My unit will read fine for awhile then suddenly the screen swooshes up showing like 100 feet to the bottom when I’m in 10 feet…then it will swoosh back to correct. Interestingly when I set the lower range to say 20 feet, then it reads fine. Only does this in when lower range is set to auto….
My unit will read fine for awhile then suddenly the screen swooshes up showing like 100 feet to the bottom when I’m in 10 feet…then it will swoosh back to correct. Interestingly when I set the lower range to say 20 feet, then it reads fine. Only does this in when lower range is set to auto….
This is just a guess… the unit is losing bottom contact for some reason (failing transducer, etc.) and when you’re in auto-mode the unit is searching for that bottom contact by pinging through a wide range of depths because it doesn’t know where to look. Kinda like when you first drop your trolling motor in the water with your transducer firing. The unit doesn’t know if you’re in 10 feet of water or 500 feet of water so it has to do a little sweep of the depth ranges to get a good bottom lock. This can take a split-second when things are set up properly. Longer when there’s an issue with the transducer or software.
When you force the unit into a narrow depth range the unit doesn’t have much water column to search so the unit can lose bottom contact and relocate it before you’re even aware there was an issue.
FWIW – my last 1198 on the dash of my MX2025 and a 5″ Helix on the bow of a WX 1910 I borrowed for a shoot did this all the time. Or the digital depth would show the accurate depth while the graph display itself scrolled through various depth ranges for minutes on end while it tried to find bottom. Drove me nuts.
What’s your max depth set at?
James u ever find a fix? Yup that’s what it seems to be doing…funny like u said the digital will often read accurately even though the graph shows bottom at 200 feet….
Red dog…not sure what u mean….where is that setting?
James u ever find a fix?
No. Sorry, I did not. I tried all available software updates for the 1198 and was never able to get it operating the way I wanted it prior to switching electronics. The only thing I ever found as a work around was to set a manual depth range like you’re doing now. Not that this info will help much but I do know the issue occurred most frequently over weeds or a soft, mucky bottom and much less often when I was over a hard bottom, regardless of depth fished.
This also can happen as the electrical connections get worse over time. You may not be getting enough power in your unit. You could try to rewire it direct to the battery with new connections and wiring to see if that will help. This can also help when a unit is losing gps fix or not getting one at all.
There is a max depth setting in your sonar or setup menu. Set it to 50 feet deeper than you will ever be in. Or 20 feet deeper than the max depth on the body of water you are on.
Dog—that makes sense….basically reducing the number of options on a multiple choice question…..I’ll try that
Menu, menu. Sonar. Scroll down to max depth and set to a little over your anticipated depth of the body of water. Switchfire clear mode when 20 feet or less.
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