2007 ICAST Product Review
By Don Iovino
Western Staff Writer
Nov/Dec '07 Issue
The folks at Lowrance and Navionics never cease to amaze me. Every year, they bring new products to ICAST that blow me away and 2007 was no exception.
You're never going to be a versatile angler unless you really learn to utilize your electronics to their fullest capabilities. Most guys are content to turn them on, punch the "auto" button, and go from there. Not me. I think it's a shame that someone would buy an advanced unit and then not learn how to use it.
These units really are becoming easier to operate. With Hot Maps Platinum for US inland waters, you can go to any new lake, launch the boat and you're ready to go. It's functional and fascinating, with 3-D overlays for over 300 top US tournament lakes and high detail charting for over 10,000 North American lakes. If you've resisted technology so far, it's time to enter the 21st century.
Lowrance Settings Updates For Your X27 or X28 In Shallow Water and Grass
Even though the Lowrance units are pretty much "plug and play," there are still some glitches on occasion. Here’s a quick fix for the problem you may have encountered in shallow water with your X27 or X28 unit. Shallow cover may confuse the hyper-sensitive computer brain and give back nonsense readings. To correct that, take the following steps:
First, press MENU, scroll to AUTO SENSITIVITY, press the Right Arrow to take OFF x in Auto Sensitivity, scroll up to SENSITIVITY and press ENTER. A Sensitivity Control Bar appears. Set it between 50% and 60% by pressing UP and DOWN Arrows to increase or decrease percentages. This should help fix the problem for now.
Lowrance engineers are working on this problem and an Update Chip should be available soon. I have been getting lots of questions about having to go to pages and scroll to Sonar from Map every time you turn off your unit. There is no setting to fix this. Unfortunately, a company has a patent on this program which requires us to always return to the original setting that unit was on when you turned it off. Just pull the pages and scroll to Sonar – it doesn't take more than a few seconds and you're done.
Cleaning your Lowrance Graphs
All of the new Lowrance units that have the anti-glare filter must be cleaned properly. Improper cleaning of your unit screen can result in damage to the anti-glare filter. This type of damage is not covered by the warranty so don't make a costly mistake.
Tom Phillips has come up with the proper cleaner and cloth. You can reach him at (951) 371-3138 or call me at (818) 848-6180. The price for both the cleaner (four ounce bottle) and the cloth is $6.00 plus shipping, a small price to pay for a clean meter.
Navionics New Premium Hot Maps
Many fishermen still like to use hand-held maps. Even if you have the latest and greatest electronics on your boat, it wouldn't be a fishing tournament without someone spreading a topo map on the table in the hotel room to mark up spots or show something to a friend.
The new Navionics Hot Maps are high-definition fishing maps and are as good as a map can get. They are very easy to read and show the water surface in acres and square miles, along with the maximum depth, elevation, shoreline and lake length in miles.
Navionics maps are waterproof, tear proof, grease proof and they float! They’re great to take with you when you are going to a new body of water. To order these maps, call Navionics at 800-848-5896.