Is my SideVu faulty?

[PlayDoh]

sorry about the glare. I took the pic right after I switched frequencies so both are visible. I’m getting interference from my TM, but I have hopes the rubber & tinfoil pad will help clear that up. I’m fairly certain I had the TM off when I took the pic, so there shouldn’t be any interference in that view. And either way, the images aren’t that much different. I’ve seen one giant boulder in decent detail in the 4 trips I’ve used my 106 Ultra on. I’ll switch to the copper color and get a pic without glare tomorrow. I might mount the TD on the transom, yet I have concerns the motor will block some of the signal in SideVu.
I’m pretty sure I read about a guy who had a unit with faulty SideVu and had gotten a replacement. I’m guessing there’s a dozen hoops to jump through to get that to happen.
this lake doesn’t have tons of rocks, and no sunken trees or ships to look at, but just comparing my view from others is telling. It looks like somethings not working right. My DownVu / ClearVu is very good as is Traditional, ignoring the interference issue when the TM is running.
the TD is mounted correctly on the TM. Cables separate and well spaced from TM cables. Aluminum boat and very clear water.

[PlayDoh]

I should mention that again today I drove along a man made wave break made from large boulders. My SideVu Range (auto) was showing 60 ft out to either side. Yet I had to get around 20ft from the rocks before I could see anything. It was showing rocks out beyond where they were below water, so without question the range is off. The rocks were to my right, yet it did give me a fairly detailed image of one huge boulder to my left. Likely a stray from construction. That one rock has been the only thing I’ve seen in 4 days of use that had any sort of detail.
if you look at my picture, there’s light patches, some part streaks, that I can’t imagine being a feature on the bottom. Possible some short patches of weeds, yet they look odd.

[MonteSS]

Looks fairly normal to me. Not going to get great range on the high frequency.

[PlayDoh]

Interesting opinion. To me it seems worlds away from the detail in the pics Ive seen others share. I understand that having a sunken bridge is going to look much more impressive than a flat, featureless lake bottom, but mine just seems to lack detail at all. In comparison to this persons 1120 kHz shot.
17APR18_0950_00-sand-pinnacle-ON-GARMIN-uhd.jpg

[Chief Brody]

yours looks worse than most.

maybe try a different angle with the transducer

[BassTracker175]

Yours look normal to Garmin. another color plate or gain setting may make yours look like the other.

However, they still lack of details, compared to HB.

[PlayDoh]

Yours look normal to Garmin. another color plate or gain setting may make yours look like the other.

However, they still lack of details, compared to HB.

Im noticing a trend with these opinions. I can respect your opinion yet I know all about HB and telling me that is kinda pointless, no? I mean if I went on a Chevy truck forum and some guy who’s trying to repair his transfer case cause his 4x4 has issues, would telling him that fords 4x4 is better help?
thats a bad analogy since nothing Ford does is better than GM, lol. But it’s really no different. If you can look at both images I linked ( mine and the copper color image from someone else ) and say they’re comparable, than my eyes must be bad.

I target walleye, and since they essentially lay on the bottom, my expectation for “shadows” might be wrong. I think the lighter spots I was seeing today were fish, and it might be a matter of me getting used to SI, and the “real life” SI returns most people can expect to see. Fish aren’t concrete or wood, and seeing these fantastic images of bridges or trees isn’t indicative of what I’m going to see. Yet I do think I have some tweaking to do, or my head unit is faulty.

[MikeF]

Playdoh

Screenshots viewed on the computer are much easier to view and critique to see results of you adjustments settings.

I know the process of using the home button and catching the shot you want is a real PIA Garmin units.

A trick I use is to touch the screen to freeze it which brings up the cross hairs for a WP placement.

I don't make a WP but just swipe the cross hairs center to any corner to clear the screen and now you can take your time to press Home and get a recording of the frozen screenshot.

Just a suggestion.

And for the record I run both the Ford and Chevy brands on the boat as both have attributes I like.

[bronzebacksmb]

Few things

sidevu on a trolling motor will always suck, as you turn the torpedo the picture will become distorted and tough to read, transom mount way better.

the screenshot you posted of the bridge is a GPSmap unit, the GPSmap series has way better resolution and more pixels then even an EM ultra.

yours looks pretty normal for what I’ve seen on my EM ultra

[Chief Brody]

Do a sonar default reset. If that doesnt do it then i’ll be more specific from earlier: tilt the back of the transducer very slightly down so that its not running 100% level, but with the ass end down. Slightly.

Then use a manual range setting instead of Auto. In that pic try 60ft.

Keep an eye on your 2d arches when you see fish. Re-adjust xdcr based on how the arches look.

Garmin UHD should look better than that.

[BassTracker175]

I’m sorry. This is why I (or several of us here) have both brands for now. I’m not loyal to EITHER brand.

Im noticing a trend with these opinions. I can respect your opinion yet I know all about HB and telling me that is kinda pointless, no? I mean if I went on a Chevy truck forum and some guy who’s trying to repair his transfer case cause his 4x4 has issues, would telling him that fords 4x4 is better help?
thats a bad analogy since nothing Ford does is better than GM, lol. But it’s really no different. If you can look at both images I linked ( mine and the copper color image from someone else ) and say they’re comparable, than my eyes must be bad.

I target walleye, and since they essentially lay on the bottom, my expectation for “shadows” might be wrong. I think the lighter spots I was seeing today were fish, and it might be a matter of me getting used to SI, and the “real life” SI returns most people can expect to see. Fish aren’t concrete or wood, and seeing these fantastic images of bridges or trees isn’t indicative of what I’m going to see. Yet I do think I have some tweaking to do, or my head unit is faulty.

[Crappie Bob]

Also I would think that to compare pictures of the units and get a real good idea of the difference, you would have to follow each other and scan the same things under the boat, say a bridge or old road bed, standing timber. That way you can compare the two better if they are all the same....Just my 2 cents

[Gford]

Garmin UHD sidescannis only good for 30' out each side....if going further than that you need to drop your htz down....I use 455 for sidescan 95% of the time. Even the manual states it has a 30' max depth on 1120....I find 25 is about it.

[Crappie Bob]

Huh, this is in what I read. Must have the wrong book. I think anything that only reads 30 feet in the sonar world would be worthless.

With the GT54UHD-TM transducer...

CHIRP
800 ft

ClearVü
200 ft

SideVü
500 ft

UHD
SideVü
125 ft

[Royt]

UHD SideVu 30' per side is really weak if that's all it can do.

[PlayDoh]

The range is dependent on the depth of water your in. If you were in 5 ft of water your not going to see 125, or 30 ft. Also the signal is just as clear and detailed at the far end as the close end. What I see at 50 ft is just as detailed as it is at say 10 ft to the side. I’d imagine on the fringe of the signal things would get scrambled.

[PlayDoh]

At the lakes around me, I prefer the 1120 UHD, since I’m looking more for fish than structure. TBH I can’t say I’ve marked actual fish on SideVu yet. Although a dozen trips isn’t enough to learn it all. I fish for Walleye and they’re the most abundant fish in my lakes. So I’m thinking anything very close to the bottom isn’t going to cast a ‘shadow’ or be visible at all really. I keep seeing smallish lighter spots that might be fish, but I can’t say yet if that is what I’m seeing.
Ive kinda given up on SideVu, since the screen space is better used on Something else. I’ve been running a traditional view on half screen and a chart and Down on the other half when I’m really scouting for fish. Which is a shame, because SideVu was what I imagined I’d find the most useful. Maybe I haven’t figured it out yet, and I’m still not completely convinced mine isn’t somewhat faulty. However with the interference issue solved, Ive been able to see some very detailed images of large rocks.

[Gford]

Huh, this is in what I read. Must have the wrong book. I think anything that only reads 30 feet in the sonar world would be worthless.

With the GT54UHD-TM transducer...

CHIRP
800 ft

ClearVü
200 ft

SideVü
500 ft

UHD
SideVü
125 ft

Sorry was looking at the ultra HD 34 transducer.....but have used the 54 as well...past 50' out each side fades to crap in the 1120.....I just use the lower htz.Screenshot_20200810-005046~4.png

[PlayDoh]

Ah, makes sense. It’s just a matter of physics though. A 1120 kHz signal can only go so far with the given power, and again geometry. If you were in 125’ of water you could see past 50’, yet only 12.5’ on either side. Nothing ‘fades’ to crap, it’s just beyond the cone. Nobody at Garmin forgot to carry the 1 and the UHD SideVu is flawed.
If you buy a 4k tv and put on an 8k video, your not going to expect an 8k picture right? 455 give you plenty of range, and 1120 give you the detail. The narrative that ‘Garmin sucks’ because the SideVu doesn’t do what it wasn’t designed to do, isn’t fair. Last night I marked fish at 100-200’ in 455. It would be awesome if I could have marked some at 3 miles, but as the saying goes, it is what it is. Judging by that brand comparison video, I don’t see HB SI any better than Garmin or Lowrance, TBH. My guess is it’s a matter of preference and familiarity.
Im not sonar expert by any means, but I did my homework before buying, to say the least. Nearly 2 years I watched, read and learned. One thing I can tell you is that all the brands have haters, and unfair ‘opinions’. Nothing new or unique to sonar tech, but due to the cost of these, people can get a bit more passionate about it. And some of these ‘opinions’ almost seem like their intentional slander. On 2 of my 3 threads you’ve said SideVu only works 20-30 ft, and right after each comment, user Royt says nearly the exact phrase “Garmin only works 20-30 ft? That’s weak”. Coincidence I’m sure, but it almost seems scripted. Maybe I’ve been watching too much CNN, lol. Does Trump own shared in HB? lol. Maybe Putin?

[PlayDoh]

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