Lowrance Structure Scan - Feedback??

[DarkHorse]

G'Day Crew,

I know it is early days yet, just wondering if anyone has fitted and used the new structure scan??

Been waiting since they announced it but would prefer some actual real life feedback before handing over the $$$$

Regards,



Rob

[leelee]

Hi Rob.

A few guys I know have it in Sydney and have been given a few units to try out well before they were released to the general public.

Their feedback was very positive with the actual use of downscan being the best addition.

If you are unsure then just hang out till a few more boats have them fitted and then jump on board to see for yourself.

I am hopefully getting it very soon.

Cheers

Lee

[DarkHorse]

Hi Rob.

A few guys I know have it in Sydney and have been given a few units to try out well before they were released to the general public.

Their feedback was very positive with the actual use of downscan being the best addition.

If you are unsure then just hang out till a few more boats have them fitted and then jump on board to see for yourself.

I am hopefully getting it very soon.

Cheers

Lee


G'Day Leelee,

Thanks for your reply. I am based in Sydney but havent seen or heard of any actual feedback yet, hence the post. It certainly looks the goods and my type of fishing in estuary's/lakes. Hopefully it will help me catch some fish, at the moment the catch rate is abysmal lol.

I would assume that most of the few units available would have already been snatched up, so will have to end up waiting until the next shipment FINALLY gets here.

[leelee]

G'Day Leelee,

Thanks for your reply. I am based in Sydney but havent seen or heard of any actual feedback yet, hence the post. It certainly looks the goods and my type of fishing in estuary's/lakes. Hopefully it will help me catch some fish, at the moment the catch rate is abysmal lol.

I would assume that most of the few units available would have already been snatched up, so will have to end up waiting until the next shipment FINALLY gets here.

As far as I was aware the first delivery were units that were basically already paid for, but there are some units sitting in shops I beleive.

Cheers

Lee

[NEWBY]

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=158959
This should help

[Scott Mitchell]

I am just waiting on the new 60hp Suzuki to land & will have our new Haines on the water with HDS8+LSS-1 in Februay at this stage.

There is heaps of good info in the states @ http://bbcboards.zeroforum.com/zerothread/463672-lowrance-structurescan-and-downscan

And http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4221517/Lowrance_StructureScan_Install#Post4221517

I'm Hangin out - Scotto

[selous]

I have just picked one up yesterday and took it for a spin today. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work. My HDS-8 was not displaying it at all, tried resetting the network connections but no joy. I am running the latest software update so that's not it. It is wired on the same power line as the HDS-8, so I assume it must be getting power. There are no LEDs or power light on the unit. Looks like a phone call to Navico in the morning.

Will post a report if I can get it to work.

[yanjarra]

I have just picked one up yesterday and took it for a spin today. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work. My HDS-8 was not displaying it at all, tried resetting the network connections but no joy. I am running the latest software update so that's not it. It is wired on the same power line as the HDS-8, so I assume it must be getting power. There are no LEDs or power light on the unit. Looks like a phone call to Navico in the morning.

Will post a report if I can get it to work.


gee whizz, thats not the flashest 1st report on them on here.

so up in the air whether to grab one of these or get a huminbird when they release the downscan software.....

[selous]

Ran through the issues with the techs at Lowrance. Looks like I picked up a dud unit. There is a power light but it is not lighting up. Checked all the connections with a multimeter and eliminated the connections and the supplied power plug as the cause. Sending the unit back today but of course, there are no replacement units available. The techs reckon they've not had a dud unit yet. I didn't mention the obvious - they've only been on sale for a week.

:'(

[selous]

gee whizz, thats not the flashest 1st report on them on here.

so up in the air whether to grab one of these or get a huminbird when they release the downscan software.....

Meh, it happens. I'm sure that the occasional dud humminbird/Furuno (insert make of sounder) unit finds it way to the consumer. If this is a one off - no big deal, if not and others experience similar issues then I'd be shy of buying one.

As to whether to wait for a humminbird downscan to hit the market - entirely a personal choice. I like the Lowrance HDS and chose it over the humminbird as the downscan/structurescan is an add on module which allows me to plug in up to 3 HDS units. Others may prefer an integrated unit. Whatever floats your boat. Is there any timeline as to when or if Humminbird will bring out a downscanning unit?

I'd probably suggest waiting until a few more users report their experience before writing off the Lowrance unit.

Cheers

[Grand_Marlin]

Oh My God... I do not believe what I just saw :o

First run offshore with the Lowrancs LSS-1 Structure Scan on our 560 Sharkcat.

I started running the left / right sidescan by itself, and as it was the first time used, I must say I had trouble interpreting what I was seeing.
I then changed to split screen sonar / structure scan and it all started making sense.

Now, the first point I want to clearly make.
When we have been running around with our normal sounders, we assume that what we see on the screen by way of bait and structure is directly below our boat.

Wrong...

The images can be from anywhere in the cone angle of the beam, and today I found out that 9 times out of 10 they weren't directly below the boat :-/

Take a look at this first pic.
The sounder shows bait holding on the reef and a drop off into a deepish hole at the bottom of the reef.
Now look at the top 1/3 of the Structure Scan Screen. This shows the bait, but look where it is ... about 30m to the left of the boat!
Also, look just below the 4 of the 25.4 depth on the LSS1 screen.
The standard sounder shouws a hole directly below the boat, whereas the LSS1 is showing a crevice on the left and next to nothing on the right of the boat.
Traditionally we would have marked the sounder spot with the gps and anchored over it, whereas now we can see that the best position is around 30m to the left of the boat.
I found this same imaging worked down to 40m - then I ran out of reef ;D
Sandy bottoms are pretty boring to look at (namely because there is very little there) but I have no doubt if a rock, log or wreck or bait turned up in the zone that the LSS1 would pick it up.

[Grand_Marlin]

Onto the Downscan.

I have to play with this some more when I am bottomfishing, but in a nutshell the downscan is giving a high resolution scan of the bottom.
The downscan is working perfectly in 90m of water so far.
It seems to have the ability to define "structure only" and filter out weaker targets like weed and baitfish BUT, I am thinking that the red targets on the LSS1 may well be individual / schools of bigger fish - what do you think?
Take a look at the pics. See how it clearly defines everything that is (in this case) rock, whereas the sounder shows weed growth and bait.

[Grand_Marlin]

Now this is freaky.

I had someone say to me that the LSS1 was of no use to them as they were only trolling offshore and it would be of little or no help.

I agreed.

Until today.

Take a look at the pic first.
See there is very little info on the sounder, but a solid target on the right hand side of the LSS1.

When I saw this target which is about 30m out to the side of the boat, I turned right which effectively dragged the lures in very close proximity to the target.
We had a big hit on the long right corner, but unfortunately never hooked up properly. This was on the SE corner of Hutchies.
The same thing happened later out near the trench. A less defined target futher away was displayed.
I again immediately turned towards it and was rewarded with a Black Marlin around 30kg (dont ask what happened, but I broke him off :-[

In both these cases I am pretty sure we wouldnt have got the strike if I hadn't located the target on the LSS1 and turned towards it.

This explains a lot as to why two boats can be bascally side by side ... one hooks up and the other doesn't.
50m distance can make or break getting a hookup, and the LSS1 is looking out another 100+ metres each side for you.
I undoubtedly proved that to myself today.

[Grand_Marlin]

This last pic is interesting.

I was playing with the Pallette colours and found that the red / blue / yellow colours worked well for showing contour lines etc without being too concerned with features on the bottom.

I switched to the black / white (monochrome) pallette and all of a sudden "faces" started looking at me.

Over the same country, look at the definition and shadowing that the monochrome gives.
If ever I were looking for a wreck or trees on the bottom, this would be the perfect choice.

[Grand_Marlin]

Well Guys,

I hope that starts to answer a few questions.

Keep in mind that this is the first run and I have now had about 6 hours play time with the LSS1.
There is obviously still heaps to learn, but initial impressions are just awe inspiring.
I am one of the biggest cynics of all ... if I think it is crap, I will say so and won't recommend or sell it to anyone.

In this case, I am absolutely amazed at the ease of use, clarity and information the LSS1 is giving.

Big thumbs up for this one.

Cheers

Pete

[bugman]

Pete,

I don't know what the hell your seeing. I'm buggered if I can work out what's going on in that left hand screen.

Brett

[Dicko]

Pete, why not use the internal screen capture for pics ?

I got back thursday night after being away for a couple of weeks and have one sitting up at the post office that I cant pick up because they decided to have a holiday on thur & fri.

I could have fitted it up this rainy weekend instead of piddling around catching up on housework and playing on the net. ::)

[NEWBY]

Well Guys,

I hope that starts to answer a few questions.

Keep in mind that this is the first run and I have now had about 6 hours play time with the LSS1.
There is obviously still heaps to learn, but initial impressions are just awe inspiring.
I am one of the biggest cynics of all ... if I think it is crap, I will say so and won't recommend or sell it to anyone.

In this case, I am absolutely amazed at the ease of use, clarity and information the LSS1 is giving.

Big thumbs up for this one.

Cheers

Pete
Mate you know the problems I have had with my HDS 10 and I sincerely hope that it is sorted when the boat goes back in the water. The LSS is one of the main reasons I chose Lowrance in the first place. Keep us informed eh?

[Grand_Marlin]

Pete,

I don't know what the hell your seeing. I'm buggered if I can work out what's going on in that left hand screen.

Brett

I was the same for a start (see my first comment)

Once you see the two screens side by side and see what shows up on both as it scrolls through, then it certainly makes sense.

Does this pic help?

Keep in mind that the view you see is like sitting on your roof and shining a torch down at 45 degrees.
It doesn't show like a normal sounder.
The white line is the centre line of the boat.
The golden colour that appears to come in towards the centre of screen is the higher part of the reef.

I should have ran over curtain on the way back in to get som eshots.

The main thing I wanted to do yesterday was try it in deeper water to see what value it is.

Cheers

Pete

[Grand_Marlin]

Pete, why not use the internal screen capture for pics ?




Haven't worked that bit out yet :D

Nah, the camera was there and I used it to snap what was of interst at the time.

Cheers

Pete

[Scott Mitchell]

Pete - Great first impressions - I am hangin to get my new boat with HDS8 & LSS-1 !

I believe the best SD card for capturing screen shots is the SanDisk Ultra II 2GB.

I did not think the unit would read down to 90m - should be great on the patches off Roonies ;)

Keep the info coming - Thanks Scotto

[lee8sec]

Pete, as i said in the other thread, thanks for a honest review of the side scan, i may still be a lowrance convert. Leigh

[Scott Mitchell]

Team - Founds some more good info on training with the LSS1 @ http://www.hightechfishing.com/structure.html

You can also download the FREE logviewer @ http://www.lowrance.com/Downloads/Sonar-Log-Viewer-SLV/

I'm hang'in out to have a play - Scotto

[Adam_G]

Grand_Marlin, do you have any pics of the unit while at speed?? It would be useful for findind new ground while moving between spots if it kept that resolution.

Adam

[The guru]

Have attached a couple of pics from the local dam with not much structure (a few rocks). This is the first time i used the unit and am very happy. Cant wait to try it on some reefs and snags.

I found that i gould get a reading at 40km/hr albeit in 2m of water. Was chucking a huge rooster tail off the transducer so it may be mounted a bit low. Will adjust and try a few different settings on future trips.

Cheers

JF

[Luke G]

Hopefuly my HDS 10 with Lss1 should be here next week!

Did you have any issues with the GPS finding satalights with the internal GPS?

[The guru]

Luke im in a open boat and have had no issues.

Cheers

JF

[Grand_Marlin]

G'day Adam,

My sounder is perfect at speed, but the side scan isn't.

This is due to where it is mounted on the cat ... inside edge of tunnel, so I am getting all the aerated water passing through at speed.
I had the choice of mounting it where it is (Lowrance recommends being within 1ft of the normal transducer for the downscan overlay to be the most accurate) or I could have mounted it on the opposite sponson (outside edge) which would put it 2.2 metres away.
After I play a bit more I may well move it.

In saying that, the structure scan transducer is very streamlined and should have no trouble picking up at speed, given a better installation position.

Luke, we have them mounted under hard tops and even aluminium hardtop / cabin structures with no problem.
I haven't found an installation yet where we need the external aerial.

Keep in mind that if for some strange reason you do, it is a simple matter of adding it in later.

Cheers

Pete

[honda900]

Im with Newby,

when my HDS 8 works at speed in off shore conditions then I will consider an LSS until then, not a hope.

Regards
HOnda.

[sparky54]

Tried the HDS 8 on the new boat ( Seafarer Victory 6 ) on Monday, I am using a shoot through hull transducer. I didn't get to try it out properly as it was just a family cruise day but getting good bottom reading at 60 kph in 20 mtrs. So far very happy.
Keith

[Dicko]

Put mine on this morning & went for a quick wizz up the river this arvo to have a play.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/DSCF8273.jpg

Checked out this spot that I sometimes pull a couple of barra off. It looks to be some sort of old cattle grid or something.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/shot23.png

This is another barra spot up the same river.


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/shot15.png


Plenty of bait around both, can't see any barra though.

All in all, it looks the goods considering that's only in about 4m of water. Judging from the pics on the US sites, I should be able to adjust it up for a it more quality. Will keep fiddling. Heading out for a fish tommorow if the rain stops, or at least slows down a bit.

[DarkHorse]

Dicko,

Nice screens shots, awesome system. I have mine set up on the back of my 4.5m tinny and the structure scan was holding bottom at WOT, 30 kts. Pretty bloody good. Like you will need to play with it more and put what I am seeing into actual results.

Regards,

Rob

[battler1]

Guys how do you get the clutter off the screen looks crap ? & 31.5c water temp cant be right.

Joe



Put mine on this morning & went for a quick wizz up the river this arvo to have a play.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/DSCF8273.jpg

Checked out this spot that I sometimes pull a couple of barra off. It looks to be some sort of old cattle grid or something.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/shot23.png

This is another barra spot up the same river.


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/shot15.png


Plenty of bait around both, can't see any barra though.

All in all, it looks the goods considering that's only in about 4m of water. Judging from the pics on the US sites, I should be able to adjust it up for a it more quality. Will keep fiddling. Heading out for a fish tommorow if the rain stops, or at least slows down a bit.

[Moffy]

Joe,

am sure Dicko will comment - but 31 degrees water temp quite is common up this way this time of year before the rains come!!!! especially in that depth of water. Was up at Tinaroo over Christmas (freshwater lake up on the tablelands) and the water temp was nudging 30 degrees on the surface - let alone in the salt down on the coast in shallow water.

Cheers,

Moffy.

[Dicko]

Guys how do you get the clutter off the screen looks crap ? & 31.5c water temp cant be right.

Joe

Not sure yet. Some more fiddling may tidy it up. I don't think it's too bad for such shallow water. It has good definition of bait & I can see what the structure is on the bottom rather than a blob. I've seen better pics from the US users from a bit deeper water.

With the temp, as Moffy said, the water gets warm up this way. This is taken in a shallow fresh water weir 5 minutes from home that I drop into sometimes when I don't feel like hitting the salt. It would be right, as it's on par with other sounders I've used in there at this time of year.

When you jump in for a swim, you don't cool down, you only get wet.

I went out in the salt yesterday, didn't muck around with this much as we were fishing some real shallow water on the flats most of the day.

Slipping out for a run mid week for some exploring with this.

[whiteman]

Dicko, you must have won the lottery to get all that techno past the treasurer!

What's with the mounting of the sidescan transducer? It looks like it is in an area of turbulance???

And can I assume that the sidescan is a separate cable all the way back to the head? Have you also installed the Lowrance fuel gauge (and another cable to the head)?

And where are you buying these bits from?

I need to get into this stuff before you clear out all the fish from the Coral Sea and feeder creeks!

[Dicko]

Dicko, you must have won the lottery to get all that techno past the treasurer!

What's with the mounting of the sidescan transducer? It looks like it is in an area of turbulance???

And can I assume that the sidescan is a separate cable all the way back to the head? Have you also installed the Lowrance fuel gauge (and another cable to the head)?

And where are you buying these bits from?

I need to get into this stuff before you clear out all the fish from the Coral Sea and feeder creeks!

Howdy Whiteman

I don't have a 'treasurer' - life is much easier that way. ;)

Been looking at heading out from up your way when this wind drops.

I sold the last boat with everything on it, so this boat is getting all new gear. The $ almost had me going OS, but I got a good deal buying everything I needed in one hit. I sent off 5 faxes with a big itemised list of gear I wanted from the hds 10, VHF, GPS Epirb etc right down to a set of flares. 3 went to locals & 2 down south. I wont need to tell you that 2 of the locals didn't reply, the one that did just quoted RRP on everything. Anyway, CH Smith in Melbourne had the sharpest pencil by far. I may go and get a HDS 5 or 7 to mount up the bow at a later date. If so I'll go US as they're way under 1000 for GST etc & warranty problems aren't as crucial as it is with the main unit.

The small transducer on the right is the std 200/83 one, it feeds direct to the HDS 10. The bigger one on the left is the structure scan one. It feeds to a seperate LSS1 box, then via ethernet cable to the HDS 10 (it has 3 outputs so it can feed another 2 sounders if needed).

the LSS1 black box has it's own power feed. You turn it on or off when needed seperately from whatever sounder it's hooked up to.

I mounted the transducer above that cut away so it's out of the water when planing. Some are saying it's working at speed, but I didn't see the need for setting it up like that. For my use, sussing out new country or trolling is at low speed. The main transducer is still holding at over 50mph to give me depth.

If you want to overlay the images from both transducers, they say they should be mounted less than 12 inches apart. I had a look at that option when playing the other day. I don't see much need for it. I think it's better showing 2 seperate views, so don't get hung up on keeping them close together.

It hasn't got the fuel flow etc rigged up, as the Merc smartcraft guages do all that.

[O-3]

Dicko...what is the round thing between the transducers?

Underwater light?

Thanks for the great SS pics:)

[Strewth]

Informative post Dicko with great pics. Mounting the structure scan transducer higher will no doubt avoid the rooster tail that others have complained of. I'm thinking of getting a HDS5 with SS for my Hornet which is used for close inshore and estuary work. Have been put off by all the -ve reports on the HDS units, but your images look fine to me.

I wonder whether they will ever integrate the sounder and SS units so that you don't need to run two cables?

[yanjarra]

They are the best looking shots yet Dicko,thanks

do you run the gps/maps off the 10inch as well? Is it pretty easy to alternate between 2d sonar and gps like say at the switch of a button? Im assuming the screen would start to get a bit cluttered with ss, downscan, 2d and gps all running at once, is this even possible? Im trying to sort whether to go the 10 or perhaps a couple of 5's myself...

Is it easy enough to plot a mark on the ss and than see this immediately on the gps on the 10?

[Dicko]

O-3, that's the outlet for the bait tank.

Strewth. Dunno. The structure scan is a big lump of a thing. If it was incorporated into one, you'd then have the rooster tail issue all the time.

yanjarra. yep, the 10 has mapping as well. You can select to split 4 ways and run the SS downscan, normal and maps. It looks good on the 10in screen. New marks come straight up.

I see the point of 2 5's or 7's instead of an 8 or 10. With 2 combo units you can have 1 as the sounder & 1 as the mapping. You have a built in redundancy, as each can take over other or do both jobs if one goes to sh*t. I seriously looked at that option and would have preffered it in some respects, but the last few years has seen me wearing reading glasses. The 10 lets me flick through the menu's etc and see the info on the screen clearly without putting them on. For me that's a bonus.

I'm still trying to work out how to put 200lb mono on my baitcasters so I can tie knots without putting the glasses on. lol

The HDS screeens are also very good to read with polarised glasses on. (Some aren't and that's easily overlooked when shopping for a sounder).

[whiteman]

Dicko, you have eyes like mine. $500+ for a pair of polarised "split screen" sunnies! Hate getting old. I read somewhere that the granny knot is the strongest knot around. Even I can tie this blind folded.

Thanks for the info. The 8's and 10's have a few extra features over the 7's (should be named "6") and 5's don't they, like, supporting 2 cards and a few other useful things? Keep the pictures coming. You are the new "Kerry" of Lowrance sounders.

[Dicko]

You are the new "Kerry" of Lowrance sounders.

I'm not sure if that's a compliment or a back hander. lol.

Went out for another play with this today.

This pic is a bit of bait on a lump, with possibly a predator or 2 hovering up and to the side. Didn't catch them, so don't know what they are.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/17Jan13.png

This one looks to be something big, possibly a dugong, turtle or dolphin, or maybe just some densely packed bait ? Didn't catch anything so don't know what this one is either.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/17Jan16.png

This one shows a school of better sized fish. Unlike the other 2 pics, I can say for sure they're a pack of queenies about 80 cm long.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/17Jan15.png

3 of these came out of there before they all nicked off.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/DSCF8321.jpg

[whiteman]

A compliment of course! Kerry's posts were always highly informative and to the point!

So a couple of questions:
- what is shown in the top left monochrome screen? Doesn't seem useful to me.
- will structure scan justify the cost in fish capture - let's assume you are an above average angler! The monochrome view of the Queenies shows a bit more definition but the colour view would get my juices flowing if that's all I had.
- the three sounder windows in the last screen show different depths. Why is that?

[Dicko]

A compliment of course! Kerry's posts were always highly informative and to the point!

So a couple of questions:
- what is shown in the top left monochrome screen? Doesn't seem useful to me.
- will structure scan justify the cost in fish capture - let's assume you are an above average angler! The monochrome view of the Queenies shows a bit more definition but the colour view would get my juices flowing if that's all I had.
- the three sounder windows in the last screen show different depths. Why is that?

Why do you ask hard questions ? lol

On the plus side, you've just made me think about a few things I should have done differently on the weekend. Thanks. :)

The top left of the 4 screens is the side scan. Being a beginner at this, this is how I see it. You can pretty well ignore the centre area, as that is directly under the boat and that info is shown in the other "downward" views. If you look left and right from that centre area you see the point where it shows the actual bottom, and what's on it. The thing 'wrong' in those recent pics is the centre area is taking up most of the viewing space. I should have adjusted the 'range' to look further out.

The strucure scan transducer has 3 units in it. One facing down and one angled each side. You can adjust the viewing angle of the side scan (range), or flick it look left or right only. As you move forward, the downscan and regular sounder image flow across the screen like normal. The side scan image flows down the screen.


I just squizzed through a few pics of last week to compare. In this pic below, even though it's not as clear you can see more of the outward sidescan view of the bottom instead of heaps of wasted area looking under the boat at what the other screens are already picking up.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Barry_Mundi/mod.jpg


In the sidescan (left hand image) I have marked the 'dead' area under the boat as explained above. The red circle in the sidescan is the end of a log. In the regular views it is just showing as a lump.

When you ask if it justifies cost, well that's all subjective. lol. Most of us would be financially better off going to the fish shop friday afternoon and grab a few fresh fillets for the weekend.

If you enjoy just going out and catching fish, then the value of knowing something that usually looks like that lump on a regular sounder is actually a log running lengthways just out to the right hand side, then it may be worth it. You could maximise your chances of pulling a barra off that by positioning yourself properly and directing a few casts to bring your lure back down the length of the log or a few different angles down each side instead of just thinking it's a lump and casting across a small section of it. You may have blown that snag now by driving over it. But it's another place you know of to cast into next time when it's undisturbed. It may be worth an extra fish or 2 per trip, it may not. It may help out on those dead days, it might not. Time will tell.

Realistically, most of my barra fishing is in the shallow mangrove edges, where this or any sounder is next to useless. Where I hope it'll be of benefit is low tide, or when they aren't up in the mangroves is finding where they're sitting out in the deeper water of the creeks & rivers. Plus the odd bit of hooning around close off shore chasing other species when the weathers good.

As for the depth in that queenie pic. The reading where the bottom meets the side scale is the same - showing around 14 and 14.3m in the other screen. I don't know why the overall scale is different on both windows. The 24.4 on the side scan is the width of the side screen display. Which is the same in both pics when the water depth is 4 m or 14, that is what prompted me to think about why, and that I should have adjusted it. (Or maybe I've accidently set it to stay at that range in one of button pressing adventures and it's not adjusting automatically). I'll have a fiddle with it and see.

And yes, with or without the side scan stuff I would have dropped a lure down there anyway when seeing fish like that. So at the moment it's gained me no more fish then I normally would have got. I do have a better idea of some of my usual barra haunts (and found a couple of new ones worth a cast to). Maybe that'll pay dividends over time as we start up barra fishing again in a few weeks.

If all that is clear as mud, maybe lowrance explains it better.

http://www.lowrance.com.au/StructureScan/

[whiteman]

Dicko, you are on a steep curve and I reckon heaps of guys are getting plenty from your posts so keep em up!

If you get that thing tuned will they let you use it in the Hinchinbrook Catch n Release? It could be a killer for getting the sleepy barra off those logs in May. I'm still pretty keen to get the 8" model but I think I'll bypass structure scan in the first instance. I'm targeting reef fish in 30m+ at Trunk and Brittomart and need better definition in colour. The old x135 still gets fish but its getting hard to read at depth and the Navman plotter has reliability issues. We snorkel at half time and its great to watch how trout sit on the pressure side of the bombie and pick off slow bait fish - can't see this sort of stuff on a sounder!

[Grand_Marlin]

Dicko,

Looks like you are having fun, and getting some awesome real life footage.

I haven't had mine out lately to keep playing, but I am sure the info that keeps coming will help us all to keep learning about the structure scan.

It is interesting to see that in your side scan shots (the same as I found) the targets are generally off to the side of the boat, not directly underneath.
Thois makes aqll the difference when casting a lure or when anchoring up... knowing exactly where the target is.

Cheers

Pete