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  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    abilene, tx
    Posts
    11

    teach me about my graphs

    so im fairly new to owning my own boat, and have never dealt with garmin graphs before. i know the basics on how to read them, side imaging still confuses me a little, but i dont know anything else about my electronics. i have a echomap 74dv on the bow and a striker 7 at the console. should they be switched around? i cant read my console graph while running, much less have any maps to look at so i havent even pulled the graphs out of the box in months. will a lake master or navionics card work with the 74? it has extremely basic maps south of dallas, but doesnt have hardly any detail in them and is missing quite a few lakes. i havent had the bow graph in the boat for months because i switched trolling motors and the old transducer mount didnt fit and i cant seem to find a new mount to mount it up with. is there another mount i can look into or a particular place around dallas or out towards abilene that may have what i need? im extremely lost with them, and at the point where i kinda just wanna sell them and go with lowrance or birds because im much more familiar with them. please help me

  2. Banned
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    5,356
    #2
    If you don't have Lake Vu UltraHD then the mapping is not that great. Now not all lake in Texas are mapped in Ultra HD. There is a list of which lakes are mapped. They are called max def lakes. Lake master and Navionics ( Garmin just bought them out) don't work with Garmin.

    https://lakes.garmin.com

  3. Lowrance/Garmin/GPS Moderator fishin couillon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Pineville, La
    Posts
    32,954
    #3
    Well best thing to do if you dont know your way around the unit is to break out the user manual and/or play around with it in the boat at your house or on the water.....as for mapping, Lake Master or Navionics will NOT work in the Echomap unit, Striker unit does not have built in mapping....now for the mapping on the Echomap, depends on what version it could have Lake Vu maps or the basic world wide map.....so you need to figure out what you have on the unit. Also i believe the unit you have can do Quick Draw contours, which is it will make custom contour maps on the unit.

    Any unit for someone that has not had that particular brand will be a learning curve....same as programs for a PC, just have to play with it to figure it out...I have been helping on here for a while now, see lots of guys complaining of "issues" and when you get down to the "nuts and bolts" of the "issue" one figures out that it's mainly user error of not knowing what the unit does, not taking the time to learn it and not reading the user manual...... In the end, if not comfortable with the units, sell and get the brand that fits your need......


    This looks like your unit: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/521738
    YOU are not entitled to what I have earned!!!!!

    2014 Phoenix 619 Pro / 2014 Mercury 200 Pro XS

  4. Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Akron, Ohio
    Posts
    552
    #4
    I was in the same boat. New 93SV and 73SV and trying to learn.
    Watch Youtube videos to get a visual understanding of setup and use.
    Get out on the water and cruise around things that you know like breakwalls, docks, points, sunken objects or known log fields, bridge supports. Know what you are going over so you can see what it looks like on the graph.
    Learn the different light intensities of the returns to know how solid objects show up. You will learn quickly what you are seeing.
    You are not going to go out and just see fish all over your graph. Especially on SI and DI.
    Learn to find the structure and then fish it to see what you are catching.
    It takes some time but that is all part of the game and passion.
    Good Luck and post pics if you are having problems with setup or image translation.
    98 Triton TR21, 200 Johnson Venom
    2011 RAM 1500 Loramie Longhorn

  5. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Pfafftown NC
    Posts
    102
    #5
    The 74 units come standard with "BlueChart" maps which are the coast maps and do not include any (or very few if at all) freshwater lake maps. That may be part of your problem if that indeed is what you have. If so you would need to purchase the Garmin LakeVu or LakeVu Ultra map card in order to have any lake detail. Before you do that though do a Google search for 'LakeVu lake list' and you can get to the Garmin website and see what the coverage for your favorite lakes is. I mention this because 2 of my favorite, nearby large lakes only have shoreline coverage on both LakeVu and LakeVu Ultra, so no contours. Other lakes in the area do have 1' contour definition.

    Also for the transducer mount, it will probably help if you let us know what trolling motor you now have since you say the existing mount won't fit.

    For the problem about not being able to use the console unit while running, that is all about transducer placement. That is why many use a dedicated shoot-thru hull 2d sonar transducer epoxied in the bilge that works while running for depth and basic sonar. Then have a separate down imaging/side imaging transducer on the transom or jackplate for use at low speed or stop. But other folks have had success, thru trial and error, on finding a place on the transom or jackplate where they get good readings out of the standard transducer while running. Each particular boat design leads to different solutions.