Lowrance LMS-522 HELP!!!!!

[PTocko]

I just purchased this unit new this past spring - have used maybe 4 or 5 times. My problem is I seem to be losing bottom lock a lot - I would say more than 50% of the time. My dealer (Cabelas) installed - it works great at speed so it is not a cavitation issue. I've been pulling my hair out checking the wiring, going through the manual (which I have to admit is pretty lame when it comes to the trouble shooting section and I am a big Lowrance fan). Finally I called Cabelas as I was / am about ready to bring the unit in to be looked at and the guy asked me the following questions - is it occuring in shallow water (8 feet or less)? Is the water typically less clear? Is the bottom weedy or mucky? My answer was yes to all of the above. He then told me that this "problem" is quite common with a higher power unit like the 522. I tried to be patient and professional (I believe I was both but I do have a sarcastic streak) but I kind of asked him if it doesn't work in those conditions - when it is shallow and I can't see the bottom - what is the point of having it. Set the whole "seeing" fish function aside - I want to know if I may be close to hitting the bottom with my boat / motor. He did inform me that there is a software update from Lowrance that is supposed to address this issue - I just installed this morning. My questions are -

1) Is this really a "known" problem? Are there other things I should be doing? I'm thinking ping speed and / or sensitivity adjustments but advice would be helpful

2) Anyone install 2.3.0 and did it help?

3) Anything else I should be checking - I have clean and adjusted the transducer (several times) but if I am missing something, let me know.

Any suggestions would be helpful - as I said above, I am a big fan of Lowrance and I love the unit otherwise. But if I can't get the above addressed it is a little useless for where I fish. Thanks for the help - I do appreciate it. Paul

[JimBuck]

Update on my situation. I installed the update and seem to be getting less bottom signal fading as what was happening previous to the update. I am still getting some flashing here and there.....could be transducer?

[Fishinguy40]

A quick update to this.

I had my boat out earlier this week on a shallow, weedy lake. The sonar did lose bottom quite often but was not as bad as it was before I downloaded the latest Rev software. The unit seemed to aquire bottom quicker after losing signal and definetly performed better in deeper parts of the lake where it wasn't as weedy. The problem predominatly ocurred in 5-7 feet of water where the weeds were thick.

[luv2hunt]

update on my 522. did put the update in and that really helped shallow water read. put still had quirky operation with GPS sat.lock. brought the unit back to the store(left it in boat so we could test it the parking lot)it would'nt lock on within 3 minutes, so they brought another 522 out that had'nt been powered up since the factory and it had Sat. lock within 1 1/2 minutes and seemed to have higher signal strength and locked on to more Sats. brought the new one home, loaded the update, and even in the garage it locks up in less than 1 minute!! 1st unit could'nt pick up one Sat. inside garage! Very happy now! cant wait till Sunday to hit the big pond.

[moviking]

If you contiue to have problems locking up on sat. try turning off the wass option, that will usually help. I have a 332c and it works great

[LMITOUT]

I believe the biggest reason for losing bottom in shallow water is having the sensitivity too high. I run the sensitivity in manual all the time and make adjustments depending on how deep or shallow of water I'm in.

Having the sensitivity too high in shallow water is like having the volume cranked up and standing right beside the speaker. There is just too much information coming back to the unit to handle it and begins flashing. It can't find that solid return signal which represents the bottom because it's getting reflections from weeds, etc up higher which come and go out of the sonar cone as you move. If in shallow water I may turn it down to 40-60%. Out in deeper (10+ft) I'll turn it up to 70-90% depending on the water clarity, etc.

[JimBuck]

Hey guys, I have been experiencing issues with my 522i losing my jig in 25+ FOW. Sensitivity is set to 100%, scroll speed 100%, Noise Rejection Off etc. I have installed the latest update if that helps. Any advice is appreciated as it works flawlessly under 25 ft. but anything over and I can't find the jig.

Ideas?

[JWB475]

I had a similar problem in the boat this summer with my 522 on the bow (it would lose bottom and also lose signal on the GPS), turned out the voltage was dropping too much. I wound up having to run heavier guage wiring to the unit and that took care of the problem...

What kind of battery are you using? You can have the overlay data show the voltage, if you notice a drop at the same time you lose bottom that might be the problem.

Otherwise it could also be a bad transducer...

[harvey lee]

I believe the biggest reason for losing bottom in shallow water is having the sensitivity too high. I run the sensitivity in manual all the time and make adjustments depending on how deep or shallow of water I'm in.

Having the sensitivity too high in shallow water is like having the volume cranked up and standing right beside the speaker. There is just too much information coming back to the unit to handle it and begins flashing. It can't find that solid return signal which represents the bottom because it's getting reflections from weeds, etc up higher which come and go out of the sonar cone as you move. If in shallow water I may turn it down to 40-60%. Out in deeper (10+ft) I'll turn it up to 70-90% depending on the water clarity, etc.

In my unit, the program was faulty. I tried about everything on earth and it didn't help.

After installing the new program, shes like new and works in every depth.

Simply fix with the new program for me. Nothing else would fix it as I tried everything Lowrance suggested.

[gregg52]

i have a 520 whats the difference in the 2 ???/

other than both appear to be junk (exspensive junk)

i havnt had any troulbe with the gps..do i have that to look foward to

[shamrock7]

They are the same except the 22 has an internal GPS antenna rather than the external antenna that is required on the 520. THey are good units. I have them in all my rental boats and have had no issues. Except when customers start "pushing button" that they shouldn't.

[harvey lee]

When it works, I like the unit. The 5" screen is not the greatest with both the GPS and the fish finder. It a bit small.

That why I went with the 10" screen on the new Bird. yes, it costs more but I feel I will really like it.

[jvm1]

I've had the same problem for 2 years now, this unit is bogus, reads rock piles great but the minute you get in muddy bottoms you have no freaking idea how deep you are.

i'm reinstalling my old depthfinder next to this one now. The lowrance will be just a gps unit from now on. the cheap old one read the bottom every single time.

Not buying any more lowrance products though, too much money for the [PoorWordUsage] work they do.

[walleyemaniac]

I don't know where you guys are getting your update, but the latest is 2.5.0 (dated 7/29/09) not 2.3.0. I updated mine and it took care of my loosing bottom issues. I must be the only one who was seccessful with this update I guess, alot of people here lately with the same issue.

You need to read thru the changes when you download it as it adds to some of the menu options to set the unit for the type of water and depth you are running in.

[delcecchi]

And it seems to me that there must have been a batch of bad transducers since my second one with the blue connector seems to be going bad.

For sure, time to update.

[3andadog]

Delcecchi is right. I'm on my 3rd transducer with the blue connectors. They go bad over the winter in cold conditions. But sometimes they last - it's hit or miss I guess. I just lose lock on bottom in deeper water or at speed. I have a 332C and have used older software and newer so I know that is not an issue.

The transducers just suck.