Lowrance Elite-4x HDI problem

I'm currently 10 days into an email conversation with Lowrance support. They don't seem to understand what the issue is. I have shown them this video and given them this exact explanation plus much more. I am hoping a Lowrance rep on here might see this thread and be able to help out. I'm going to try to make another video this weekend that might show the issue better.

My Elite-4x HDI will not save it's noise reduction settings when powered off and then back on. I set the units surface clarity and noise reduction settings for a clear image, but if I power the unit off and back on, the image is cluttered. If I open the menu and select noise reduction and press enter twice (without even changing the setting) the image goes back to how it was before turning the unit off and is clear. Is this a normal behavior? Do I have a defective unit? All other settings seem to stay the same.

Here is a video I made of the issue where I power up the unit twice. You can see when the unit finishes powering up (0:55 and 2:30), the sonar screen is almost completely cluttered. After selecting medium on noise reduction, even with medium already selected (1:05 and 2:45), the sonar screen clears up (1:15 and 2:48). It seems like it should power up and appear as it does after I "re-select" medium on the noise reduction, since that is how it was set before powering off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llZ6ADGN10c

I would suspect that is normal as the required setting can vary a lot.

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Originally Posted by Barnacle Bill

I would suspect that is normal as the required setting can vary a lot.

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It just seems to me that if I am sitting in the same spot and turn the unit off and back on, I should see relatively the same image. Shouldn't see way more noise after turning it off and back on. And selecting medium on noise rejection shouldn't change anything if medium is already selected. Lowrance support gave me a couple of things to try that I am going to try while on the water this weekend.

New video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkB6BvWyYLg

My :twocents says that acts like a software issue.

Do you have the unit on Auto or Manual ? (& have you tried both to see if it acts the same ?)

I'm also not liking the 30sec wait time for the unit to open/display.

I have a Elite 5 DSI ... and my wait time for screen display is a matter of seconds. Locking in the GPS satellites doesn't take much more than 30sec's (on the water), and even indoors it's less than 1min.

I'm also wondering a couple of other things :

Your unit has Down Scan ... does it do the same thing when using that screen ?? Does it do the same thing when using a split screen (2d/DI) ... and if it does, does it do it on the 2d only, DI only, or both ??
And, this is just my personal preference showing, but why would you use 2d imaging when you have DI imaging capabilities ?

... cp :kewl

Answers in ​red.

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

My :twocents says that acts like a software issue.

Do you have the unit on Auto or Manual ? (& have you tried both to see if it acts the same ?)
I have it on auto, have not tried it on manual.
I'm also not liking the 30sec wait time for the unit to open/display.

I have a Elite 5 DSI ... and my wait time for screen display is a matter of seconds. Locking in the GPS satellites doesn't take much more than 30sec's (on the water), and even indoors it's less than 1min.
It takes it a good 45 seconds from pressing the power button to being in a useable state. Mine does not have GPS. I haven't played with any other units so I just thought that was normal.
I'm also wondering a couple of other things :

Your unit has Down Scan ... does it do the same thing when using that screen ?? Does it do the same thing when using a split screen (2d/DI) ... and if it does, does it do it on the 2d only, DI only, or both ??
And, this is just my personal preference showing, but why would you use 2d imaging when you have DI imaging capabilities ?
It doesn't seem to affect DI, but I haven't changed anything from the defaults on the DI. I usually have it either on split screen 2D/DI or have downscan overlay on, but just had it on 2D to make it clearer for the video.

... cp :kewl

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Originally Posted by paleus

Answers in ​red.

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I'm wondering, then .... if the unit is on Auto, if it's not resetting itself to some default setting each time it's turned off & back on again. Again, it sounds like some kind of software glitch. I don't know how sophisticated these unit's software programming is, but with a load time of 30-45sec's (& no GPS satellite fix to complete) it just seems like it might be having conflicting program settings issues. Kinda like when your computer takes longer to change screens or load a program .... and you get that "Not Responding" message.

Mind you, I'm no electronics guru, by any stretch of the imagination ... so I'm just "guessing" at causes. Hope you get it figured out, and fixed !!

... cp :kewl

Does this unit have a hard reset feature ...??

Rickie

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Originally Posted by rnvinc

Does this unit have a hard reset feature ...??

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It has a "Reset all defaults" option in the menu, which I was instructed to use by Lowrance customer support, but it did not fix the problem.

I would send it back for another.