Discussion on Lowrance Elite 5 DSI/Chartplotter ....

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Originally Posted by farmer1940

I use a stick, steering boat and I set up front. I was wanting to put mine on the transom, but I could see how it would get scarred up pulling over limbs are chips are what ever in the water will it damage the transducer to get it scratched I see the trolling motor mount I guess its inside, so it will not get damaged. Let me know cause I'm going to do something pretty soon one way or the other. Thanks

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Farmer ... I'm not going to try & persuade you in either direction on which unit to purchase ... but, if I were running a Stick Steer, I wouldn't want the transducer on the transom ... for the simple reason that the GPS is going to be reading where the head unit is located, and the sonar would be showing images below the transducer -- which would be almost a boat length away from each other. Forward motion of the boat would put you over or past your waypoint, before the tdx would come to it & display the image of it.

Now ... what I would do, or consider doing, is mounting a cheap 2d DF up front ... with it's transducer on the transom. I'd use it when running the lake, just for keeping up with the depth of water. I'd have my DI unit turned on, & the chartplotter page onscreen ... so I could follow my tracks, map contours, GPS headings, see my waypoints, etc. The GPS portion of the unit will still function when the tdx is out of the water ... and from what I've heard, no damage is done to the tdx by running it out of the water.

I sort of have that setup on my boat, now. The E5DSI is TM mounted, and I have a 2d HB unit flush mounted in the side of the dash, with its tdx mounted to shoot thru the hull. (it was already mounted that way when I purchased the boat) I turn the E5DSI on after I launch, and don't turn it off until I trailer the boat. My boat likes to "cruise" at ~ 40mph, and is capable of WOT @ 50mph ... so I don't really want my attention swerving to the depthfinder while I'm motoring down the lake. I'm focused on what's in front of me, what's floating on the water, what size waves & their direction of travel, and the traffic in the area !! :twocents

... cp :kewl

Pappy,

You're absolutely right about the movement of the trolling motor, waves on the lake and boat movements which occur. Parallel was a relative term. I would recommend that the transducer face be set as level as possible with the surface of the water on a calm day. Also as close to bottom dead center or perpendicular as possible. Plumb and square if you like. When installing I would recommend that the trolling motor also be in its down trolling position. They may also have shims available to aid in this. The frequency of these transducers are relatively low in ultrasonic terms as what we are looking for are not microscopic targets and sound wave length determines the units sensitivity. The bottom of the lake is also not flat so that also has its affect because the angle of incident being equal to the angle of reflection for a greater part of the sound that was generated but enough will be returning to give readings as most surfaces are not glass smooth. So plumb & square will provide someone with the strongest signal in ideal conditions. Most conditions are never ideal. Its a best effort kind of thing. I am also sure that the manufactures have engineered all of these variables into their systems to provide us the best images available.

Thanks for the extra pictures. I sort of imagined thats how it would be set up. Once I see the actual t/d casing it should be easy enough to fabricate something from a plastic cutting board and a few hose clamps. Famous last words right but worth a shot.

Thanks for the info on Ram Mounts I will be looking into these cause my back isn't so flexible anymore.

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Originally Posted by crappiepappy

I don't think image 6 is showing your "line" ... but, it may be showing your bait or a large sinker being pulled back in :dono

The last image is likely the thermocline ... it's at about the right depth for this time of year.

Nice images !!

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Pappy, I just assumed because the line was straight instead of an arc, that it was line. That being said, Ive read this whole thread and remember the discussion on the geometry of the beam, and fan width and so on...way over my head : ) I think your probably right. Either way, I think its very cool and dont regret this purchas one bit. :cheers2
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Didn't do that quote thing right... did I ?

Well this might seem off topic a little but I came across this while looking for information. I have not seen this discussed yet and since we have a GPS with this unit I though this would be a good link for those interested. Information is only as good as your ability to retrieve it and understand what you have. The guy in my view gives a great presentation about what to do with your GPS data. There are about 4 videos in total so don't stop on the first one. I have not recieved my unit yet. In the mail so to speak so I dont know if we have the optiions to rename our waypoints to the extent this guy recommends. Hope you find it useful. Getting the most out of your GPS 1 - YouTube

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Originally Posted by davidw

Didn't do that quote thing right... did I ?

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:Rofl ... yeah, you left off the [/quote] at the end of my words ... no biggie, I fixed it.

... cp :kewl

I have seen members made comments regarding getting a screen protector for the Elite 5 dsi. Actually you should consider doing this for anything with a screen (Cellphone, tablet, GPS etc). You don't need to get one specially made for the unit you can just pick one up a Dollar tree. They have them there with either matted or clear texture for $1. The screen protector is for a 10 inch tablet. You can cut that screen protector to fit whatever you're going to put it on. I picked myself up a few of them so I can keep changing them as they get used up or damaged.

Just registered to Crappie.com today. Love the site for all the great info. i just recently purchased this unit, and love it so far. I am more than a little disappointed that it did not come with a hard plastic cover like all of my other Lowarance units did. What's up with that. Did others' come with a cover?

:welcome smally. Hope your enjoying all of this . Starting to be a never ending story..haa ha

I was looking at pictures of the case that is housing the Transducer (TD) for the Elite 5 sdi. I find it somewhat interesting. It is elongated and appears to be 4X perhaps longer than it is wide. The way it is mounted either on the Trolling Motor (TM) or Transom has this TD housing running the same direction as the long axis of the boat. Having said that the beam generated runs transverse to that plane. I base this on those beam spread pictures earlier posted in this thread. I don't know the size of the piezoelectric crystal but it must be shaped to make this happen or the housing is made in this shape for some other reason. Perhaps to reduce drag or something. Just thinking out loud here. An easy way to visualize beam spread is think of the TD as a flashlight. In the dark you can see the light radiating out from the flash light. Some flashlights also allow the light beam to be focused by twisting the reflector. If this unit is mounted on the TM then when you maneuver the TM on its axis you would be sending this vertical slice beam in a 180 arc left and right of the TM shaft. This would show you fish all around your boat wouldn't it? If so when you're moving your TM around you need to keep this in minds as to what direction you're looking at. Am I correct in this thinking? Has anyone considered this or tried it with their unit.

Thanks for the welcome Knot. I might have misled you, i was actually referring to the white plastic cover over that protects the head unit itself.