Lowrance HDS-5X Operating Manual

HDS-5x

Fish Finding Sonar

Operation manual

Lowrance® and Navico® are registered trademarks of Navico.

Navionics® is a registered trademark of Navionics, Inc.

NMEA 2000® is a registered trademark of the National Marine Electronics Association.

Navico may nd it necessary to change or end our policies, regulations and special offers at any time. We reserve the right to do so without notice. All features and specications subject to change without notice.

Contents

Table of contents

Introduction ....................................................................................... 3

Getting Started ................................................................................. 5

Turning on the Unit ..................................................................................... 5

Setup wizard ..............................................................................................5

Keypad ....................................................................................................... 5

Backlight .................................................................................................... 5

Cursor ........................................................................................................ 5

Language ................................................................................................... 6

Menus ........................................................................................................ 6

Selecting a Fishing Mode .......................................................................... 7

Entering Letters in Text Boxes ................................................................... 7

Restore Defaults ........................................................................................ 8

Pages ................................................................................................. 9

Pages Screen ............................................................................................9

Data Overlay ............................................................................................ 10

Conguration menu ................................................................................. 13

Sonar Page .............................................................................................. 14

Radar Page (optional) .............................................................................. 15

Info Page .................................................................................................. 15

Utilities ..................................................................................................... 20

Displaying Combo Pages ........................................................................ 21

Sonar Operation ............................................................................ 24

Viewing Sonar History .............................................................................24

Sonar Menu ............................................................................................. 25

Sonar Options .......................................................................................... 28

Palette ...................................................................................................... 29

Measure Distance .................................................................................... 31

Contents

Radar Operation (optional) ........................................................... 33

Radar menu .............................................................................................34

Adjust menu ............................................................................................. 34

Guard Zones ............................................................................................ 39

Settings Menu ................................................................................. 41

Sonar Settings ......................................................................................... 45

Manual Mode ........................................................................................... 46

Fishing Modes ......................................................................................... 47

Installation Menu ...................................................................................... 48

Keel Offset ............................................................................................... 48

Radar Settings Menu (optional) ............................................................... 52

Fuel .......................................................................................................... 63

Alarms ...................................................................................................... 67

Units ......................................................................................................... 68

Network .................................................................................................... 69

Vessels (only available if connected to AIS receiver) .............................. 75

Simulator .................................................................................................. 76

Specications: HDS-5x .................................................................. 77

Unit Care .......................................................................................... 78

Troubleshooting .............................................................................. 79

Index ................................................................................................. 85

Introduction

About this manual

Thank you for purchasing from Lowrance, the industry leader in marine technology. This manual documents how to adjust features and options in your display unit. The information in each section follows the same sequence as your display unit’s menus. If you would like information on how to get the most out of your unit, visit our web site, www.lowrance.com; click on the Support tab and select Tips and Tutorials.

Manual Conventions

When you are instructed to press a button in this manual, the button will be shown in all caps and bold text like — MENU, EXIT, ENTER, etc. If you are instructed to select an item from a menu, the item to be selected will be listed in bold like — Brightness, Key beeps, etc. For example: Press MENU, select Language and press ENTER.

Lowrance Customer Service

(800) 324-1356

Canada (800) 661-3983 or (905) 629-1614

Introduction

Lowrance HDS-5x Sonar

ZOUT: Zooms out the screen so you can see more of the water column

ZIN: Zooms in the screen, allowing you to get a closer look at desired returns

KEYPAD: used to move the cursor, scroll through menus, adjust features

and view sonar history

EXIT: cancels

entries, closes menus & windows;

ENTER: conrms menu selections

PAGES: opens Pages

menu; hold down the

Pages key to switch active panels when

viewing combo pages

MENU: opens context &

settings menus

FREQ: changes transducer frequency

LIGHT/POWER:

controls backlight

level & turns the unit on/off

Getting Started

Turning on the Unit

Press the POWER/LIGHT key to turn on the unit. To turn off the unit, press the POWER/LIGHT key, select Power Off and press ENTER.

Setup wizard

The Setup wizard will appear when unit is turned on

for the rst time. To choose your own settings, do not

run the setup wizard. To restart the Setup wizard, restore defaults.

Keypad

This unit’s keypad can be used in two ways. Pressing the arrow symbols on the keypad will move the cursor in the corresponding direction on the screen and allow you to scroll through menus.

Getting Started

Keypad

Backlight

Tap the LIGHT/POWER key to make adjustments to the backlight level and open the Backlight Menu. To turn on Night Mode from the menu, highlight Night Mode and press ENTER. Night mode optimizes the display for low light conditions.

Cursor

Use the unit’s keypad to move the cursor around the display, select onscreen objects, highlight data items and view sonar history. Press EXIT to remove the cursor from the screen.

Getting Started

Language

Selects language used for menus, text boxes and messages.

To select a language:

1. Press MENU twice.

2. Select System and press ENTER

3. Highlight Language and press ENTER.

4. Use the keypad to select a language and press ENTER.

Menus

This unit has a Settings menu, a Pages screen and several context menus. The Settings menu provides access to the settings menus for the main operation modes: Sonar and Radar. The Settings menu is accessed by pressing MENU twice.

The Pages screen allows you to select a page to be shown on the display. Utilities are also accessed from the Pages screen. Press the PAGES key to select a page.

Each page has its own context menu which allows you to access functions for that page. Context menus are accessible only when its corresponding page is displayed. The Sonar Menu, for example, will only be available when the Sonar Page is on the display. To access a context menu, select the desired page and press the MENU key.

Pages screen

Sonar menu

Radar menu

Settings

Closing Menus

Press the EXIT key to close a menu. Repeatedly pressing EXIT will close all menus, taking you back to the main screen.

Getting Started

Selecting a Fishing Mode

Fishing modes enhance the performance of your unit by providing preset packages

of sonar settings geared to specic shing conditions.

To select a shing mode:

1. Press MENU twice.

2. Select Sonar and press ENTER.

3. Highlight Fishing Mode and press ENTER.

4. Select the desired shing mode and press

ENTER.

Fishing

Mode

General Use ≤1,000 ft 50% Ping speed Bottom brown/ blue background

Shallow Water ≤ 60 ft 75% Ping speed bottom brown/white background

Fresh Water ≤ 400 ft 50% Ping speed bottom brown/white background

Deep Water ≥ 1,000 ft 50% Ping speed Deep Blue

Slow Trolling ≤ 400 ft 50% Ping speed Bottom brown/white background

Fast Trolling ≤ 400 ft Lower chart speed Bottom brown/white background

Clear Water ≤ 400 ft 50% Ping speed Bottom brown/white background

Ice Fishing ≤ 400 ft

Depth Settings Palette

Settings optimized to reduce interference from

other sonar units

Entering Letters in Text Boxes

This unit has some features and functions that may require you to enter data in a text box.

To enter data in a text box:

1. Highlight the text box and press ENTER. A keyboard will appear on the screen.

2. Use the keypad to highlight the rst character and press ENTER. Repeat

this step until all characters have been

entered.

3. Highlight OK and press ENTER.

Keypad button controls uppercase & lowercase

Keyboard window

Getting Started

Restore Defaults

The Restore Defaults command switches the unit back to the settings it had when you purchased it (default).

To Restore Defaults:

1. Press MENU twice.

2. Select System and press ENTER.

3. Highlight Restore Defaults and press ENTER.

4. Select each item you want to restore or delete and press ENTER.

5. Select OK and press ENTER.

Pages

With Sonar selected, unit will

display a full sonar screen

Combo

display options allows you to display a split screen

Page Icons

Sonar icon rotated to center of

page; has blue border indicating

it is the selected page option

Page icons

rotate around

the circular

Pages

Pages Screen

Consists of page icons that scroll horizontally around the Pages menu. To view the pages screen, press the PAGES key.

Selecting Pages

Pressing the keypad left or right will move the page icons around the menu. To select a page, move the desired page icon to the center of the screen.

When selected, the page name will be highlighted in blue at the top of a list of combo display options. Its icon, will be framed by a blue border below the list. To display the page, press ENTER.

NOTE: Hold down the PAGES key to switch active panels

when viewing combo pages.

Pages

Data Overlay

Data overlay is information you can display on top of the page screen, allowing you to customize each page with desired data.

Data Overlay menu

Every page option has its own Data Overlay menu. The menu allows you to edit, add or remove overlay data from the display. To access Data Overlay menu, select a page option and press MENU.

Edit Overlay menu

Accesses data overlay options for all the unit’s page screens.

To access Edit Overlay menu:

1. Select Edit data overlay from the Data overlay menu and press ENTER.

2. Press MENU. The Edit overlay menu will appear.

Edit Mode

When a gauge is added to the display it will be shown in edit mode. Analog and bar gauges are shaded in blue when they are in Edit Mode. Digital Gauges will be shown with a blue border.

Analog gauge in edit

mode

Digital gauge in edit mode

Pages

Move or Placing a Gauge

The Move gauge command allows you to move data overlay to any position on the screen. When you use the Place gauge command, the gauge will be locked in its current position.

To move/place a gauge:

1. Press the ENTER key when the gauge is in edit

mode. Four directional arrows will appear.

2. Use the keypad to move the gauge into the desired location.

3. Press ENTER to place the gauge.

Select Data

Used to select data that will be shown on the data overlay display. When selecting

data you rst will open a main data category and then choose data to be displayed

from the a data subcategory.

Type

Select data menu

Switches data overlay display between analog, digital and bar gauge formats, provided the format is appropriate for the selected data type.

To change the gauge type:

1. With the gauge in edit mode, press MENU.

2. Select Congure and press ENTER.

3. Select Type and press ENTER.

Time subcategory

Pages

Digital format

Size

Analog format

Selects the size of the data overlay display. Data overlay can be displayed in four sizes.

With the gauge in edit mode (shaded in blue) press the ZOOM OUT key to increase overlay size; press the ZOOM IN key to decrease overlay size.

Small digital gauge

Large analog gauge

Limits

Controls the number scale used on data overlay gauges and selects warning thresholds.

Changing the limits on an analog or bar gauge removes unnecessary numbers from the gauge, making them easier to read. Warnings help you stay within selected warning thresholds.

Limits are congured by inputting analog or bar gauge limits

in the Limits text boxes — minimum and maximum. Warnings thresholds are entered in the Low and High text boxes.

Conguration

Limits menu

Pages

Conguration menu

Allows you to Add/Remove sources and adjust Bezel, Caption

and Invert Text Settings. Other conguration menu options are

covered previously in the section.

To access the Conguration menu, highlight Conguration on the Edit Overlay menu and press ENTER.

Conguration Settings

Bezel

Caption Allows you to add/remove data label from gauge

Invert Text Changes appearance of data overlay text

Add Source

Displays the same type of data from different sources on the same analog gauge.

If, for example, you have multiple engines, you could select port engine RPM as your data type and then display starboard engine RPM using the Add source command.

Adds a bezel to the data overlay gauge, making it easier to see against certain backgrounds

Both data sources could be displayed simultaneously on an analog gauge with two needles; one dedicated to each source.

To add a source:

1. Select Add source from the Edit Overlay menu and press ENTER.

2. Highlight a category and press ENTER. A list of

subcategories will appear.

3. Select the desired subcategory and press

ENTER.

To remove add source data:

1. Highlight Remove source on the Edit overlay menu and press ENTER.

2. Select the source you want to remove and press ENTER.

Add Source menu

Showing RPM from

two engines.

Pages

Sonar Page

Displays the water column moving from right to left on your unit’s screen. On the right side of the screen, the Amplitude Scope bar previews echoes about to appear on the display.

The sonar page supports multiple splitscreen views and 14 color palette settings. Sonar display options are covered in more detail in the Sonar Operation section.

On the Sonar Page you can:

• Move the cursor to any location on the screen to get a depth reading

• Show sh echoes as sh symbols with sh depths

• Adjust Range to view only desired portion of the water column

To access the Sonar Page, use the keypad to highlight Sonar on the Pages menu and press ENTER.

Pages

Radar Page (optional)

Displays the PPI (Position Plan Indicator) screen, Range Rings and the cursor.

The PPI can be shifted to show more of a desired portion of the screen (Look Ahead, Center & Offset) and the color palette can be changed to show returns in white, yellow, black or green. The radar page is covered in more detail in the Radar Operation section.

On the Radar Page you can:

• Overlay compass data, range rings and EBL/VRMs on display

• Choose screen orientation from Head Up, Course Up & North Up

• Make radar targets more visible via Target Expansion

Use the keypad to highlight Radar on the page screen and press ENTER to access the Radar Page.

NOTE: You will only be able to see the Radar page if your unit

is connected to a radar.

Info Page

Consists of multiple gauges — Analog, Digital and Bar — that can be customized to display selected data. Customizing the info page allows you to monitor several types of desired data at the same time.

On the Info Page you can:

• Select data to be displayed in analog gauge or digital formats

• Change the page layout using one of three templates

• Select the range (scale) of analog gauges

To access the Info Page, use the keypad to select Info on the pages screen and press ENTER.

Pages

Info menu

Controls Info page data, page layout and data display format selection. To access the Data menu, press MENU while on the Info page.

Dashboards

Layout templates that are customized with selected data and saved for on-the-water viewing. You can customize a different layout template for each dashboard or add custom data to the same layout template and save it as a different dashboard each time.

Vessel layout

NOTE: You can toggle through the dashboard templates on the

screen by pressing the keypad left/right.

Edit

Used to select information displayed on the Info page. To switch the screen to Edit Mode, select Edit from the Info menu and press ENTER. The active gauge will be shaded in blue (analog) or surrounded by a blue border (digital and bar).

Navigation Layout

Angler Layout

To edit gauge display:

1. Use the keypad to select the gauge you want to edit and press

ENTER. The Select Info menu will appear.

2. Use the keypad to select a data category and press ENTER. A list of

subcategories will appear.

3. Select the desired subcategory and press ENTER.

4. Press MENU. The Edit Info menu will appear.

5. Select Save and press ENTER.

Pages

Editing data on an analog

gauge

Edit Info menu

Changes Info Page gauge data, allowing you to display desired data on analog, digital and bar gauges. It also controls gauge limits.

To access the Edit Info menu, switch the screen to Edit mode and press MENU.

To select info:

1. Highlight Select Info from the Edit Info menu and press ENTER. The Select Info menu will appear.

2. Use the keypad to select the desired category and press ENTER. A

list of subcategories will appear.

3. Select the desired subcategory and press ENTER.

Editing data on a digital gauge

Pages

To add source:

1. Select Add Source from the Edit Info menu and press ENTER.

2. Use the keypad to select the desired category and press ENTER. A list of subcategories will appear.

3. Select the desired subcategory and press ENTER.

To remove a source:

1. Highlight Remove Source from the Edit Info menu and press ENTER. The Remove data-source window will appear.

2. Select the source you want to remove and press ENTER.

To Congure Limits:

1. Highlight Congure Limits on the Edit Info menu and press ENTER. The Congure Limits menu will appear.

2. Select the desired text box and press ENTER.

3. Use the keypad to enter the desired limit or warning threshold.

4. Select OK and press ENTER.

NOTE: The Limits portion of the Congure Limits menu will

only be shown when conguring analog gauge limits.

Pages

Change Layout

Controls the gauge layout of dashboard templates and customized dashboards. That allows you to select a desired gauge layout template for all dashboards.

To change layout:

1. Highlight the desired dashboard and press

ENTER.

2. Select Change Layout from the Info menu and

press ENTER.

3. Use the keypad to choose a gauge layout

template and press ENTER.

Add Dashboard

Allows you to customize and save multiple dashboard templates. Desired data can be added to the gauges on each dashboard, allowing you to create custom dashboards

for a variety of shing conditions. You can even use the same gauge layout template

for each dashboard.

When you have created all desired dashboards, press the keypad left/right to toggle through your dashboards.

To add a dashboard:

1. Select Add Dashboard from the Info menu and press ENTER. The Change Layout menu will appear.

2. Select the desired gauge layout and press ENTER. Refer to the

previous Edit segment to customize the dashboard.

Pages

To remove dashboards:

1. Select the number of the dashboard you want to delete from the numerical dashboard list.

2. Highlight Remove Dashboard and press ENTER.

A conrmation message will appear.

3. Select Delete and press ENTER.

Settings

Opens the Settings menu. Settings information is covered in detail in the Settings menu section.

Numerical

dashboard list

Utilities

Allows you to set alarms, view sonar logs and access other system settings.

To access Utilities:

1. Use the keypad to center the utilities icon on the screen.

2. Scroll down the list of utilities until the desired option is highlighted.

3. Press ENTER.

Utilities Icon

Utilities

Alarms Access alarm history, status and change settings

Vessels View status and messages from vessels in the area

Sun/Moon Displays time when sun and moon will rise/set

Trip Calculator Keeps running tally/total of engine hours

Files Access, copy and delete data les and sonar logs

Pages

Radar selected as combo

display option

Sonar/Radar combo page

Displaying Combo Pages

You can display multiple pages at the same time by scrolling the desired page’s icon to the center of the screen and then choosing a secondary page from the list of combo page display options.

To display a combo page:

1. Use the keypad to select the rst page for the combo

display. This is the primary page, which will be

displayed in the left panel.

2. Select another page from the primary page’s combo

display list. This is the secondary page. It will be

displayed in the right panel.

3. Press ENTER. The selected combo page will be

displayed.

Selecting an Active Panel

When combo pages are displayed only one panel can be active at a time. The panel outlined with an orange border is the active panel.

Primary page

Secondary

page

You will only be able to access the context menu of the active panel. Pressing the MENU key will open the active panel’s context menu.

To switch the active setting to the other panel, hold down the PAGES key for 1 second.

Sonar panel is active as shown by

the orange border

Pages

Displaying Multiple Panels

Multiple panels can be displayed by setting up a combo display using a page that supports the Split feature. By displaying multiple panels, you can view more information on the screen at one time.

Step 1: Select sonar split screen

To display multiple panels:

1. Select a Split view for the sonar page. (Accessing the Split feature

is covered in detail in the Sonar section.)

2. Press the PAGES key and use

the keypad to center the Sonar icon on the screen.

3. Use the keypad to select Info

Page from the combo page

display list. Press ENTER. The

combo page will be displayed

with the Sonar split view on the

left; the Info page on the right.

Step 2: Choose page from

combo display options list

Flasher, sonar and the info page

shown on a multi-panel display.

Adjust Panel Sizes

Controls the size of panels when combo pages or multi-panels displays are in use. Adjusting the size of the panels, allows you to emphasize the panel you want to see more clearly.

Panels can only be adjusted left/right, so the panels on the side with the split view can not be adjusted vertically.

Adjust panel sizes selected

on the Data Overlay menu

Moving panel cursor left/right will change the size

of each panel

Pages

Adjusting panels on combo page

(Sonar/Info combo shown)

Adjusting panels on multi-panel display

(Sonar/Info combo shown)

To adjust panel sizes:

1. With the combo page or multi-panel display on the screen, press

the PAGES key.

2. Press MENU. Highlight Adjust Panel Sizes from the Data Overlay

menu and press ENTER.

3. Press the keypad left/right to adjust the panels to a desired size and

press ENTER.

Sonar

Sonar Operation

Water column

Cursor depth

Brush

Water depth, water temp and cursor

coordinates

Surface clutter

Colorline

Blue sonar history bar; reviews

recent sonar history

Temperature Graph

Fish Arches

Cursor

Range

scale

Depth

Line

Amplitude Scope — shows amplitude of real-time sonar

echoes

To access the Sonar Page:

1. Press the PAGES key.

2. Use the keypad to select Sonar and press ENTER.

Cursor

Viewing Sonar History

You can review your recent sonar history by moving the cursor to the left until the screen starts to move in reverse.

To resume normal operation, move the cursor all the way to the right of the screen or press EXIT.

Blue sonar history bar

Sonar Menu

Accesses features ranging from Auto Sensitivity and Depth Range to Frequency and Stop Sonar.

From the Sonar Page, press MENU to access the Sonar Menu.

Sonar

Sensitivity

Controls the level of detail shown on the display. Increasing Sensitivity will show more detail on the screen; decreasing Sensitivity displays less. Too much detail will clutter the screen. Conversely, desired echoes may not be displayed if Sensitivity is set too low.

Sensitivity set to 60 percent

NOTE: By default, Sensitivity is set to auto mode. You may

have to turn off Auto Sensitivity to set sensitivity to a desired level. Auto Sensitivity is covered in more detail later in this

section.

Sensitivity set to 80 percent

Sonar Menu

Auto Sensitivity

Keeps sensitivity at a level that works well under most conditions, reducing the need for adjustments. You can make minor changes to sensitivity with Auto Sensitivity turned on, but you will have to turn it off

to make signicant adjustments.

Auto Sensitivity can be turned on/off by selecting Auto Sensitivity from the Sonar menu and pressing ENTER.

Sonar

Wide yellow hard

Colorline

Distinguishes strong sonar echoes from weak sonar echoes. That makes it easier for

you to distinguish sh or structure from the

bottom.

A hard return will be shown as a wide, bright yellow line, whereas a soft return will be a narrow reddish-blue line.

sonar return

Reddish-blue soft

sonar returns

Range

Range set to 60 feet

Used to select the section of the water column — from surface to bottom — shown on the display. When there is a portion of the water column you want to focus on, select a range from the Depth Range menu that includes the desired area.

The values on the Range menu determine the depth shown on the display. If you selected 20m from the range menu the unit will display 0-20m of the water column, regardless of the water depth. There are 21 depth ranges, including automatic and custom settings. The automatic setting will set the range from the water surface to water depth.

Frequency

This unit supports three transducer frequencies; two of which are supported by your transducer. 200 kHz has the highest sensitivity and best target discrimination in shallower water; 83 kHz offers a wider cone angle for greater water coverage and 50 kHz provides the best depth penetration. You can view both available frequencies at the same time by setting up a sonar split screen.

Split

Adjusts the conguration of sonar page display using one of four options: No Split,

Zoom, Bottom Lock and Flasher.

+ 63 hidden pages