# Little help please? (Technologically challenged)



## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I recently purchased a boat to hunt/fish out of. It came with two fish finders. Lowrance elite 4x hdi and a hummingbird of some sorts. I plan on using the lowrance to ice fish with in the winter and putting it back on the boat after thaw out. 

I don't know much about the capabilities of either unit. I've never really used much electronics and when I have, it's always been on someone else's boat and was already set up. What do I need to know about each of these units? Advice? Also, I know what the transducer is, but what's that spinning doohicky to the right of it? It goes to the hummingbird. The lowrance just has a transducer on the other side of the boat.


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## leeabu (Apr 10, 2004)

Paddle wheel type speed sensor.


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## chaunc (Apr 11, 2004)

Beaver, put a photo of the back of your lowrance unit up. I may have an ice ducer / power cord combo that may fit it.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Here's the back. Let me know what you think. Thanks.


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## chaunc (Apr 11, 2004)

It wont fit that model. It has the older model plug. Wish i could have helped.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks for the offer anyway.


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## Bassbme (Mar 11, 2012)

I'm not sure what you mean when you ask, what do you need to know about each of these units? Need to know as far as what? 

Just for some general thoughts. I assume you're going to power the Lowrance off a motorcycle battery? If so, I don't know if they make a deep cycle battery in that size, but if they do, I'd suggest that be the route you go. It's going to last longer and will save you money in the long run. 

When I used to ice fish I did the same thing you're and many others have probably done, and that is take the boat depth finder out to the ice. I made what basically amounted to a tip up style bracket to hold the transducer, that was long enough to reach down 18" below the ice's surface. I made it so it was adjustable for an up and down angle and would just tilt it back and forth until it showed the shallowest depth. That way I knew it was pointing straight down. 

Turn up the scroll rate on the screen to its fastest speed. I left the unit in auto mode, and adjusted the sensitivity until it started to show clutter on the screen, and then backed it off until only a small amount of clutter was left. It usually ended up being at about 80%. Different units will vary. 

Also, you don't have to drill a hole in the ice to find out how deep of water you're over. You can shoot right through the ice with the transducer. Just take a bottle of water out with you and pour the water on the ice and put the transducer where you poured the water. If your unit is powerful enough you should even be able to see any fish that are under the transducer.

Time on the water (hard or soft) is going to be your best learning tool when it comes to depth finders.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks for your help. I guess what I meant, was are these decent units to use for small tournaments and pleasure fishing in depths ranging from 10-40 feet of water? I'm a novice when it comes to electronics.

As far as the ice fishing goes, I think I may just go the route of buying lowrance ice pack with a battery and iceducer.


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## Bassbme (Mar 11, 2012)

beaver said:


> Thanks for your help. I guess what I meant, was are these decent units to use for small tournaments and pleasure fishing in depths ranging from 10-40 feet of water? I'm a novice when it comes to electronics.


Oh, ok ....... I can't help you with thoughts on the Humminbird unit, but the Lowrance unit you have should be more than adequate for what you're looking to use it for. It's not an overly powerful unit, so you may have a little trouble with it loosing the bottom if you run at high speeds, but it should work pretty well for shallow water fishing. It has 480 vertical pixels, so it will show a lot of detail. Just an FYI kind of thing ...... the number of vertical pixels a unit has is one of the things that goes into determining how much detail that unit can show. 480 is good.

I'm not familiar with down imaging, so I can't comment on it. I've heard things ranging from it's fantastic, to it offers a jumbled view when moving slowly. Maybe others can comment on down imaging. As for the 2D sonar with the color display.... it's outstanding. The color display is much easier to see in bright sunlight than a black and white display. Different colors have different meanings that your owners manual (if you got one with the unit) will explain pretty well. If you didn't get an owners manual with the unit you can go on to Lowrance's web site and down load it for free.

Overall the screen size is small and it's not a very powerful unit, but for a first time venture into sonar, it's a solid little unit. Being new to interpreting sonar screens, you'll find yourself asking a lot of questions, and while people can help you understand what you're seeing, time on the water with the unit will be your best teacher.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Thank you so much. I'm excited to get out there and catch up with the 21st century. Haha


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