HDS 7 Loses Bottom Contact??

[t_dub]

ok, this happened when I had a 5 too and has now just started happening with my 7. going at cruising speed, when I hit water over about 300' deep, the unit loses bottom contact, no big deal, but the problem is when I stop to troll over deep water, it won't regain contact and will give erroneous depth readings (like 42.3 feet in 500' of water) if it gives any at all. usually, it just blacks out the bottom half of the screen and won't register anything. kind of a pain when you're looking for schools of fish at certain depths. only way i can get it to fix itself is to troll into shallower water, like 200', then it will find bottom and all is well again, even maintaing contact when I troll deeper. transom skimmer transducer is installed correctly, all wiring is tight, have tried switching between 50 & 200 kHz, change sensitivities, turning unit off an on, etc. and the only thing that works is the shallow water thing. what's going on???? it's a Gen1 unit, purchased just before they transitioned to the Gen2's (of course) and has the latest software updates.

[t_dub]

oops. just noticed the other post about something similar.

it's weird that it's worked just fine for 2+ years then just started doing this. also been having other problems with the unit since last spring, mainly REALLY slow refresh rates (like 5-10 seconds), REALLY slow scrolling (like a second or two delay, basically doing anything on the unit is REALLY slow. Keizer looked at it a couple of months ago, shrugged his shoulders and said to call Navico and tell them he couldn't do anything with it. Their answer was I can send it back (in the middle of the salmon season with a minimum 2+ week turnaround) and they can look at it, or upgrade to a Gen2 through them for $800-ish. less than happy with either of those options. yes, it is out of warranty. no it has never been anything but babied. yes, a unit should last more than 2 years before going tits up. yes, would like to see Navico stand a little more behind their product than their solution of upgrading to the newer generation for dang near retail price.

[Nelly]

Hey T,
I know that you know your unit and the fact that you mention "skimmer transducers" and "latest software updates" speaks to that fact.

What I would suggest is that you get into the SONAR menu, then the Installation sub menu and specifically choose your application and transducer.

The best way to tailor your unit for Puget Sound is, ironically.. to choose the Fresh Water setting since your unit will best respond to the depths and speeds that are most common to this area.

In your post you mentioned a dual frequency 50/200 kHz unit so look through the transducer list for the HST-50/200-WSU and specifically choose that 'ducer. You may have a different 'ducer so confirm that serial number and pick it from the drop-down list.

Lastly, once you have the application and transducer correctly selected, allow the unit to run in both Auto Sensitivity and Auto Range modes. You should now -assuming a correct transducer installation position- able to mark bottom in most speeds up to 30 MPH and depths to over 450 feet.

If you're still having the same problems, then I would seriously consider replacing the transducer. Remember that they are a "wear item" in that one wayward stick can impact the housing and cause something similar -or worse- than what you're describing and experiencing

Good luck and I hope that helps!

[t_dub]

Hey T,
I know that you know your unit and the fact that you mention "skimmer transducers" and "latest software updates" speaks to that fact.

What I would suggest is that you get into the SONAR menu, then the Installation sub menu and specifically choose your application and transducer.

The best way to tailor your unit for Puget Sound is, ironically.. to choose the Fresh Water setting since your unit will best respond to the depths and speeds that are most common to this area.

In your post you mentioned a dual frequency 50/200 kHz unit so look through the transducer list for the HST-50/200-WSU and specifically choose that 'ducer. You may have a different 'ducer so confirm that serial number and pick it from the drop-down list.

Lastly, once you have the application and transducer correctly selected, allow the unit to run in both Auto Sensitivity and Auto Range modes. You should now -assuming a correct transducer installation position- able to mark bottom in most speeds up to 30 MPH and depths to over 450 feet.

If you're still having the same problems, then I would seriously consider replacing the transducer. Remember that they are a "wear item" in that one wayward stick can impact the housing and cause something similar -or worse- than what you're describing and experiencing

Good luck and I hope that helps!

yep, tried all that already and have had the correct transducer selected since install.

if it was just the transducer issue, i'd consider just replacing that, but with all the refresh issues with the head unit, I'm thinking there's more internal problems going on and wonder if the sonar issues have more to do with that than a 'ducer issue. btw, zero damage, nicks or anything on the transducer and it's never been kicked up when i've pulled the boat to indicate it hit something underway.

[Robbo]

Are you running a Platinum chart by any chance?

Something else that you might try. Find the advanced settings in your sonar menu and see what the ping speed is set at. You might try ramping that up a bit and see if it helps. I can't remember the exact setting on my old Gen 1, but I seem to recall a rather high ping speed.

Something to try anyway. Hope ya get it back on track for the remainder of fishing season Ty.

[t_dub]

Rob,
yeah, running a platinum chip but the delay isn't just refreshing the chart or zooming in or out, it's every time I hit a key, try and bring up a menu or scroll through anything. doesn't matter if it's in the chart, sonar, info, steer or whatever. it's all slow. and ping rate on the sonar is up to what Keizer recommends.

thanks for all the tips guys, just seems like there's probably something not right in the guts. should be able to limp through this season with it. lucky or not for me, not much fishing opportunities left thanks to a rambunctious 9 month old named Zach that seems to suck up most of my free time. decision at the end of the season will be what i'll replace the unit with. I like Lowrance units, but having issues with the last two that I've owned in relatively short usage time is kind of giving me pause.

[Nelly]

Hey 'Dub,
I'm sorry to hear about you issues and it's frustrating to have a repeat performance.
I experienced some of the same HDS Gen 1 delayed screen load/refresh issues and all I can tell you is that Lowrance's software engineers "bit" off more unit functionality than the Gen 1 processor could "chew".
I can assure you that all of those issues have been resolved with the HDS Gen 2's and the Gen 2 Touch screens are just incredible...and fast.

I would like to have you swing by the boat sometime and I'll show you what I mean. In addition, I'll try and get you some off season help as well.

Good luck out there and I hope to see you on the water!

[Robbo]

Well son of a gun Sounds like you've tried just about everything and it's still acting up. Thanks for reachin' out and if there's anything I can do to help down the line let me know Ty.

[Dan Carney]

One more thing your might try is to set the unit to restore the factory defaults. An update or software flaw can corrupt memory in the unit that limits resources and causes it to slow. This is more of a general IT issue, but these units are very much computer based - think of it as a cold re-boot of your home computer and reloading the operating system.
L8R
Dan