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I have an HB 998 unit and need to know if there is any advantage using the auto max depth range or changing the range. I don't quite understand the max depth range. When and under what conditions would someone want to change this setting? I welcome everyones opionions.
With the Max Depth menu set to the “Auto” setting the unit will wait until it listens for sonar returns from its maximum depth range (1,500 feet) but this only happens if it is not currently tracking the bottom.
If you were to set this menu to say 40 feet deep and you stayed in less than 40 feet of water you would not notice any difference. If you were to go into 40+ feet of water though; the unit would not be able to track the bottom as the menu setting tells the unit when to stop listening for a sonar return and anything more than 40 feet away from the transducer would not be heard or shown.
I find its main use is for when you might lose the bottom reading due to transducer installation or water conditions. It will help the unit re-find the bottom faster and will not slow down any other functions that it is performing. So for our lake hear I would typically set it to 80 feet as there are only a few locations where the bottom is deeper than that and I don’t normally go there.
Some people mistake the "Max Depth Range" with "Lower Depth Range"...
As Greg explains above the Max depth is the maximum the unit will listen for a return "IF" the unit looses bottom lock...I set this at the maximum depth of the lake I fish (70ft here on KY lake in the river channel)..I think this setting helps the unit work more efficiently when it is not looking for a depth that I'm not even going to experience on my lake...
Now, the "Lower Depth Range" (Under the Sonar express menu) I use more often.....this setting tells the unit to display the depth you have set at the bottom of the screen....(not in the center of the screen while set on "auto")...
This manual "Lower Depth Range" setting keeps the screen from automatically changing the depth view to keep the bottom displayed in the center of the screen....
When the depth is displayed in the center of the screen...you are, in effect, losing the bottom half of the screen display to show the bottom composition (where the fish are not) where it could be showing the water column (where the fish are)....
The more of the water column you can show on the screen...the more detail that will show of the things that are in that water column.....