I just bought a Skeeter ZX225 when I came home from Iraq. The boat came rigged with a 332c (great), A 1440 flasher, And a 520c all lowrance.

The problem is the 520 does not give a very good read off the bottom and fish echos / stucture.  the 332 works great has anyone had any problems from a 520c and does anyone have suggestions before I send it back?

Thanks a bunch!!

Welcome aboard!

Some of our members should be able to help. Keep checking back on this thread.

Welcome Hammer and a big THANK YOU for going over and defending our country!  

There are some great guys on here that will help you with your question.  I am not the best boat guy on this board but it may be the way or how your transducer was installed?  Is it through the hull or a transom/skimmer type?  

I do know the through the hull transducers can be a little particular about how they were installed.  I guess they have to be almost perfectly flush - no air bubbles etc.  My flasher on the dash is through the hull and it won't work right unless I have an inch or so of water down there.  Then it 'seals up' and works close to right??  

If its a skimmer - sometimes they get knocked around and just need to be readjusted - very easy fix.

I was trying to buy a 520 C all last week and couldn't find a new one.  Gander Mtn told me they were having some issues on getting some certain components into the U.S.??  anyway - I have heard great things about these units.  

Either way, I hope it's an easy fix!  

Nice work on the new SKEETER!

MODS - perhaps we can get this thread over to boats and out of tackle for this military man?    

Hydrillagorilla,

It is a skimmer type transducer; It does not appear to be out of whack.

I will try to clear up the specific problem I am having. The graph does not show as much detail as the 332c, I have owned 2 other boats a 1986 stratos, and a 70 something waco (early bass tracker knock off kind of a redneck tracker of sorts). I have always used Lowrance products but never had one that just does not read worth a flip.

I have tried the obvious manual reset etc...  I have contacted lowrance and they suggest sending it in, I HAVE TO FISH!!! I also have a tournament on Lake Barkley this Saturday.

Can any one give me a comparison between the two models if they own them or know some one that does?

What about going to all manual settings? I don't know the book for this finder is about 200 pages and nothing seems to help it acts like it is getting some electrical noise interference. I have shut down all electrics and it still acts like a $99 deep finder.

Thanks for the insight thus far. What a great site!

Welcome home, welcome aboard, and if this is the hammer that used to be on here as Basshammer, welcome back.

Cheers,

GK

Do you operate all at the same time?

What is the power rating of each.

Some times, its as simple as bleed over from another unit.

Lots of things can cause echo loss.

Too much gain or sensitivity.

Matt.

So first, turn off your 332 and flasher.  I often find cross-talk an issue.  If that clears it up, then change the ping rate on your 520 to something else, like 75.

Still no go?  Then turn off everything "auto", set your sensitivity to 85 and your grayline to 90 for starters.  The deeper you are, the higher your sensitivity and vice-versa.  

Also, if you're really shallow and getting depths of like 800 ft, then set your ping rate at it's lowest setting.

Thanks a bunch!!!! Glen you hit it on the head the ping speed was the ticket and now it is reading like a lowrance should!!