Garmin Echomap guys

[slonezp]

Any tricks or shortcuts in the initial set up? Any advice appreciated.

[Boomstick]

I found the initial setup of my EchoMap 93sv to be stupid simple. You will want to turn on WAAS/EGNOS so your GPS location will be more accurate, although it might be good enough in your area where you don't need to waste the extra battery life. I can't remember if the 1-4 shortcut buttons came setup this way or not, but I set them so that 1 is traditional sonar and downvu, 2 is just sidevu and 3 is all three and 4 is the fishing chart.

 

As for settings, the defaults work pretty well. I find that I like my speed set to 3 or 4 since I'm on a kayak and keep flip flopping as to which I prefer. For gain, auto med is usually good for what most people would call clear water, and auto high for the clearest of clear water. In downvu and sidevu, 85% contrast is the sweet spot but if you're only in water that is no more than 6 feet deep you might want to set that to 70-75%. And auto-med brightness works most of the time but sometimes auto-high is good for brighter days. I picked up most of the above info from some Youtube channel, maybe FishTheMoment even though he's more of a Hummingbird user but it seems to be very accurate from my experience.

 

As for the color schemes, pick whichever one you feel you can see the best on any given various light situation. I personally think some of them look two dual-tone regardless of whatever light you put it in, and some are easier to see in high and low light scenarios. I found a few suggestions on Youtube where they suggested some that I did not think to try but for the most part this is trial and error until you find what you like.

 

A couple other minor things to add would be the frequencies are always ever changing, but Chirp works well for most situations. The only other thing I really have to mess with is the auto range. It usually is fine in sonar and downvu, but often it goes a little too far out, primarily in deeper water. If it starts putting me at 110ft, I will usually drop that down to 70 feet as the return fades pretty heavily on the GT54UHD transducer after 60 some feet on sidevu and auto tends to set it to 110ft or higher a little too aggressively.

 

Were you able to get one with the new GT56UHD transducer? The biggest advantage with the new transducer is that has a very solid return up to 100 feet on sidevu.

[12poundbass]

You speak English and live in the USA. Everything else is personal preference. ?

[slonezp]

5 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

You speak English and live in the USA. Everything else is personal preference. ?

Que?

[12poundbass]

2 hours ago, slonezp said:

Que?

Sure, I’ll have some queso dip! 

[Way2slow]

The best thing is to do like I did, plug it up to a 12V source, sit down and spend a few days going through all the menu's and settings.  That way you won't have to be trying to figure things out while on the water and you can make the changes the suit your likings.  

As mention, the first thing you want to do is go into gps settings and turn on WAAS.  Don't know why they don't do that on a fishing sonar in the initial programing.

Actually, the very first thing you want to do is make sure it has the latest version software in it.  My 9 had the latest, but both of the 7's had something like version 4.6 and the new I think is 5.1.

You will need to get you a 32GB, Class 10, micro SD card (they will have a C on them with a 10 in it) or faster.  Plug the micro SD in, turn the unit on it it automatically loads required data on it.  Take the card out, plug it into the computer and Garmin Express will automatically check the update and register the unit.  Do the update if needed before you put anything else on the card because it's going to erase everything on it when it loads the update.  After the update, erase the card and put it back in the unit so it can load it's info on it again to use it.

I did setup contour colors for the first five depth's on the fishing maps, you can make those any color you want and that makes it a lot easier to tell if something on the map is a deep hole or an hump coming up to shallow water. 

Another thing I did was make that menu bar automatic, so it goes away and pops back up when you touch the screen.

There are a lot of things you might want to change to your preference but they are things you need to go through and learn.  You can put it in Demo mode and it will still let you make changes to see if you like it or not.  

Like I said, I spent close to week sitting here at my desk learning how a what each thing did, so I would be very familiar with using it when on the water.  Color schemes are something you might want to change to your preference.  I didn't like a lot of the ones Garmin used.

It will require the transducer be connected when you are doing this.

I also turn off a lot of the automatic functions like back light, contrast, sensitivity, etc.  

[Dens228]

On 4/18/2021 at 6:48 PM, Boomstick said:

 

A couple other minor things to add would be the frequencies are always ever changing, but Chirp works well for most situations. The only other thing I really have to mess with is the auto range. It usually is fine in sonar and downvu, but often it goes a little too far out, primarily in deeper water. If it starts putting me at 110ft, I will usually drop that down to 70 feet as the return fades pretty heavily on the GT54UHD transducer after 60 some feet on sidevu and auto tends to set it to 110ft or higher a little too aggressively.

 

 

I find the same thing with SideVu.  Next time out I'm actually going to lower the frequency to see if the extended range gives me enough definition for my liking.  I also have the GT54.  

[Boomstick]

3 hours ago, Dens228 said:

I find the same thing with SideVu.  Next time out I'm actually going to lower the frequency to see if the extended range gives me enough definition for my liking.  I also have the GT54.  

One thing that might help but is not always practical in a real world situation is to only run sidevu on the left or right side so you get more pixels on one side. Like if you're going near the bank that's a dropoff, sometimes you may be more interested in the bank side than the other side. I would try this if you're using a lower sidevu frequency for maximum visibility.

[slonezp]

On 4/20/2021 at 5:38 PM, 12poundbass said:

You speak English and live in the USA. Everything else is personal preference. ?

Says the guy who's still motoring around with the WAAS turned off....?

 

Turned it on today and going to pick up a micro SD after work tomorrow.

[12poundbass]

22 minutes ago, slonezp said:

Says the guy who's still motoring around with the WAAS turned off

You sir are partially correct. My WAAS is still off.....BUT I’m not motoring around. I’ve yet to get the boat wet, so take that Garmin boy! 

[Boomstick]

20 hours ago, Way2slow said:

I didn't like a lot of the ones Garmin used.

It will require the transducer be connected when you are doing this.

You can d/c the transducer and run it in simulationmode and set your color scheme.

[slonezp]

34 minutes ago, Boomstick said:

You can d/c the transducer and run it in simulationmode and set your color scheme.

I hope they have green. Green was the easiest on my eyes with my birds. 

[MN Fisher]

11 minutes ago, slonezp said:

I hope they have green. Green was the easiest on my eyes with my birds. 

Yep - they have green.

[slonezp]

There's another setting for true north or magnetic north. Does this setting mean much

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, slonezp said:

There's another setting for true north or magnetic north. Does this setting mean much

From your location? Just a degree or two.

[J Francho]

Only seems to help if you have a magnetic compass next to your graph.  Otherwise, I always leave it at geo north.  Maybe there's a better reason to use it?

[slonezp]

Updates are done. 

[Boomstick]

On 4/21/2021 at 9:16 PM, slonezp said:

I hope they have green. Green was the easiest on my eyes with my birds. 

They do have a green. I find the green very good in darker light.

[desmobob]

I've had my older non-CHIRP 93sv for years and still find things I can tweak.  One thing that helps me is to keep a printed manual handy on my nightstand.  I like to read for a while when I get in bed for the night.  Reviewing the manuals of complicated devices helps me get the most out of them.  I know some folks don't like to read instruction manuals but when you have a device with this kind of capability, you'll never begin to be able to use it to its fullest unless you learn how.

 

Also, if I'm out on the water and things are slow or I'm having my lunch, I'll start navigating through menus and experimenting or just browse.

 

The ECHOmap can do a LOT of cool and useful stuff!  Take the time and make the effort to master it and you'll get a good return on your investment!

[12poundbass]

Well my Echomaps have already paid for themselves. 
 

The lake I live on is a private lake so there are no contour maps. We were out this morning and I decided to try out QuickDraw. It actually mapped the lake a lot quicker than I thought, although I’m going to go over it again. Anyways, after we were done fishing I’m looking over the recordings and I find a pothole next to a flat that I never knew was even there. 
 

Now I’m really looking forward to mapping the lake where the wife and I both caught out PB’s. This lake rarely gets fished and is unmolested by the dreaded spray boats that hit almost every lake in sight. This lake where leprechauns and unicorns live have no mapping either. 
 

Enough rambling for now. I figured I’d give a quick update. 

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, 12poundbass said:

We were out this morning and I decided to try out QuickDraw.

Ya - Quickdraw is really good - I've been using it on my Striker since the Community maps for 'Tonka are a little lacking. Really nice feature on the Garmins.

[12poundbass]

2 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Ya - Quickdraw is really good - I've been using it on my Striker since the Community maps for 'Tonka are a little lacking. Really nice feature on the Garmins.

And the fact that all you need is a cheap micro SD card and not a $120 card in order to use it, is super nice as well. Almost all my lakes around me are well mapped, but I think I’m going to turn it on and see what I can find. 

[MN Fisher]

Just now, 12poundbass said:

And the fact that all you need is a cheap micro SD card and not a $120 card in order to use it, is super nice as well. Almost all my lakes around me are well mapped, but I think I’m going to turn it on and see what I can find. 

What's an SD card? The Striker records the maps to internal memory - no SD card slot.

[12poundbass]

8 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

What's an SD card? The Striker records the maps to internal memory - no SD card slot.

I thought that’s all you had to do with the Echomap as well but apparently they require an SD card. 

[@reelChris]

Does anyone know how to tell if Echomap covers large bodies of water? I've looked at Garmin's search engine (lakes.garmin.com) but it doesn't look like any big water has data symbols.  I'm particularly interested in Georgian Bay in Ontario.