I'm looking for a fishfinder for the front of my boat. Most likely I will get the Elite 4X DSI or Elite 4X. My question is if the DSI model is always in DSI mode or can I change it to traditional sonar?  I have a Lowrance HDS 7 with structurescan for the dash and I find that structure scan is great for structure but I like traditional sonar for seeing fish better. One other question is do I have to turn the dash unit completely off when running the front fishfinder or can I just have it in chartplotter so I can set waypoints but not interfer with the front sonar.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Gary

Elite 4 is always in DSI mode.

Elite 4 is always in DSI mode.

 

Yep

I'm looking for a fishfinder for the front of my boat. Most likely I will get the Elite 4X DSI or Elite 4X. My question is if the DSI model is always in DSI mode or can I change it to traditional sonar?  I have a Lowrance HDS 7 with structurescan for the dash and I find that structure scan is great for structure but I like traditional sonar for seeing fish better. One other question is do I have to turn the dash unit completely off when running the front fishfinder or can I just have it in chartplotter so I can set waypoints but not interfer with the front sonar.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Gary

 

Look at the Elite 7 HDI if you want a unit that has both 2D sonar and downscan.  Regarding interference, anytime you have two transducers running at the same frequency you will have some crosstalk between units but it is usually just cosmetic.  You can select Stop Sonar (cuts power to your transducer) on your dash unit when moving up front to fish.  Do note that downscan operates at 455/800 kHz and 2D sonar at 83/200 kHz, so running downscan and 2D sonar at the same time will not cause any interference.