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i'm still not sure what the problems are, but mine has been looking like Bird's ever since the auto range issue was fixed. i definitely have to play with gain every now and then because the m260 will pick up everything in auto mode. have to knock it down to get rid of the weak returns. and if you didn't notice, once you move off the auto gain, you have to manually adjust noise reduction.
don't know what 5.4 will bring - i'm on the hard and that will have to wait until spring. ron
i'm still not sure what the problems are, but mine has been looking like Bird's ever since the auto range issue was fixed. i definitely have to play with gain every now and then because the m260 will pick up everything in auto mode. have to knock it down to get rid of the weak returns. and if you didn't notice, once you move off the auto gain, you have to manually adjust noise reduction.
don't know what 5.4 will bring - i'm on the hard and that will have to wait until spring. ron
Same here. I never really had an issue with mid-water performance (bottom discrimination yes, mid water fish, no). This pic is from June, whatever version was current back then.
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Terry Jason 35, Yanmar 370 hp, Lots of fun at a leisurely pace
I got a chance to test the update some and ...Well, without doing anything different except doing the update my sounder performance is definately worse. This is actually the first time I have had any noise or clutter which makes it a bit frustrating. I got better performance ( almost like it was before the update ) when I was out in about 100 foot of water, but anything from 15-50 was definately worse on my setup. Perhaps what I did wrong was apply the update lol.
Birdman, that last shot you posted is exactly what mine used to look like before I did the update. I had never lost bottom (except at 1700+ feet and 30 mph) and had no troubles holding bottom or with noise when I left it on auto. I know a clear picture is possible as I had it before the update, sometimes updates just get quirky from system to sytem I guess? I am using the same exact settings as I did before, only the update has changed. I even had a diver come by to check out the bottom to make sure the lens was fine, he saw nothing unusual.
More testing to follow, I will downgrade next trip and do a side by side. Hey Bird, how are you downgrading the sounder version on your touchscreen? You mentioned running the "beta", so how can you isolate just a downgrade for the sounder? Or do you have to do a full system downgrade to 5.3 to test? Did you just install the lower software version by using the standard procedure?
An update is no different from system to system. Each component is runnig software (or "firmware"). They will all be the same.
Really? So they are not like regular home computers where for instance when some people flash their BIOS and/or update their firmware and they have exactly the same systems and one will have issues while another will not?
Really? So they are not like regular home computers where for instance when some people flash their BIOS and/or update their firmware and they have exactly the same systems and one will have issues while another will not?
No, each component is the same 5208, GSD22, etc. Unlike computers which will have components from many different manufacturers.
Why do you guys want such a clear screen? It obviously cant have too much clutter but the less sensitivity or gain that you have the less fish and structure you will see. Its pretty easy to decifer whats fish and whats not.
Here is an example of what im talkng about. I robbed these pics from another site.
These pics are all from a Humminbird 10" screen 1197 unit in 200k.
Here is a tree with very little gain
same tree with the gain cranked up. Notice the baitfish that would have been missed with the gain down.
Nice fish arches on a drop off with some brush
same drop off but a lot more brush, fish and now baitfiish that wasnt as visible in the above pic.
all filters, surface clarity should be set to off or set to the lowest setting to give a good combination of fish and some clutter. Without the gain set high so that it shows some clutter you will never be able to fine tune structure and bait fish. Even the new HDS broadband shows some degree of clutter. Also, by turning off the surface clarity affects the qualtiy of the picture all the way through the water column. You should have an inch or so of clutter at the top of the screen. The pics above with less surface clutter also showed less fish and structure on the bottom. Hope this helps.
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Last edited by pastaman1234; 11-09-2009 at 07:52 PM.
No, each component is the same 5208, GSD22, etc. Unlike computers which will have components from many different manufacturers.
I doubt that is true at all. Chip builders are always updating their components. Even when no change is called for from the customer, the manufacturer will frequesntly make changes in the chipsets to add new features, fix bugs, and tweak the build process. Just look at any processor sold by Intel. You can find dozens of revisions to each chipset rolled out over months or years. Add to that the issue that most assembly houses will multi-source most components. The same units can have chipsets from different vendors.
Components just don't stay static. A company like Garmin just isn't going to change the model number because of changes in suppliers or chipsets.
There can be and are differences in the units over time. Hopefully they just get better, but I've seen it go the other way as well.
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Terry Jason 35, Yanmar 370 hp, Lots of fun at a leisurely pace
Ching,
I haven't "downgraded". I have the LATEST version the 5.4. But I also installed and update to just the GSD22. So I'm a bit ahead of 5.4, call it 5.4.1 for example. A special pdate file provided by Garmn updates single components like the gsd22. Each update is just a set of updates in one file. In this case, thye just give me an update file with only one update in it. Make sense?
Now, lastly, MAKE SURE in vers. 5.4, you turn the Surface Noise filter to HIDE. You might think after the updae your testing it the same way but our not. Cause the 5.4 updae changed the sruface noise setting to OFF, which means you will see all the surface noise. And when you are in shallow water, that can be a mess. Change that setting and you maybe happy with the new version.
I will continue to plug away at it. I have checked, checked and re-checked that the surface noise was hidden so that is not the issue. You should see the screen when all the noise is visible, what a mess.
I am sure it will work out, I am just posting my personal experience with me updating my system to help assure those who are also experiencing problems that they are not insane.
