Lowrance Elite Chirp Fishfinders

[Murray]

Would like to hear how many of you are using this fish finder and how you have configured it. Seems like taking advantage of the chirp technology is the way to go. With that said, my 50/200 transducer offers high chirp, low chirp, high/low, and non chirp options. If anyone has on the water experience in comparing these various options, it would be great to hear your results. If there are enough users out there, we could probably save ourselves a lot of time by sharing info within this thread.

[Raskal311]

Interested in this info as well, my elite 7 chrip with 50/200 455/800 ducer should arrive any day.

[Murray]

cool. I have been doing my homework so let me know if you have any questions. My first hint is how to take it out of demo mode. Make sure you have the Yes box highlighted in Blue. I struggle with colors (somewhat color blind) so had to call tech support to discover I was actually pressing the No key. I also ended up having to update the firmware to ver 4 since I locked up the system. Lowrance tech support is very good and walked me thru the procedure and answered all of my questions so far. I will be using the Simulator mode today to experiment with the various settings. It simulates a real time environment allowing you to see what your changes do to the display. I got the elite chirp 5 so your 7 should probably make the fish jump into your lap. Ha!

[spicolly]

I bought the Elite-4X CHIRP with the 83/200 455/800 kHz transducer last year...before it came with GPS. Big miss by me as it was my first FF and I didn't realize how useful/valuable GPS was until I started fishing with people who have them.

Regarding the unit, I recently ran into intermittent power issues. Once it powers on, it hasn't lost power. I have played with it all week in my garage and have not been able to recreate the issue...it has powered on just fine without making any changes. However, a few times in the last month I've got out on the water and it wouldn't power up until an hour into my trip on the water. Very frustrating. Here's the post describing the issue with some possible help from the community: http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...ad.php?t=27785

From a functional unit, I like it a lot. I switch back and forth between a single and double panel view, depending on what I'm doing (ie., looking for bait, structure, unidentified stuff, etc). I like the downscan capabilities, and have actually seen my line go down and hang out with fish...which is kinda cool.

My opinion, if you want to stay on the lower pricing end, it's a good unit, esp since Lowrance has added GPS on the Elite-5.

[Raskal311]

Have you guys felt the 83/200 455/800 transducer is sufficient in 200 foot of water?

[spicolly]

Originally Posted by Raskal311

Have you guys felt the 83/200 455/800 transducer is sufficient in 200 foot of water?

I haven't gone off shore...mainly stayed inshore @LJ., NW corner, etc...maybe got to 140' - 160' over the summer and it worked fine for locating structure on the bottom. Recently fished inshore at Carlsbad off the power plant and didn't go deep at all. Also fished outside the harbor in O'Side...never got to 200'. So, for the fishing I have done, the 83/200 has been fine for helping me to find bait balls, structure, fish arches, etc. I haven't used a 50/200, so I unfortunately cannot compare it. I do clearly see lots of fish in the shallow MLPA when launching at LJ, which really hurts.

[hiramehunter]

is Chirp a good option for over 300'?
I usually fish from 200 - 340' range. Would chirp be a good option for that too?

[surfisher]

I currently use the Elite 7 Chirp on my boat, 50/200 and 455/800. The Downscan will read all the way to 300'. I have marked schools of yellows on it to that deep, but using chirp or 200khz is my preference. Takes a trip or two to dial in (like any fishfinder), and will take a little getting used to reading the downscan, but what I can say is it makes finding bait 100x easier, and you can distinguish game fish way easier. They will show up as a bright dot (thicker dot for bigger fish) instead of your normal boomerang like the high chirp will show. When you meter a bait school, there will be a hundred tiny little dots. Super nice to use!!!

[Murray]

Originally Posted by surfisher

I currently use the Elite 7 Chirp on my boat, 50/200 and 455/800. The Downscan will read all the way to 300'. I have marked schools of yellows on it to that deep, but using chirp or 200khz is my preference. Takes a trip or two to dial in (like any fishfinder), and will take a little getting used to reading the downscan, but what I can say is it makes finding bait 100x easier, and you can distinguish game fish way easier. They will show up as a bright dot (thicker dot for bigger fish) instead of your normal boomerang like the high chirp will show. When you meter a bait school, there will be a hundred tiny little dots. Super nice to use!!!

To confirm, you prefer low chirp vs high chirp when fishing deeper water. Do you ever use high chirp? If so, what is max depth you use before changing to low chirp? Have you overlaid down imaging onto sonar display? If I understand things correctly, that would give you best of both technologies (per above video if I remember correctly). Thanks for the input. Probably launching at Oceanside harbor tomorrow to field test my elite chirp 5 with 50/200/455/800 transducer.

[YakDout]

Ive had both 83 and 50. 83 had problems around 150. New hds unit with 50khz is what im running now. Ran over deep spots in la jolla canyon and got readings over 1000 feet. Youre going to lose detail at that depth now matter WHAT you have. But my 83 wouldnt even see the bottom in that kinda stuff.

[acorad]

Thanks Chris & yakdout.