Hi Camoman. I started out using my with just the default setting. First question I have, is your tranducer mounted inside the boat or on your trolling motor. This does make a difference on the setting if it is shooting thru the boat. My is mounted on my trolling motor and I usually have my big motor at idle when searching. I keep my sensitivity in manual at about 83 to 85 %, the auto range on auto and it zoomed into 2x when structure is located. All alarms are off. I do not use Fish ID, prefere the arches. I do have another one located at the console that stays in auto all the time. That way I can compare the 2. Just a few suggestions. That is a great unit and I love mine..