Thread: Helix 5 DI and Sonar Settings

Black background, clear mode, surface clutter off, 455khz for the di - I don't mess with the sensitivity or contrast when open water fishing. Ice fishing - I change everything lol

Originally Posted by tigerinfielder3

What do you guys have your settings on? Im not sure what to put mine at. What kHz do you have your DI set at and Sonar? do you turn the surface clutter feature on or off? clear mode or max mode?

I no u don't mean for it to be, but your questions are somewhat of a trick question.tthere's really no good answer, because what works for one might not be good for another.simply because of different environments that the units are used in.the surface clutter and switch fire settings are filter settings that are used to help keep what your viewing from having unwanted returns being seen, but also reduces what the unit can acually see and display.if u have some known structure, that u could practice on with different settings would help best.☺(that's a nice unit u have) I bet you'll really enjoy it as u get better formiliar with it��

Kosmo makes a good point ...

Enviromental variables in different lakes ... (even in different parts of the same lake) ...greatly affect how much of the sonar sound pulse is absorbed into the underwater environment ...in turn affecting how much of the sonar sound pulse remaining gets reflected back to the xducer ...

Find a good piece of structure and mark it with buoys ...

Then traverse over that same piece of structure with different settings to see how the settings affect the image ...

455kHz DI will generally be brighter but with less detail ...
800kHz DI will generally be darker but with more detail ...

Also test different chart speeds and boat speeds ...because imaging technology is greatly affected by these 2 variables ...

Rickie

Tiger ... don't know if this will help or not, but ....

I have a Lowrance Elite 5 DSI (DI only, no 2d sonar) and keep it on 800kHz & a blue gradient palette, with the surface clutter setting "off". I tried it on other color palettes, split screen 455/800kHz, and some other settings ... and found the images to be lacking in the detail I'm getting with my current settings.

Examples :

(a 5" diag screen doesn't allow much room for split screen images, and I found the clarity of the images to be better w/800kHz)


Tried this palette over a known brush pile, and was not impressed with image.


Went to blue gradient in 800kHz and got these screen shots ...




... so I've left it there ever since.

While these three sets of screen shots were taken on three different lakes, their water clarity is usually quite similar ... basically "moderately stained" with visibility of a chartreuse jig at less than 2ft. I expect even clearer images during the late Summer, when the water clarity is usually much greater.

... cp

thanks for the tips...those look great!! Now I have another question...my water temperature is reading in COG or something? how do i get it to Feranheit?

Originally Posted by tigerinfielder3

thanks for the tips...those look great!! Now I have another question...my water temperature is reading in COG or something? how do i get it to Feranheit?

Go to menu and change the setting to F

cog is your course over ground...setup a water temp display box for that view If you need help I can take screen shots

Originally Posted by tigerinfielder3

thanks for the tips...those look great!! Now I have another question...my water temperature is reading in COG or something? how do i get it to Feranheit?

The "Select Readouts" setting is under the Setup tab in the main tabbed menu ...



You can download the manual to your Helix 5 DI GPS here ...:

http://www.humminbird.com/WorkArea/D...t.aspx?id=6072

Rickie