Lowrance Hook Reveal 9TS downscan......

I had a problem with my Lowrance last year and discovered that the transducer was shot, so I replaced it at my expense, but now I'm having issues with my downscan. Honestly, I don't fret too much over downscan because I never really used it much, but I'm realizing how valuable it can be and I'm trying to get as much out of my unit as I can, particularly for Crappie fishing. The 2D sonar works fine and the sidescan works fine as well, but the downscan gives me only a very faint return. Usually if I'm going slowly or stationary I can see a very faint line that indicates the bottom and I might see fish or cover marked above the bottom, but there's no hard return for the bottom and not really much for brush, rocks, cover, etc..

Because I fish a deep, clear lake most frequently, I had it set on 800Khz and I don't recall if I had ever switched the frequency to 455 to see if that could have been the issue. I had always read that 800 was the way to go for deep or clear lakes and that it typically gave more/better detail than 455, so it didn't occur to me that perhaps that was the issue.

I contacted Lowrance tech support and spoke to someone and after getting my initial information and hearing what the issue was, he suggested FIRST trying it on 455Khz on the water in the event that perhaps that would resolve the issue. His rationale was that if the sonar and sidescan were working, the downscan should also be working. I haven't been on the water yet to try it, but for some reason, I'm skeptical that this is the issue. Does anyone have any thoughts or anything else I need to try before calling back while on the water for troubleshooting help? Could it be as simple as a setting that I've got knocked out of whack inadvertently?

Thanks in advance, I'm not much of a techy and I know that some here are pretty good with such things. For what it's worth, I'm a very seasoned angler, but I've spent most of my angling years fishing up north for yellow perch, walleye, smallmouth bass, etc. (as well as fly-fishing for trout), but never really had great crappie fishing nearby, so it's only since buying a seasonal place down south that I've started to pursue crappie. I swore when I got here that I WOULD learn how to catch crappie on the lake even though the regulars here all say, "don't fish this lake for crappie, go to lakes X, Y or Z because they're so much better". In fact, I've caught somewhere between 40 and 50 14"+ crappie here in this calendar year, even though I only live here seasonally. I'm happy to say that in a relatively short time I've learned how to use my sidescan, how to shoot docks, how to fish timber, etc. and I now hear people referring to me as "the crappie guy", so I've done what I promised and I am getting a lot out of my electronics even though I know that it's one of Lowrance's cheaper units. I'd just be a LOT happier if I could also make use and take advantage of the downscan feature, rather than completely ignoring it.

Higher frequencies have better detail but with less range ...

Lower frequencies have more range but with less detail ...

Try the 455kHz that Lowrance suggested ...

Rickie

Yep, that's the plan. I'll get the boat out early this week and I'll try a frequency change first, then really mess around with the settings if that doesn't do the trick. Thanks.

If it has some sort of "reset to default" it would be worth giving that a try, too.

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Originally Posted by 6poundtest

If it has some sort of "reset to default" it would be worth giving that a try, too.

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Thanks, I already tried that. I did put the boat on the water and called a Lowrance tech for troubleshooting help. He told me to do this, do that and do this again and it may be a TINY bit better after I switched from 800Khz to 455Khz, but not much and it's not good enough. Now they're telling me that the transducer is shot (after previously telling me that it can't/won't be the transducer since 2D, sidescan and mapping were all working) and they've also told me that the transducer isn't under warranty (even though I purchased it 10 months ago because the previous one crapped out and was also slightly out of warranty). I did fire off a nasty email explaining my disgust with having replaced one Hook Reveal unit that failed shortly after the warranty expired and having previously replaced a transducer shortly after the warranty expired and I explained that I'd REALLY like and expect them to figure out how to replace this transducer for me at their expense (if it's even the problem).

They sent an email back explaining that there were "discrepancies" in their record and that I needed to provide proof of purchase (which is BS, because I know they have record of the purchase), but thankfully I did still have the packing list and did provide it to them. I've always been pretty happy with the functionality of my Lowrance units and until recently was always happy with the reliability, but this is one Hook unit (I think it was the original Hook unit before they added the "reveal" functionality") and two transducers failing in the period of 2 or 3 years. Unacceptable.

Update: They are now offering to send me a new transducer and should the transducer not resolve the issue, they'll send a return receipt for the head unit, so a somewhat nasty/frustrated email DID get some action from Lowrance. Hopefully it will resolve the situation and I can give a full recommendation for their customer service department and efforts.