I have a HDS 5 and recently bought the LSS-1 (and another HDS 5 I found used for a good deal). Got it on a Wednesday, installed it Thursday with plans to test it out Friday. I have been reading about installing one of these for a while as I knew I wanted one, so was hoping it would go smoothly.
First thing to install of course was the transducer. I have a fiberglass fish & ski and was doing a transom mount so was not hard to find a place to put it - about 6-7" to the left of the regular transducer.
At first I just "eyeballed" it in position and it looked pretty good to me, but then I got a level to check it out and was a good thing I did. Probably because of the angle of the hull, but eyeballing level was a good inch or so from true level.
Then I put the LSS-1 under the dash and wire it all up. Couldn't wait to get to the lake the next day.
Got to the lake, all excited, launched the boat, parked my truck and came back down to play. Turned on the HDS and.......nothing. Said no source. Bummer. Spent a few minutes checking out my wiring when it dawned on me - I never turned the LSS-1 on - not used to flipping the extra switch.
So with trepidation, I hit the switch.
I have been reading everything i could find on these for the last few months and I have come across a whole bunch of people posting about how the images on theirs was not at all like what they were seeing others posting- basically pretty much like the normal 2d sonar or also more then a couple people talking about how their side scan would only read out around 60' or so.
With all these things bouncing around my head I had already figured i was going to be spending a couple of hours playing with the setting and then the picture started filling in from right to left.
I started off with the down scan imaging and it looked pretty good to me as it was. Trolling out of the no wake zone , I could now see the small trees in the water that I always thought was fish with the 2d.
Flipped on the down scan and much to my delight - was about perfect. The only thing i had to adjust at all was the contrast as it was a tad bright. Not only that, it was reading out 300' - so distance was no problem at all.
Spent all night zipping around the lake to places where I always saw fish but could never catch any - yep, sure enough it was usually trees down there. I'm sure an experienced user would have known, but i always thought it was fish.
It turned out to be everything i had hoped for and more - don't have to worry about interpreting anything as you can see what it is plain as day - even I can use this effectively :laugh:
I could be wrong and often am, but for those who are having problems, I would go back and check the transducer mount. Don't just eyeball it, it is big enough and easy enough to lay a level across it - I was using a 3 foot carpenter's level. Pretty sure if I would have just eyeballed it, since it was a couple of inches off I would have been on here asking what i could do to make my images better. The angle on the hull will make it seem level when it isn't - anyway, just a suggestion for those having problems and is easy enough to check.
I would get a pretty clear reading up to about 25mph, tho it was still easily read at 30, it just started getting pretty noisy.
I believe I also read where you have to be moving at least a little bit to get good side scan images - I was drifting, but the lake was really smooth so i was not drifting very fast at all yet I was still getting excellent images when I wasn't moving at all. just surprised me as I didn't think I would.
I ended up staying out until 4:30am playing with it, fortunately it was a really warm night and only got down to like 54. Did not fish nearly as much as I should have. This will surely have to help put fish in the boat.
I did have one problem and also one thing that was not so good.
The problem - I have a Motorguide W75 wireless trolling motor and it was on it's own set of batteries. I had the HDS 5 wired up to wires already in my dash and it worked fine before I added the LSS-1. I also wired the LSS-1 to wires already under there - which go to the main battery and i used the accessory switch in the dash to switch on the lss-1 - the only thing on the switch.
Couldn't run my trolling motor and the sonar at the same time - too much interference and the screen pretty much went all white - the only thing I could track was the depth. It also affected the 2D sonar. For some reason, tho there was still interference, if the trolling motor was on the highest speed, I could use the sonar.
So I guess my 1st plan of action will be to run wires to the LSS-1 directly to the main battery - seemed strange tho since the trolling motor is on it's own set of batteries.
The one not so good thing - down imaging is fine, but for the side scan, the 5" screen is just too small. Way too much info on too small a screen. I had it on auto distance and it was shooting out 200-300' all of the time so a few times I was setting it manually for 60-80' depending on what i was trying to read. Also if I wanted to read the shore line, I would set it for right side or left side only. It was working great, but if anyone ever asked me, if there was anyway you could possibly afford it, I would definitely suggest the 8" screen as the minimum and I can see how the 10" would be the one to get. Pricey yes, but now I can see how it would be worth it.
I did pick up another HDS 5, used for like $360.00, but i want to mount it in the bow with it's own transducer and then I can switch between transducers for whatever is best for the situation. Even if I mounted it beside the other one, it is still a 5" screen so the side scan is not going to look any bigger.
With the size of the screen, I do not see me using a split screen for s.i. and d.i. Not knowing much yet, I would guess the side imaging is going to be more important to me and if I see something i want to take a 2nd look at, I can go back over it with the down imaging.
point being - if there is anyway you can swing it, get the bigger screens.
I was expecting this to be something I would have to end up playing around with the settings and never get as good of images as I have seen people post of their screen captures. instead, within minutes on the water without touching a thing, I was looking at a submerged tree that was as clear as day and was more like i was looking at an underwater camera.
Worth every penny.
Now I won't have to waste as much dynamite looking for the fish
First thing to install of course was the transducer. I have a fiberglass fish & ski and was doing a transom mount so was not hard to find a place to put it - about 6-7" to the left of the regular transducer.
At first I just "eyeballed" it in position and it looked pretty good to me, but then I got a level to check it out and was a good thing I did. Probably because of the angle of the hull, but eyeballing level was a good inch or so from true level.
Then I put the LSS-1 under the dash and wire it all up. Couldn't wait to get to the lake the next day.
Got to the lake, all excited, launched the boat, parked my truck and came back down to play. Turned on the HDS and.......nothing. Said no source. Bummer. Spent a few minutes checking out my wiring when it dawned on me - I never turned the LSS-1 on - not used to flipping the extra switch.
So with trepidation, I hit the switch.
I have been reading everything i could find on these for the last few months and I have come across a whole bunch of people posting about how the images on theirs was not at all like what they were seeing others posting- basically pretty much like the normal 2d sonar or also more then a couple people talking about how their side scan would only read out around 60' or so.
With all these things bouncing around my head I had already figured i was going to be spending a couple of hours playing with the setting and then the picture started filling in from right to left.
I started off with the down scan imaging and it looked pretty good to me as it was. Trolling out of the no wake zone , I could now see the small trees in the water that I always thought was fish with the 2d.
Flipped on the down scan and much to my delight - was about perfect. The only thing i had to adjust at all was the contrast as it was a tad bright. Not only that, it was reading out 300' - so distance was no problem at all.
Spent all night zipping around the lake to places where I always saw fish but could never catch any - yep, sure enough it was usually trees down there. I'm sure an experienced user would have known, but i always thought it was fish.
It turned out to be everything i had hoped for and more - don't have to worry about interpreting anything as you can see what it is plain as day - even I can use this effectively :laugh:
I could be wrong and often am, but for those who are having problems, I would go back and check the transducer mount. Don't just eyeball it, it is big enough and easy enough to lay a level across it - I was using a 3 foot carpenter's level. Pretty sure if I would have just eyeballed it, since it was a couple of inches off I would have been on here asking what i could do to make my images better. The angle on the hull will make it seem level when it isn't - anyway, just a suggestion for those having problems and is easy enough to check.
I would get a pretty clear reading up to about 25mph, tho it was still easily read at 30, it just started getting pretty noisy.
I believe I also read where you have to be moving at least a little bit to get good side scan images - I was drifting, but the lake was really smooth so i was not drifting very fast at all yet I was still getting excellent images when I wasn't moving at all. just surprised me as I didn't think I would.
I ended up staying out until 4:30am playing with it, fortunately it was a really warm night and only got down to like 54. Did not fish nearly as much as I should have. This will surely have to help put fish in the boat.
I did have one problem and also one thing that was not so good.
The problem - I have a Motorguide W75 wireless trolling motor and it was on it's own set of batteries. I had the HDS 5 wired up to wires already in my dash and it worked fine before I added the LSS-1. I also wired the LSS-1 to wires already under there - which go to the main battery and i used the accessory switch in the dash to switch on the lss-1 - the only thing on the switch.
Couldn't run my trolling motor and the sonar at the same time - too much interference and the screen pretty much went all white - the only thing I could track was the depth. It also affected the 2D sonar. For some reason, tho there was still interference, if the trolling motor was on the highest speed, I could use the sonar.
So I guess my 1st plan of action will be to run wires to the LSS-1 directly to the main battery - seemed strange tho since the trolling motor is on it's own set of batteries.
The one not so good thing - down imaging is fine, but for the side scan, the 5" screen is just too small. Way too much info on too small a screen. I had it on auto distance and it was shooting out 200-300' all of the time so a few times I was setting it manually for 60-80' depending on what i was trying to read. Also if I wanted to read the shore line, I would set it for right side or left side only. It was working great, but if anyone ever asked me, if there was anyway you could possibly afford it, I would definitely suggest the 8" screen as the minimum and I can see how the 10" would be the one to get. Pricey yes, but now I can see how it would be worth it.
I did pick up another HDS 5, used for like $360.00, but i want to mount it in the bow with it's own transducer and then I can switch between transducers for whatever is best for the situation. Even if I mounted it beside the other one, it is still a 5" screen so the side scan is not going to look any bigger.
With the size of the screen, I do not see me using a split screen for s.i. and d.i. Not knowing much yet, I would guess the side imaging is going to be more important to me and if I see something i want to take a 2nd look at, I can go back over it with the down imaging.
point being - if there is anyway you can swing it, get the bigger screens.
I was expecting this to be something I would have to end up playing around with the settings and never get as good of images as I have seen people post of their screen captures. instead, within minutes on the water without touching a thing, I was looking at a submerged tree that was as clear as day and was more like i was looking at an underwater camera.
Worth every penny.
Now I won't have to waste as much dynamite looking for the fish
