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

Originally Posted by crappiepappy

Bill ... with the exception of the bottom pic, the 455kHz shows a better pic, with greater detail.

Since all the screens show depths between ~15-20ft .... the bottom pic may be better in the 800kHz range, due to the angle in which you went over that log ... as I assume no settings were changed ??

... cp

Everything was set to default.

Them overlay figures are as big as that freaking BUG of yours Rofl

You might leave everything at "default", with the exception of downsizing the overlay numbers (depth/temp/speed) and tuning the surface clarity just a touch ... and I think you'll have a good setup. If I was going to keep my depth setting at 30ft ... I think I'd set it for the 455kHz range & single screen. With the clarity of the screen images at that setting, I'd be satisfied. Those are some nice looking spots on your screen shots Thumbs Up

Like you, I'm partial to the black background screen. Can't see "fish" on the white background screen Rofl
While I haven't seen fish around timber, on the screen ... I have seen what I perceived to be fish (white blotch) just off the bottom. This was when I was catching fish, at that very depth, when they had backed off from the shallows & out into 14fow on the first major drop (due to the previous cold spells).

... cp

I'll have to try the smaller overlays to see if I can still see them. I haven't played aroud with the clarity settings yet. I wonder if I can get my pet bug on the screen?

Originally Posted by Barnacle Bill

I wonder if I can get my pet bug on the screen?

I wouldn't do that, Bill .... it might scare the Crappie away Rofl

... cp

I agree Gunslinger ! I just bought a 1994 Ranger 481V with the Elite-5 DSI on the console and the Elite-5xDSI on the Trolling Motor. The manuals are terrible, that is the reason I was surfing the net looking for answers. I have been spending a lot of time on the water just playing with the settings and looking at the screen. Make a change and look at it it again. Just trial and error. At first I thought what have I done ??? Got a nice boat but cannot operate the depth finders, LOL. I could not find the Fish I.D. selection. Now I know there is not one to find. Once I played with the color schemes and the 455 khz and the 800 khz and from what I learned on this forum I believe I will enjoy using these units. I have put a couple hundred Waypoints in a Garmin etrex hand held unit (all on Watts Bar Lake in Tennessee). Now I can start adding the Waypoints in the Elite-5 DSI. Just more fun on the water. Thanks for the all the info guys. I was wondering about the cone angle also and now see the charts. COOL !

I just started using my units and I have seen pix like the ones you posted Trophy King II. When I moved over brush piles that I knew exactly where they were in 15-20 feet of water and I checked one at 30 feet. The pix where great. Looked liked brush piles instead of little mounds like it displayed on my old units. One thing I discovered last time out (yesterday) was that is I wa sin 20 feet of water I would set the depth to display 20 feet. It made a big difference in how the unit displayed the pix. When I was in 6-8 feet of water and my unit was set to 20-30 feet deep the pix was crap. But when I set it to 10 feet wow made a big difference. That is what got me playing with the depth setting a little. I set a lot of brush piles out on Watts Bar Lake in Tennesse and if this unit works like it has the two times I have used it I believe I will be happy with it. There is a possibility that there is a problem with your unit or the transducer is bad, some problem that could be corrected hopefully.

Welcome to Crappie.com, Comanche94 Thumbs Up

And thanks for stopping in on our discussion of the Elite 5DSI.

I don't miss the "Fish ID" symbols, personally, since I never really trusted them before. While they did show "fish", at times ... & I knew they were fish, because I caught them ... they also appeared when it was obvious that there couldn't be any fish within the cone. That was enough to make me skeptical about what the symbols were actually showing, most of the time. So, I just used my old 2d depthfinders to find depth & cover ... and my bait to find the "fish" !!

The downloadable Emulator program from Lowrance says there's a Fish ID setting ... Menu - Sonar Options - Fish ID .... but, it must be on one of the other Elite 5 models, since the "Sonar Options" menu does not appear on the Elite 5DSI. It just says "Sonar" ... and there's no Fish ID choice in that menu. Perhaps it is on the 5X model

As I understand it .... the DSI units are supposed to show fish as white specks/blotches. But, what do they show up as if you have a white background setting ?? I tried the white background, and didn't care for it ... so I put mine on "Yellow/Green" (black background). I haven't used/played with it enough to know if my current settings are what I want, but they looked good last time out.

Thanks for bringing up the fact that changing the depth max setting will give a better pic. I'll have to try that out, next time I go.

... cp

My question is: After 22 pages of discussions, can you use it?