Lowrance Elite 5TI problems

This is a new unit for me (came with the used PA I bought)...about 1 1/2 years old. I have updated the software. Despite playing with every conceivable setting...and talking to Lowrance customer service for almost 2 hours...I cannot consistently see my jig. I am fishing in fresh water any here from 25 to 200 ft. At times I will see it in shallower depths but then it will disappear from the screen and I can't get it back. Lowrance has offered me a discount on a replacement unit, but it feels a little like throwing good money after bad. From what I can see, I have a Lowrance 83/200khx transducer. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear. Happy to take this off-line. Thanks!

Craig
Traverse City, MI

When you are attempting to see a bait or in this case, a jig on your Lowrance fish finder. The reason most of the time you may see it for a short period or not at all is that the bait is not in the cone angle to be seen.

It is imperative that the bait be in the cone angle or the "ping" of sound from the transducer must hit the bait to get a return that can be drawn on your screen. This means you can not be drifting at all. I mean "no movement" of the ducer from the fall of the bait.

This is a rather small area. For example, on the traditional sonar screen or what Lowrance calls it's "Broadband Sonar" screen, there is a formula to figure out how much area on the bottom the sonar is covering. If you take the depth and divide that by 5 and take that sum and multiply by 2 then you will have how many feet of the bottom you are seeing on your screen. Example, if you are in 20 feet of water, take 20 divided by 5 equals 4 times 2 equals 8. This means in 20 feet of water you are seeing an area 8 feet across the circle of coverage. I say "circle" because the 83 or 200 kilohertz sound wave goes out from the transducer and is in the shape of a circle. Like a flashlight beam, the deeper it gets the larger the coverage but the less you see. The larger the khz number, the better the detail but the sooner the sound gets absorbed by the water and you won't get a return from the bottom. This means that 200 is best for detail but only gets bottom lock down to about 80 feet or so. Then the return is sketchy at best. A quick change in the kilohertz to 83 and you will have bottom lock again. 200 is best for shallower water and 83 is better for deeper water.

If you drop your bait along side the transducer, it must stay in the cone to be seen on the unit. If you are drifting at all, then you will loose the signal and not see your bait on the screen. In 100 feet of water you are only seeing 20 feet of the bottom so you need to keep your bait right under the transducer all the way to the bottom to see it on your Lowrance unit.