Disapointed and a little stupid

[crappie1133]

I decided to go on a shake down fishing trip. Water was stained, big time, temperature was 63 degrees. Did not get a bite. Every thing worked, batteries, motor and etc. I have a Elite 7 HDI sonar unit, I am not sure if the transducer is working properly or I haven't got the correct settings. I have this on a Lowrance switch to toggle back and forth, front to back. when I tried to make adjustments to the sensitivety and colorline, the buttons would stick. Making adjustments almost impossible. The down scan sometimes would not work at all regardless of the speed. I have another transducer that I may try on the next trip. If I could go back to when I bought this unit , and knew what I know now.....I WOULD NOT BUY AGAIN. I noticed the unit was warm, is this natural. I bought this unit from one of our board members. I paid about $650. I could buy 2 Garmin 551 dv units. Forget GPS , not into waypoints ,mapping and so forth. I am not sure chirp is all it should be, especially with the units on the market now. Sorry for sounding off. Maybe I am just not smart enough.... Anybody with suggestions , I will listen

[rnvinc]

The easiest troubleshooting method is crosstesting with another head unit and xducer ...

(Their head unit on your xducer and your head unit on their xducer) ...

Rickie

[crappie1133]

The easiest troubleshooting method is crosstesting with another head unit and xducer ...

(Their head unit on your xducer and your head unit on their xducer) ...

Rickie

Thanks Rickie, I have a friend who just bought a elite 5 hdi that I may try my unit on his transducer. I hadn't thought of that. I also found that my transducer was not parrellel to the bottom.I went out and messed with it on simulator while in the yard. This could be the problem as the depth was jumping around a lot. I may have to do a factory reset or eliminate my transducer switch. Lowrance said the switch was compatable and would work with my hdi transducers?????. Then again the switch could be bad.Was hard to make sensitivity and colorline adjustments, the buttons wanted to stick. I worked them over in the yard and they seem better. This seems like it is going to take time and another trip to the water. anchoring, and making adjustments. Thanks for your comments. at least I am a little more incouraged......crappie1133

[rnvinc]

Definitely testing without the switch would be an easy troubleshooting step ...

And also definitely...xducer out of level with the water's surface can make it difficult for the unit to discern steady bottom returns ...

Rickie

[crappie1133]

Definitely testing without the switch would be an easy troubleshooting step ...

And also definitely...xducer out of level with the water's surface can make it difficult for the unit to discern steady bottom returns ...

Rickie

Rickie, thanks for your suggestions. I appreciate you taking your time and offering some great suggestions. At this time 255 have read this post. Unless everybody is as dumb as I am,you would have thought someone would have had some input. It won't be long before we want be the "best forum on the web". After much research, I think your suggestion regarding the transducer not being parallel to the bottom was my problem. Will get to the water this weekend and make another report. Thanks again for you input........crappie1133

[wannabe fisherman]

there's not many that can give better advice than Ricky on this board. Once he. or Hummingbird Greg, is on the case no one is going to question what they say or butt in.
That's just one of the things that make this the very best fishing forum on the web.