Lowrance Hook2 5x splitshot HDI

I bought a Lowrance Hook2 5x last year, have only used a handful of times but am seeing some weirdness:

When I have the "Fish ID" off, I'll see plenty of "stuff" in the water (dots, groups of dots, static) that do not look like the traditional "arches" that identify fish.  If I turn the "Fish ID" on, it shows any markings in the water as fish.  I'm skeptical that it's correctly id'ing fish.  I should be seeing "arches" if they truly are fish, correct?

I have the transducer mounted to the bottom of the kayak, it sits about 6-8" down from the bottom of the hull.  The transducer is attached to a PVC pipe that runs up thru my scupper and is kept stable by a small piece of a pool noodle.  The transducer cable runs up thru the PVC and to my head.

Do I need to mess with the settings, like sensitivity or noise reduction or something?  The manual (and the web) do not say anything about these settings, or how increasing or decreasing them affects anything.  I'd prefer not changing anything without knowing what I'm doing.  I do realize I can set it back to factory at any time.

Side note: I bought this unit specifically so that I could see both the sonar and downscan imaging.  The sales guy at Sportsmans assured me that I could have a split screen to see both.  This is not the case, it's one or the other.  Super frustrating, but my own fault for purchasing then not immediately using.

I watched this youtube video, I've got no sound at work but the closed caption seemed pretty good, and it looks like there is a little more to adding a split screen than my older Lowrance Unit.

Hmmm that’s the one I have and i never go into the sensitivity/imaging settings. I didn’t know there was a fish ID option! I’ll take a look tomorrow to see what the difference is. But yes, typically, I will see arcs for larger fish, can be pronounced on the bottom within 50’ or so, and bait balls look like a huge cloud of signal, bright purple/red/orange. Grass and kelp come up like noise almost, but they are in straight vertical lines.

Had the same issues w/ my first one. Exchanged it because I thought it was broken, then after 2 outings, same thing. But this time unplugged it,washed the plug w/ fresh water and blew it out. Plugged it back and it seemed to do the trick. Every once in awhile have to repeat but works every time. Hope your fix is as easy as mine.

I've never used this model but I understand that the "x" models are much less customizable than the standard models. Kind of a plug and play model without options like split screen, color palate adjustment, etc. Its weird though because the picture of this model on the Lowrance website shows it being able to split the screen vertically showing sonar and downscan simultaneously.

Dont worry about playing with the settings and making a mess. Most Lowrance units have a "Factory Reset" option that always returns the unit to it's out of the box settings. Just check your manual for that option.

You DEFINITELY need to play with the sensitivity settings. That's what they're there for after all. You can really tailor the settings to display exactly what youd like to see - more sensitive, less noise and clutter, etc. And maybe others can chime in, but in my experience, there is never a good time to use the Fish ID function. It's never accurate and usually displays every object in the water as a fish. A bit of a gimmick that sounds better than it actually is.

Arches are only formed when the fish (or you) moves into your transducer cone area and out.  Kayaks are slow and what I'm about to say only pertains to slow moving kayaks. If the fish are suspended and just hanging out most likely they will be represented as long squiggly lines.  If you are moving fast 3+ knots you MAY start to see some arches representing fish directly below, but probably not. More like 6+ knots. Or maybe the fish is moving fast.  You could also get an arch if there is a fish on the outer edge of your cone meaning it was in and then out.

The fish id is a crappy ML app to recognize arches. I wouldn't bother with it. Just try to remember what marks on your finder take your bait, those are the fish lol.  Schools of bait fish (clouds) and rockfish (small squiggly lines or arches) are the easiest to see.

CHIRP is really amazing but unfortunately the stock LOwrance transducer are not true chirp.  Search my posts for more info if you want to research better transducers and spend more $$$$ 

Thanks all for the replies.

It does appear that the X models are, indeed, "lower level".  Very bummed because I was clear with the sales guy that I wanted the split screen.  Honestly, I don't know why I'd ever just use one or the other, the point is to see whatevers in the water with more clarity, using both sonar and DSI looking at the same object.

I paddle an Ascend 128T, it goes no where quickly, so when I do see the long squiggly lines it makes sense that those may be fish.  Unfortunately my older Hook4 showed nice arches, had split screen sonar/DSI and a nicer form factor.

I"ll play with the settings but I'm not sure which way to move them (less or more, sensitivity, noise etc) to get a more accurate reading.  I need to find someone to ride side by side with to see what a true image should look like, then tweak settings accordingly.

I'm not a super expert, but IF you really want arches the only thing I can think of is to maybe slow down your ping to allow the fish to enter/leave your cone and definitely speed up your scroll speed.  But seeing arches does not necessarily mean your fish finder is working properly.  I don't know why your hook4 showed arches and now you don't. But yeah like you said the true comparison would be to put them side by side. The default settings (or close to) have always worked for me, I have a Lowrance HDS7 Gen3 and Airmar 175HW transducer.

check this out: http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=733027

You might be able to return you X model.  Maybe go complain to them? Or call Lowrance. The one time I did call them everything went smoothly, perhaps others have different experiences.

when rockfishing and bass fishing I've never seen an arch on my Hook 4x Chirp, the only time I've ever seen arches that were def fish is in the bay pretty shallow and trolling relatively fast.

I've seen schools of fish though.

Sorry, turns out I have the 5 w/ split shot and gps. Mapping is essential for me so I opted not for the 5x. I took a screenshot of what I typically see, and I’ve never fiddled w the sensitivity. It’s supposed to auto calibrate w different depths, but maybe I will tinker with it next time I’m in deep water. In the image the arcs to the left are fish and the cloud to the right a small school of bait. At least that’s what I think I’m seeing! If I’m mistaken, others please let me know!

Actually, if I stare long enough at the blob on the right, it kinda starts looking like a shark or dolphin. Or a giant seahorse.