Inaccurate sounder readings after Garmin update

[Salish Seaker]

I finally got around to updating the software for our Garmin 7610 xsv. Of course, right when I needed it while fishing for Coho last Sunday, the sonar would not cooperate. I could not get an accurate depth, I know I was in at least 600 feet of water and the sounder read 100 something. Furthermore, it would not hold a bottom reading, just the annoying flashing screen. I tried turning off and on, no luck. I checked the fluid in the transducer and topped it off.

Any ideas? I want to fish again this weekend.

 

[Dubs]

I see the same defect. While the depth does read normally, it fails while trolling and especially when I tune the sonar to a practical ~130 foot range for Coho trolling in deeper water. With that setting Garmin reads the depth often at my range setting or off some other sighting like a bait school or downrigger line. Frustrating. My work around is to use the chart for depth and ignore the sonar depth. I meant to take screen shots to send to o Garmin. Good luck!

 

[cwalden]

I finally got around to updating the software for our Garmin 7610 xsv. Of course, right when I needed it while fishing for Coho last Sunday, the sonar would not cooperate. I could not get an accurate depth, I know I was in at least 600 feet of water and the sounder read 100 something. Furthermore, it would not hold a bottom reading, just the annoying flashing screen. I tried turning off and on, no luck. I checked the fluid in the transducer and topped it off.

Any ideas? I want to fish again this weekend.

Same thing with sonar. Inaccurate readings and frequent flashing on side bar. I thought it was my unit, not a software glitch after the update. Garmin, please get your millions of customers straightened out! Thanks


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[Salish Seaker]

I see the same defect. While the depth does read normally, it fails while trolling and especially when I tune the sonar to a practical ~130 foot range for Coho trolling in deeper water. With that setting Garmin reads the depth often at my range setting or off some other sighting like a bait school or downrigger line. Frustrating. My work around is to use the chart for depth and ignore the sonar depth. I meant to take screen shots to send to o Garmin. Good luck!

Dubs, I think you hit on my problem. I changed the range setting from auto to my desired range 150 feet. I guess that's when the inaccuracy started. I agree, Garmin get it right! This is the exact reason why I hesitated to upgrade the Garmin software for 2 1/2 seasons. I should have left well enough alone.

Thanks guys for your affirmation.

 

[palle]

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I’m still running software from 2016 and scared of updating. Am I missing any important changes?

 

[knotflying]

It may be that your update changed settings. I can't off the top of my head recall which setting. It could be the gain. Check your settings.

 

[iggy]

It may be that your update changed settings. I can't off the top of my head recall which setting. It could be the gain. Check your settings.

Yep! If you go to the Garmin site it will show what the upgrades are for. There could be a few fixes for bugs in the software or improvements. Also, every year there are magnetic variations that need or should be updated in the GPS.

 

[Salish Seaker]

To update my original post, I was able to figure out the issue. Apparently when you try to manually set a depth range rather than using auto range, the display reads out the depth associated with that range. Not the true depth. In other words, I wanted to see a range between 75 feet - 150 feet. The actual depth was 600 feet but displayed 135. I set range back to auto and instead changed the zoom setting and that did the trick. Accurate readings all day customized to the range I wanted to see.

I discovered another trick. I decided to turn on fish symbols and it made a real difference. I've always read and believed that using these symbols were "gimmicky" but in this case, the non-fish symbols were inconclusive and didn't give me any information to work with. I don't know how to configure the sounder to show arches representing fish. I now trust the fish symbols are giving me accurate information.

 

[Dubs]

Good call on the zoom. I’ll give it a try. Thanks.