Lowrance X-510c

[abcdef]

I purchased a Lowrance X-510c fish finder in April 2009 shortly after buying my new boat. I bought it at Cabelas in Rogers,MN. I have never been able to mark fish on it. I have tried everything from using the auto sensitvity to adjusting the sensitivity manually, to adjusting the chart and ping speed, to adjusting the noise rejection and suface clarity. All to not being able to mark fish(fish arches). I can urn the fish ID on and it shows the little fish icon like crazy(if i am in 20 fow, the icon is all over in 9-11 fow, in 40 fow , the icon is all over in 18-22 fow). I have even tried a new transducer. I get a solid bottom depth line, but no fish.

I do not know what I did with the receipt. I know that Lowrance discontinued this paticular unit(X-510c). Also, it was the floor model.

My questions are:

1. What else could I try to resolve this issue?

2. How is Lowrance with customer support?

3. Has anyone else had this problem?

4. Am I wasting my time trying to solve this? Like I said,"I purchased this unit in April 2009", and had spent all of last season (seven months) trying to resolve this problem.

Any suggestions or resolutions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kris

[PerchJerker]

Please don't be offended by my question, but do you know how to read a sonar display? You're not necessarily going to get perfect fish arches, expecially from small fish. If you're not sure what you're seeing, the best way to learn is to spend a little time in a boat with someone who knows how to read a sonar screen.

Here's a few things you can try .....

Settings on the unit -- The first thing you should do is use the menu option to restore the factory default settings. Then turn your surface clarity and noise rejection settings on, and have them at the lowest level. Put your chart speed on high (I think there's only 5 settings in the x510c) and have your ping speed around 2/3 or 3/4 of the way to max. After that, don't mess with those settings until it is time to fine tune the unit.

Now turn your sensitivity and maybe even your colorline up until you start to clutter the display, then back them down slightly to just barely clean up the display. You should be marking fish and baitfish at these settings, although not necessarily perfect fish arches.

Installation adjustments ---- If you're still not marking fish, there's 2 installation items that could be causing the problem. The first is the transducer height and angle, you need it to me a bit below the hull of your boat, and you want it as horizontal to the bottom as possible. If you're not marking fish try adjusing the angle, a click or two at a time, and see if you can improve the display. Another item to consider is electrical interference --- for testing purposes you could try moving your transducer cable and the power cable for your 510c away from each other, and all other wiring, to see if that cleans it up for you.

Good luck getting it figured out.

[BLACKJACK]

Good post Perchjerker!!!

I also purchased the 510c last year on close-out from Cabela's and have never really been satisfied with it, been wishing that I would have saved my money and invested in something with GPS and a bigger screen. I also can't see the fish arches, I will try your tips. At this point it just gives me the depth...

[mrjigger]

I have the 510c and absolutely love it. I had trouble with it when I first bought it reading the depth in weeds, but a new ducer solved that problem.

I agree with perchjerker, spend sometime adjusting the unit/transducer and get a little time on the water. I think the angle on the unit plays a big part in how the graph displays fish. If it is angled too high or low the "arches" won't look very good.

But rarely do you get perfect arches unless the beam of the ducer goes right over a fish.

But I love mine. My other graph is a lowrance LCX-20C and getting the 510c was a huge improvement on picture quality, which improved the ability to see fish. I now just use the 20C as a GPS.