New Helix 7 SI GPS Mega Giving Poor, Fuzzy Images

[iceintheveins]

My Helix SI GPS Mega gives fuzzy images, especially on down image, though the side imaging leaves some to be desired too. It's not working that great on 455 khz either. I've tried factory resets numerous times, and trying to mess with the sensitivity, contrast, and dynamic contrast to get a clear, clutter free picture. Even in shallow water it sucks so far. I have cycled through the noise rejection, 6 settings, and it makes no difference. I have included two pics, one of the side image and one of the down image.

 

The two lakes I'm fishing have a fair amount of silt, but not horrible. The picture just sucks. Worse than my Helix 5 si GPS without Mega. It's no where even close to as clear as my Garmin Echomap UHD 63 with clear vu that is by the trolling motor. I've tried to make sure the ducer is level on the transom, trying several settings. I'll take a picture of the location where it's posted. It's in the same spot my old ducer was that performed okay. I know 455 khz is better in deep water. Occasionally when I turn the unit on, it says "transducer not connected". Do I have a bad ducer? Head issue? The bottom here is mostly muck, but the down image doesn't do well on hard bottom either. 

 

The regular sonar works just fine.

[casts_by_fly]

Not sure how I missed this, but here are my thoughts. I have the same unit and have no trouble getting good images in a kayak. Keep in mind that this transducer only has side imaging and then uses that image to piece together a down image. It’s also not mega plus.  So you’ll get a good image, but the amazing ones on humminbirds website are for the bigger units and transducer. 
 

looking at your mount, I think you are fine. Based on the scum line on the boat it looms like you are fully submerged and nothing in the way. 
 

i can’t tell from the images but I’ll assume you are in the mega range and not kilohertz range.  You’re only in 10’ so stick to mega. Below 25’ I’ll drop to kilohertz sometimes if there is a soft bottom. Hard rock bottom is clear below 30’.  It looks like for down and side imaging you need to up the contrast I normally keep my contrast up around 16-18 and will adjust if the picture isn’t good enough. Sensitivity starts around 10. Sharpening low. You are also only going 0.5 mph or so. You can still get a good image at that speed but it’s tougher. Scroll speed at that boat speed should be around 2-4 depending on your preferences. I’ll scroll at speed 6 for 2-4 mph. That seems like the right balance. 
 

you’re in 10’ of water but your side imaging it set to over 100’. You won’t get a good return at that range in that depth. Best side imaging is 3-4x depth. You can stretch that to 6x or so. If you look at your side image, you can see the picture falling off about halfway across the screen from the centerline. Imagine eliminating that half and stretching the middle half out to full screen resolution…

 

It looks like the same hump in both images, though the side image was taken second after you dropped off it further. A little more contrast and the bottom on the down image will clear right up. Keep in mind you adjust contrast and sensitivity for side, down, and 2d independently. Also for much bottoms I turn the sensitivity up a couple points. 
 

2d is a different animal but similar settings. I often run side for 70% of the screen with down and 2d splitting the rest. I used side to show me structure right and left, down for things I run over, and 2d for bottom hardness and confirming 2d.