HDS 7 Issues

[grizzly king]

Hi all,

I have a HDS 7 and I am having a hard time finding and tracking bottom. I also cannot see bait and fish arches. It will work minimally in shallow water but really struggles in deep. Do you think that this issue is transducer related or is it something wrong with the machine? I have altered the sensitivity, ping, frequency and have used many factory settings with the same result.

Thanks

 

[DE 185]

I have a spare transducer you can try if you want. Might help you determine where your problem is. In Victoria.

 

[ExFlyGuy]

Do you know what transducer you have? I know when I switched transducers I had to switch the setting in the HDS unit to the transducer I had.

It’s pretty easy to do and there’s videos that show you how to do it.

 

[grizzly king]

Do you know what transducer you have? I know when I switched transducers I had to switch the setting in the HDS unit to the transducer I had.

It’s pretty easy to do and there’s videos that show you how to do it.

Its the stock transducer

 

[casper5280]

Its the stock transducer

But is it set to the right setting on the unit.

 

[Whole in the Water]

I'd recommend, replacing the stock transducer with an Airmar P66. For the money great unit and way better than the stock transducers.

 

[reeltordarius]

Did you also try angling the transducer differently (I literally re-angle while I'm on the water to check the differences)? I assume you don't have 2 transducers? Also ensure what Casper5280 said....the unit needs to be set to the correct transducer. Regarding the Airmar P66....I have both the stock and airmar on my boat and find that the stock performs better in most circumstances to the Airmar.....could just be the way I've set it up too....

 

[ExFlyGuy]

Its the stock transducer

like @casper5280 said you need to go into the settings and select the transducer you have. The unit does not come set to a stock transducer.

 

[Trophy]

My lowrance stock transducer wouldn’t track bottom unless trolling, switched to airmar p66 and could track under speed and locate fish arches....huge difference.

 

[Unreel]

Lots of variables here. How deep of water are we talking? You aren’t going to see arches in deep water with stock transducer. Are you using auto depth? You should be setting high and low limits for depth to show only the water depths your fishing in. So if your in 400’ of water and your fishing the top 200’, put in 200 for the lower limit, then you only see that section on the sounder, instead of all 400. Should be using 200 khz and not 83 as well. Like others said check the angle of transducer too. Also if your using a HDS Gen 3 or higher you can chirp that transducer for way better performance.

 

[seadna]

My stock transducer on my HDS7 tracks bottom to about 1000' and up to about 20kts. A lot of issues are traceable to either to how the HDS is set up or how/where the transducer is installed.

 

[grizzly king]

Thanks for all the replies. This issue just started one day out of the blue. I pulled it out of the water and checked it alignment and angle. Everything seems normal. I have changed the frequency and played with many settings. Like I said, it just started one day and I can not seem to correct it .

 

[AlK]

I would try a soft reset. This quite often solves a lot of issues.

 

[Unreel]

Thanks for all the replies. This issue just started one day out of the blue. I pulled it out of the water and checked it alignment and angle. Everything seems normal. I have changed the frequency and played with many settings. Like I said, it just started one day and I can not seem to correct it .

Your transducer is shot, pretty common with the cheap Lowrance ones. Same thing happened to me. First try unplugging it from the head unit and reconnecting but more than likely ducer has bit the dust.

 

[reeltordarius]

I also have an extra sitting in my cuddy @ Vanier, let me know if you'd like to test it out...

 

[Whole in the Water]

Your transducer is shot, pretty common with the cheap Lowrance ones. Same thing happened to me. First try unplugging it from the head unit and reconnecting but more than likely ducer has bit the dust.

Probably needs to be replaced. that is why the stock ones are not worth it - they don't last long. I'd recommend a Airmar P66, good performance, quality and reliable.

 

[Dark]

Hi all,

I have a HDS 7 and I am having a hard time finding and tracking bottom. I also cannot see bait and fish arches. It will work minimally in shallow water but really struggles in deep. Do you think that this issue is transducer related or is it something wrong with the machine? I have altered the sensitivity, ping, frequency and have used many factory settings with the same result.

Thanks

I had the same problem with my hds 9, tried all the tips and replaced the transducer didn't help. Took it to the Lowrance warranty shop, while I was there the tech plugged in another transducer and listened for a clicking sound from the transducer no sound was heard told me the unit was most likely defective and they would get back to me.
Two days later I received a call from Lowrance they gave me a new hds9. I was almost a year over my warranty, which really isn't that long since I only use the unit for about 3 weeks a year.
Sure wish I would have know about the clicking sound before I installed the new transducer, pain in the arse installing a new transducer for no reason.