming you didn't throw it away). Last resort, you can call Lowarance, they are extremely helpful.

Good Luck...

that info helped a lot,but now i think something wrong with my tranducer,the only time it seems not 2 be blurry,is when my motor is off or in gear,moving a little,i checked and nothing is loose,any ideas on what it might be? example: its almost like i am running up the lake on plane

If you don't have the right one selected, that would be the first thing to check. Second thing could be interference from the cranking battery. As a test, switch it over to another battery and see if the problem goes away. Usually trolling motors interfere more, but I did have an issue with one of my older Lowrance units that was related to a bad connection on at the cranking battery.