Best Gt54 Settings for Sidevu / Side Imaging ?!? How to tune your transducer!! 

Thank you for the support!! I’ll keep them coming!

Thank you very much! I am glad you enjoy my videos. Those videos will definitely be coming soon!

Stay tuned as I will definitely be making those videos!

Thank you!

I don't see the 1120 kHz on my 93

@@joshfrancis6328 you have the gt56? Or gt54

@@DoubleDigitAngler GT54uhd-TM

@@joshfrancis6328 maybe the reason why. I have the gt56

@@DoubleDigitAngler I says best GT54 set up not 56 lol

Much appreciated! Thank you!

Hey Randy, shoot me a message on my Facebook page, id be interested to see how that class was run

The 70’ range I am talking about in this video is range from the center line, or out to the sides of the boat. With these settings, you will only be able to use them to about 40-45’ of water. That is where the 1120khz setting starts to loose strength (depending on water clarity and harness of the bottom etc) For those depth you mention you will need to switch over to the 455khz setting and re adjust brightness and contrast from there using the same tips in this video.

Thank you! It should be there?? I didn’t do anything special to display it. Are you maybe just looking at demo mode? If so that’s the cause

Hey Andy if I understand what you are saying, My first guess would be that your range is still on auto so it is changes depending on depth of water. If you go in and set the range manually as I show, it should stay locked in. That is unless you have something else goofy going on like a zoom etc

It’s mounted to the transom

Sure thing!! Take a look at one of my first videos. I think it’s called “how to make your screen bigger for free” or “how to auto hide menu”

@@MGMarineTech my man! I just got a 93SV UHD GT54. Upgraded from my Helix 7 G2 SI. Going to be a massive upgrade for my kayak this season and I’ll be one step closer to a livescope for next ice fishing season!

I don’t 100% know this to be honest, but I would imagine they would both look the same. Fish have air bladders or swim bladders and that’s a lot of what shows up on the sonar.

@@MGMarineTech some of us believe that the scaled have a hard return while the skin have a soft return Like a reddish bluish or purple color, sometimes the big ones will have yellow in there head, that’s what Iv seemed to find, just looking for some backup, lol maybe I’ll call Garmin and see what they say, thanks again for all you do, has helped me a ton on these videos, keep them coming!!!

@@ClearviewOutdoors yeah I could see where a scaled fish might return slightly brighter but like I said I’ve heard/read that the sonar is mostly picking up the swim bladder?? I could be totally wrong on that lol If you do hear from them please let me know

Unfortunately they are decent at that job. These settings will definitely help depending on the conditions. But maybe try the following.. Because the objects you are looking for a relatively large and you need to cover a lot of water quickly and you don’t necessarily need the best image possible, I would suggest you switch over to 455 as that will give you a stronger signal, and allow you to increase the range more..(try 100 depending on your depth) You will have to adjust brightness and contrast to taste and condition (lower them from these settings) You may also find speeding the scroll speed up from auto will help to “stretch” returns making them easier to see. Hopefully this will help you guys

That’s where the side imaging beam originates from.

@@MGMarineTech in your video it is narrow, as it has been on my unit until recently as it now shows as much wider. Any idea what may have caused the change?

@@dansmullen4092 it will be narrower when you have a wider range like 100’ If you “zoom” in and have say 50’ range it will dipsplay much bigger

You don’t have to have a memory card for the unit to operate. You just won’t have certain features such as QuickDraw contours or the ability to use ActiveCaptain or screen shots. If you do get a card. You need a 32gb or less micro sd and class 10 speed is recommended

@@MGMarineTech thanks very much.

No, some of them will be different, but the principles still apply.

It would depend how fast you are going and how quick you have the fish finder speed set at. You can click on the object you are wondering how far away it is. See a rock pile, touch it and it will say were it’s at and you can set a waypoint.

Hey Justin, It’s in the works. I’ll also be doing it for different transducers

56 is the best of the best

So in general, the higher the khz the more detailed the return will be. The down side is that, the higher the kHz the less water it can penetrate. Both down and to the sides. This is why I only use 1120khz on the gt54 in water upto about 40-50’ deep. For deeper water you will most likely need to switch to 455. On the other hand if you are in shallow water but want to scan a large area say 70-100’ to each side + you can accomplish this by running 455 as it will be able to penetrate more water to the sides, but you will loose detail. So it really depends on what you are trying to do and the depth of water you are in. 95% of the time I used 1120khz on the gt54

are you in simulator mode?

On 1120 and in 20’ you shouldn’t have any issue out to about 70’ to the sides. What do you have the range on? Might very well be a bad transducer. Send me some pictures to mgmarinetech@gmail.com

@@MGMarineTech I had range between 40 to 70 and nothing. I talked to garmin and they sent new transducer out yesterday. They think it’s bad as well.

I would think the cover might interfere slightly

Sounds like your screen isn’t recognizing the 54 as a 54. What does it say in the bottom left corner? Manually go in and select it as a gt54 and you should be good

Variable

The best fix is a garmin force, or to move the transducer to the transom. Also if you have a onboard charger make sure it’s completely disconnected from the battery that powers the unit

Hi Charles! Well you have a couple of things going against you in your scenario. Side imaging produces the best picture when you are moving at a consistent speed around 1-5 mph. You also want the transducer to be going the same direction as the boat, so if you are drifting sideways so will your transducer. Long story short your side imaging most likely won’t produce a image that makes much sense at all while drifting sideways

@@MGMarineTech Thank you sir! Guess I will just have to wait and see. Really surprised no one, that I have seen, has ask this questions before... I fished with a guide last week and he used it to see fish while on anchor. That was pretty interesting.

@@charlesfoster8814 oh it can be done for sure, you just have to know what to look for when stationary, At that point you are relying on the fish to swim through the cone. So the side imaging for the most part will be the streaks as the same “structure” is in the cone all the time unless the boat moves side to side or something swims through the cone. You can then use that info to determine if a fish swam through or whatnot, Hard to explain.

When you go into the full screen side imaging it should be there, if not I believe it’s in the overlays section of the menu

It’s a bad transducer, call garmin they should replace it .

@@MGMarineTech thank you! I have never had it run at 1120, and when I switched I noticed it.

​@@travismelanson did Garmin replace your transducer?

@@p3teytran I never contacted them. Did it happen to you?

@@travismelanson no but I bought a used boat with a garmin 93sv and I haven't tried out that function yet so just wanted to be prepared in case it happened to me.

Knock on wood I’ve not had that issue… and run 1120 85% of the time. Is the transducer on the transom or trolling motor ?

For down imaging?

@@MGMarineTech for side imaging

@@asher439 oh I miss read your comment. I have a gt56 side imaging video out. It’s been out for 3-4 months now

Ideally you want it level when the boat is at scanning speeds. Both bow to stern and port to starboard. But a couple of degrees off one way or the other won’t hurt anything. I eyeball mine every time I go out.

@@MGMarineTech ok I just installed mine yesterday on my 14ft and was trying to get my picture dialed in. I had the bottom of my transducer set about 1/4" below the boat and in the same plane as the bottom. Next time out I'll raise the back one click on the mount and try your settings on the unit. I just wasn't getting the detail that you have. My lake is relatively shallow as well so that may be part of it. I'm scanning around 10ft of depth with a lot of weeds. I wasn't seeing any of the fallen timber under the water line.

@@00powerstrokin weeds if they are thick can cover up alot of structure etc making it almost impossible for the unit to see the bottom if that makes sense

@@MGMarineTech yes that makes sense. I went out tonight and clicked the transducer up a notch and used your setting. My image is much clearer now. Thanks

That is from the surface of the water to the bottom straight down like a column

Take a peak at my “combos” video. It will walk you through how to make custom combos

@@MGMarineTech Thanks, i'll check it out! :)

Hi josh. It shows exactly where and how to change it in the video. At about the 2:45 mark.. You can’t be in “simulation” mode. The option to change it won’t be there in sim mode

No lower frequency will require lower contrast and brightness depending the depth and range

@@MGMarineTech when would you suggest using the 455 vs the higher frequency? Obviously for more range?

@@BamaBassCatcher99 yes you got it! There are really 2 situations where you lower frequency. 1 you are too deep for the higher frequency to penetrate and provide a good return. (45’ + ish) 2 you want to scan a more water and run a much wider range. Typically when you are first scouting a area to get dialed in on the major components and detail isn’t crucial. Then once you find areas you can go back over with 1120 and a tighter range for higher detail.

Yes that’s what this video was done with

126, but the settings work the same on the 9”

Okay awesome, Thank you!

It’s a 126 ultra. It’s a 12” screen Resolution is is 1280 x 800 pixels

No wonder, my echo map uhd 94sv can show nothing like this clear, it is like a garbage

@@paulwave1560 no that’s not the case. There’s something else going on. The difference is noticeable, but you should still have very good side imaging even with the 9” screens

I posted some images from my garmin and some questions here www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=1145766

@@paulwave1560 message me on my Instagram page. I’d be happy to help. Just from the little bit I’ve read, it seems others have thought there is interference. Do you have a on. Lars charger by chance?