Thread: Discussion on Lowrance Elite 5 DSI/Chartplotter ....

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

If you're going to put it on your Trolling Motor:

It may or may not come with this product, but if it don't ... here's as cheap a price on it as I've seen : http://www.cabelas.com/product/Lowra...3142084&rid=20

Makes mounting the torpedo shaped transducer easier, and it won't be sticking out where it can get busted up should you ram a stump !!

Here's what it looks like on mine :






... cp

Thanks CP I bought the HDI it has the fat skimmer transducer.

Sensitivity has never been adjustable on this unit. Only contrast and noise rejection. And if you don't know what noise rejection truly is in the sonar world, I'd recommend turning it on. Set it to medium if you can (I can't recall for this unit). Contrast between 455 and 800 on this unit varies best from around 68% on 455 to 80% on 800. I found the white background to show best for me on this unit.

With the new Gen 3 that's been released.........

For the price I highly recommend someone getting a new Gen2 (non-touchscreen) unit. You can get brand new Gen2 units for $400-$600 and an HDS7 with the LSS side scan module for under $1k. Which is an amazing difference from my old Elite 5dsi.

See examples below. The clarity between Gen1 and Gen2 is clearly substantial. I was very surprised. Plus you get traditional sonar and downscan to see two views of what you're seeing. It also allows you to adjust sensitivity on side scan and downscan where the Gen1 does not.

So for $300, I'd go with Gen2 for $300-400. And if you can spring for $600, you get so much more in a 5" screen.
Shots below are from my HDS10. I have an HDS7 also and it can still give you the same images, just smaller.

That is some amazing clarity.

Originally Posted by deadaim

That is some amazing clarity.

I tried not to post this because well........now I'm just showing off. LOL!!
I captured some images of paddlefish just a month ago. These are some of the best images I have.

THIS IS WHY I RECOMMEND UPGRADING TO GEN2 because for the cost, you can get much clearer images for $300-500. Even the newer Elite Touch Screen models have clearer images.

As a former owner of an Elite 5dsi unit, I really liked it and very much enjoyed it. It did a great job but.....now that prices are dropping and technology is advancing, it's just a good investment to look at the newer Elite models and older HDS Gen2 models with buttons vs. touchscreen. Same tech, just more affordable.


With this image, I zoomed in on the downscan window and you can clearly see the image of a paddlefish.
You can also see them on the sidecan and sonar.


Here is downscan and sidescan views showing the paddler.


And a full view of sidescan showing all of the paddlefish below my boat.
You can also see the river channel and where it begins to transition to the bank and shoreline.

Ok just bought a hot map premium for my elite 5 dsi when I put the micro sd card in a small sd card flashes at the bottom right of the screen. is that telling me it recognizes it or it doesn't recognize it? Do I have to load it on to the elite or run it off the card? It is supposed to be for my elite 5 dsi

Will the preloaded map work? I just want Truman lake in Missouri. River channels on the Osage River..

Check out this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJCjNZQWx9s .... it shows you how to select between the base map (preloaded map) and the sd card maps. You don't really "load" the map info off the card into the unit ... you just have to tell the unit which "map" you want to see/use.

I still don't have a sd map card for my unit, and just use the preloaded outline maps. Some lakes do have contours marked in 7ft - 17ft - 27ft contours, but not the larger lakes in the state.

Hope that helps !!

... cp