Trouble seeing small jigs with Garmin panoptix

Hey fellas does anybody have any ideas how to get a better visual of a small jig using the downview mode of a panoptix? Obviously I’ve tried to turn the gain up but as you know it’ll cloud up the screen with interference. I only have trouble it seems in water over 18 ft. I fish out of a one man flip if I’m not using my snowmobile so usually the transducer is close to my bait. I tend to switch my downview and forward modes in the sonar menu in the orientation option. This way I don’t get my hands wet. Not sure if I’ll get a better report back if I actually tilt the head to get it to go into down mode. Any thoughts or any other general advice on settings would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Do you adjust the angle and turn the ducer at all? Everytime you use it, the conditions are different and need fine tuning…Does regular Panoptix have “Color Gain” settings? This is what’s used to increase return size/intensity on Livescope…

You need to get your hands wet and put the transducer in down mode.

Do you have an 8 degree angle mount on your pole? That mount is for a trolling motor. 0 degree mount is for ice. Not sure what your panoptics came with. For live scope that 8 degree angle mount is garbage for ice and Garmin should know this.

I like to restore to factory default on settings when I move to spots that are not similar, then dial it in from there.

The factory pole is absolute garbage as well. I can’t tell you what a difference an aftermarket pole with adjustable legs make. It’s the minor tweaks to the legs that makes the difference on what you see on the screen. You think it’s your settings and it’s not at all. It’s how your transducer is positioned in the hole.

For the cost of these units, Garmin totally dropped the ball on the ice packages in regards to the pole and transducer mount. The 8 degree offset transducer mount that came with my livescope and the pole needed to be swapped out to maximize these units to the fullest on ice. Even more money to shell out.

All the hours I wasted messing with settings to find out my issues were a mount and pole that were designed on a bar napkin at 1:00am after an all day bender.

Garmin needs to fix this in the future. It’s so lazy.

Gary,

The United Nations could use your “bender” skills !

Fortunately for me my bender days are 25 yrs behind me. Haven’t drank or smoked since then.

Lucky to have a good wife that stuck by me during my idiot days.

Fast forward to today. Wife made a deal way back then that all the money I spent on smokes and at the bar if I quit would get put into a fishing/hunting checking account every month.

We have had some negotiations over the years over that account, mostly when cigarette taxes go up.

Thank God for my wife. I’m in the woods or on a lake hangover free before the sun comes up every weekend morning I can get away, everything is paid for, and hopefully I will get another 10 yrs before I get to damn old for my own good.

Not trying to preach to the young kids out there, but us old guys are old for a reason

First of all he said Panoptix not Livescope you can’t switch the mode on Panoptix unless you physically take the pole out and rotate it. Then with Panoptix you have make sure your pole is lined up so your transducer is covering a left to right area then you can pickup a 3mm in 30’ of water if you want. I have just Panoptix not Livescope and I don’t have any trouble with tiny jigs showing up. And make sure when you rotate the ducer to down that you get it perfectly horizontal. Hope that helps Jeremy.

Hello. I have the Panoptix with the PS22 ducer. I have found that making sure your transducer pole is as perpendicular as possible makes all the difference in the world. I carry a level with me and make sure the snow and ice are as level as possible before sticking the pole in the water. This makes a big difference. It doesn’t take that long either. Once I find the mojo spot I set my depth range to just a couple of feet deeper than the actual depth itself. I don’t use the auto gain feature at all then. If I had livescope I would do the same thing. My 2 pennies worth. Good luck !

Good info here.
Glenn makes a very valid point with panoptix/livescope. We definitely need to specify the difference when referencing the two.

I also agree with Gary, if I’m buying a ice bundle why are they sending a 8 degree mount. At $3K why don’t they send a 0 degree also.

As long as we’re at it why don’t they send a shorter cable for ice? I really don’t need a 600′ cable to lug around when out on hard water.

“As long as we’re at it why don’t they send a shorter cable for ice? I really don’t need a 600′ cable to lug around when out on hard water”.

X2.
So, with livescope theres no need to physically move the lvs32 transducer orientation to be in your preferred view?

Like ranger said it’s all about how the transducer is positioned. Great explanation in that post. Everyone who has a livescope/panoptics or live target or humminbird version coming out should read his post.

It doesnt matter if the transducer is for livescope, panoptics, live target or one that mounts on a boat. If it’s not mounted right and/or pointing in the proper direction your gonna have issues.

A pole and mount are responsible for how a livescope or panoptic transducer is mounted/positioned. So if your pole and/or mount is garbage then…it’s always going to be a struggle between is it my settings or is it my transducer not positioned correctly.

Long story short—get a proper mount if you don’t have one, and get rid of that Garmin pole or modify it so you can make the slight adjustments per Rangers post.

“As long as we’re at it why don’t they send a shorter cable for ice? I really don’t need a 600′ cable to lug around when out on hard water”.

X2.
So, with livescope theres no need to physically move the lvs32 transducer orientation to be in your preferred view?

TOM to get the most out of you unit you need to physically move the transducer to the correct orientation. Forward, down, and perspective mode.

Let’s beat a dead horse here…If your having issues with the Garmin pole in down and forward just wait till you fool around with perspective mode. The Garmin pole is a joke

Another tip is to carry an Allen wrench with you. That silver bolt that holds the transducer to the mount will come loose over time going back and forth between modes.

Gary wrote:

Like ranger said it’s all about how the transducer is positioned. Great explanation in that post. Everyone who has a livescope/panoptics or live target or humminbird version coming out should read his post.

It doesnt matter if the transducer is for livescope, panoptics, live target or one that mounts on a boat. If it’s not mounted right and/or pointing in the proper direction your gonna have issues.

A pole and mount are responsible for how a livescope or panoptic transducer is mounted/positioned. So if your pole and/or mount is garbage then…it’s always going to be a struggle between is it my settings or is it my transducer not positioned correctly.

Long story short—get a proper mount if you don’t have one, and get rid of that Garmin pole or modify it so you can make the slight adjustments per Rangers post.

Is there an aftermarket pole/mount setup that you recommend?

I was checking out the Summit after watching a Jay Siemens video but all sold out so next ice seasons purchase.

Ben,

All of us in this forum have better engineering skills then the Garmin pole guy.

2 redneck engineering options that I’ve done because I couldn’t find an aftermarket pole at the time.

1. Basic $10 dollar mod to the joke pole. Get a bullseye level, tape, and 4 eyebolt screws(3” to 6”). Get creative on length of screws.

Step 1. Glue the bullseye level on the Garmin W base.

Step 2. Stop the pole wobble. The pole wobbles all over because there is a 1/4 gap between the poles and the Garmin W base. I just unscrewed the poles and wrapped masking tape 7-8 times around the the top of the pole that the Garmin W goes on top of. Again get creative to stop the pole wiggle. Simple masking tape solved it for me.

Step 3. Screw the eyebolts in the 4 predrilled holes that are already on that sweet Garmin W base. Level if needed on the ice.

Step 4. Celebrate and apply for the Garmin pole design team.

2. A DIY pole. You can’t do worse then the joke pole so get creative. The summit mount is just a telescopic pole with a tripod base.

I just had one of those smaller telescoping painter poles in the garage. I mounted the transducer to the pole. I had an old camera tripod that the painter pole went through. I glued a bullseye level on top of the pole. Made a free redneck livescope pole that actually worked great.

My wonderful daughter somehow found a summit pole mount for me. Only mod I made was to glue a bullseye level on the top of the pole.

Good evening all. Like Gary said the engineering of products made are sub par at best. Like he stated, get creative and get the slop out of whatever you are using to get it straight. I use a level like I stated in my other post and make sure I am golden before dropping it in the water. I was thinking about this on the way home from work tonight. I use my panoptix setup on both hard and soft water. Think about it for a second everyone. When we ice fish, we are video game fishing (no matter what you use for electronics) especially with panoptix and livescope. Make sure whatever you are using for electronics you are as perpendicular to the water as you can be and your settings for GAIN ADJUSTMENTS will be much easier for you to see your baits. When SOFT WATER comes again I will be taking my Garmin Panoptix ice bundle and mounting it on my trolling motor. I love to video game fish right over a fishes noggin. There is nothing better (just like ice fishing, right ?) than drop shotting. It puts fish in the boat, no matter what flavor fish you like. My panoptix set-up on the trolling motor is pretty easy to get perpendicular because it toggles the transducer head to get it straight. The question I have for all of you is, how many of you check your trolling motor to see if it is perpendicular to soft water whatever you use for electronics mounted on it. I am thinking a lot of you haven’t. I hear it all the time from people that tell me they can’t see there jig in the front of the boat . The reason why is there trolling motor isn’t perpendicular to the water. So make sure you check all your set-ups, both hard and soft water, no matter what you have for electronics. I have shimmed lots of transducers to get them straight on trolling motors so they read properly. Just some food for thought and my 2 cents.

Gary wrote:

Ben,

All of us in this forum have better engineering skills then the Garmin pole guy.

2 redneck engineering options that I’ve done because I couldn’t find an aftermarket pole at the time.

1. Basic $10 dollar mod to the joke pole. Get a bullseye level, tape, and 4 eyebolt screws(3” to 6”). Get creative on length of screws.

Step 1. Glue the bullseye level on the Garmin W base.

Step 2. Stop the pole wobble. The pole wobbles all over because there is a 1/4 gap between the poles and the Garmin W base. I just unscrewed the poles and wrapped masking tape 7-8 times around the the top of the pole that the Garmin W goes on top of. Again get creative to stop the pole wiggle. Simple masking tape solved it for me.

Step 3. Screw the eyebolts in the 4 predrilled holes that are already on that sweet Garmin W base. Level if needed on the ice.

Step 4. Celebrate and apply for the Garmin pole design team.

2. A DIY pole. You can’t do worse then the joke pole so get creative. The summit mount is just a telescopic pole with a tripod base.

I just had one of those smaller telescoping painter poles in the garage. I mounted the transducer to the pole. I had an old camera tripod that the painter pole went through. I glued a bullseye level on top of the pole. Made a free redneck livescope pole that actually worked great.

My wonderful daughter somehow found a summit pole mount for me. Only mod I made was to glue a bullseye level on the top of the pole.

Awesome!!!! Thanks!

I’ll definitely do that.

Ben,

I forgot to mention that I ground the tips of the eyebolts smooth on the $10 dollar mod. Was paranoid those sharp points would damage my transducer cable.

Gary,
Could you post a couple pics of your setup please?

The Summit Fishing extendable transducer pole is the 2nd most important part to replace for those who bought the Ice Bundles (after replacing the battery with a Lithium)

Most important thing is…..
Dont forget the transducer pole at home!

Joe, this one?

Transducer Pole With Quick Disconnect Transducer Mount

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Joe, this one?

<div class=”ido-oembed-wrap”>Transducer Pole With Quick Disconnect Transducer Mount</div>

yep! I have that one (the 60″ model so I can use it off the side of my boat in the summer) I also have their Perspective removable mount for it. It’s very slick!

I purchased the full kit which includes the handle and tripod base – https://summitfishingequipment.com/collections/transducer-poles-arms-and-ice-mounts/products/transducer-pole-and-ice-mount-combo

Thanks Joe.
Just ordered it.

take an extra few minutes thinking through the installation of the tripod pole pieces, lots of folks get confused and the instructions are terrible…you might get turned off by the look and feel of the 3d printed parts, but they are warranted for life and the Summit guys have great customer service…

That’s the one I have as well. Great value considering Garmin sells just the perspective mount alone for @$90.

X2 great customer service. They actually FaceTimed me to demonstrate something.

Once you use perspective mode you’ll quickly realize why you need a tripod mount.

I’m shifting the thread a bit but, Is the 18.1 software update the latest?

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I’m shifting the thread a bit but, Is the 18.1 software update the latest?

Most current software for the 93sv is vers. 15.10

For the livescope I think it’s 2.54.

Latest upgrade seemed to help clear up some ghost image issues for me.