Lowrance HDS5m

[BarryH]

I have had this plotter since around mid april when the boat was put in on the Hamble. I got it at hefty discount. or I wouldn't have bought it! Anyway. I've had it switched on a couple of times whilst out. I can't get my head around it. Switch it on and it gets a fix quickly and shows your position on the chart. Move off the mooring and the little "boat icon" travels across the chart, all well and good. The boat icon gets to the end on the screen and goes off the chart!

I would have thought the icon would have stayed in the center of the screen and the chart scroll as you move, but it doesn't. I've followed the manual re settings in the menu but can't seem to get the chrt to scroll.
Anyone have any idea as to what I'm missing?

 

[Simondjuk]

Are you moving the cursor before setting off? If so, the chart is likely to remain centred around the cursor position, which will stay where you left it, rather than the vessel position.

Pressing 'Quit', 'Exit', 'Clear' or 'Cancel' usually gets most plotters refocused on the vessel's position.

 

[BarryH]

Not moving the cursor at all. I've re read the manual and its actually quite badly written. The one on the CD Rom isn't much better........

 

[maby]

Are you moving the cursor before setting off? If so, the chart is likely to remain centred around the cursor position, which will stay where you left it, rather than the vessel position.

Pressing 'Quit', 'Exit', 'Clear' or 'Cancel' usually gets most plotters refocused on the vessel's position.

This certainly is the way that Lowrance HDS plotters behave if you move the cursor away from the boat icon after it's booted up. You press the "Exit" key to switch between the current boat position and the scrolled view. You also can select the "Lookahead" option to put the boat icon near the edge of the screen and see more of what is in front of you and you can select "North up" or "Heading up" to match the way you naturally think.

 

[Simondjuk]

Unless this particular Lowrance starts up in 'cursor' mode and needs 'Exit' to be pressed to go to 'vessel' mode. It'd be odd if it did, but I suppose it's not impossible.

Is there any way you've managed to get the chart to recentre around the vessel's position other than by shutting down and powering back up?

 

[BarryH]

Think I've sussed it. The problem being theres so many menus within menus. Add to that you can access the same sub menu from different main menus it gets rather confusing. If the manual was any good it would make things a lot easier. The fact that the thing isn't that intuative doesn't help!

Apparently I can also monitor engine readings and overlay raydar.......whoopee doo. Why? the scrren isn't much bigger than a large car satnav screen, its cluttered enough as it is!

 

[Elessar]

Think I've sussed it. The problem being theres so many menus within menus. Add to that you can access the same sub menu from different main menus it gets rather confusing. If the manual was any good it would make things a lot easier. The fact that the thing isn't that intuative doesn't help!

Apparently I can also monitor engine readings and overlay raydar.......whoopee doo. Why? the scrren isn't much bigger than a large car satnav screen, its cluttered enough as it is!

i had a little lowrance on my old boat. Once you are used to it, it is fantastic. Way way more flexible than raymarine, which means it does take longer to learn.

As mine was bracket mounted I bought a 12V rechargable battery from maplin so i could program/play with it in the pub or at home. I miss it's flexibility now, (I have a big raymarine on my current boat) the fully customisable overlay data really lets you make the most of its small but excellent screen.

1 little example (of many) that really irritates me now. When i had a route active, I set the lowrance to tell me distance, bearing, time and name of active waypoint and time to end of route. You cannot display time to end of route on raymarine, end of story (except in a pop up). Surely that's a nice thing to know??

 

[Simondjuk]

I thought Raymarine plotters have the option to set permanently displayed data boxes to show route time information, either as ETA or time until arrival. I'm sure it's an option or at least used to be. Of course, it's a waste of a data box all the time you're not using waypoints or routes.

 

[Slackie]

I thought Raymarine plotters have the option to set permanently displayed data boxes to show route time information, either as ETA or time until arrival. I'm sure it's an option or at least used to be. Of course, it's a waste of a data box all the time you're not using waypoints or routes.

I have an HDS-5M & now I've got to know it, think it's a very useful piece of kit ...

When following a route, I usually put up a dual display, chart on one side and Steer (I think that's what they call it - can't find it in the manual!) on the other. The Steer page gives Distance to Destination, Course to Steer, Time to Go, Course Over Ground, Cross Track Error, Speed Over Ground and a compass rose with a track & steering symbol. It is accessed from the Pages button & selecting Chart + Steer.

It is also possible to customise the data that displays on the chart, but I haven't had much success with that.

And I completely agree that the menus within menus within menus is not intuitive ... and don't get me started on its NMEA interfaces!

 

[WF36]

Just press and guess...

Thats what I did,and it worked.

Sorry I can't help my Lowrance is 2000 miles away in Portugal!

 

[Elessar]

I thought Raymarine plotters have the option to set permanently displayed data boxes to show route time information, either as ETA or time until arrival. I'm sure it's an option or at least used to be. Of course, it's a waste of a data box all the time you're not using waypoints or routes.

They can display time to wpt
They know time to end of route because you can get it in a pop up
but they cannot display time to end of route in any navigational screen
the ideal screen would be the rolling road as you only use this when using route or goto - but this isn't possible.

I've written to them to suggest the improvement but they don't even reply.

With lowrance you can put any data you like in any box in any order, or overlay it in translucent numbers over the chart - ideal for not using up screeen real estate on a small screen.

 

[brians]

Has anyone linked an HDS 5M up to AIS and how does it perform?

 

[Slackie]

Has anyone linked an HDS 5M up to AIS and how does it perform?

Mine is linked with a NASA AIS Engine 3 (receiver) & the performance now installed is fine - displays targets clearly & reliably. I've recently used it on a couple of cross Channels & some foggy crossings of Weymouth Bay & was really glad I had it. The alarms can be a bit difficult to cancel (if selected) when entering a crowded waterway.

But the NMEA 0183 interface leaves something to be desired ... it has a single NMEA 0183 interface that can be configured as either input or output, therefore it can either accept AIS data from the receiver or transmit GPS data to a VHF or AIS transmitter, but not do both. The NMEA output required a "fix" to make it work with the AIS receiver.

I use a small standalone GPS receiver to drive the VHF & the whole setup now works well & reliably.

The HDA-5m also has a NMEA 2000 interface which I guess will make the installation of more expensive AIS units easier, but I haven't tried it.

 

[maby]

Has anyone linked an HDS 5M up to AIS and how does it perform?

We have a Garmin AIS300 plugged into the NMEA2000 network with two Lowrance plotters - an HDS8m at the helm and an HDS5m at the nav table. Works fine - there was no configuration required and as soon as I switched on after plugging up the Garmin, both plotters showed all AIS equipped boats within a radius of around 15 miles.

My only current problem is that we've fitted a Raymarine autopilot and it does not play nicely with the Lowrances - refuses to follow a route entered on the plotter. I'm not too worried - never really intended to trust my life to a bunch of electronics with nobody on lookout - the autopilot works fine holding a preset heading and will sail to wind if required.

 

[FWB]

I have gen 1 HDS 7m.
I have improved the position error by linking it to an LGC4000 gps. This required an N2K starter kit. With this I bought a Comar 2 2000 AIS receiver. This works very well with the Lowrance plotter.