looking for pros cons on lowance elite 5 depth finder

[muzzy1]

thinking about getting elite 5 finder looking for people who have or know about it

[filetandrelease]

nice unit nice color but on split screen it's only 2.5" wide go to a store that has one running to get a good look before you lay out the cash ,maybe lowrance has a demo . on there web site

[lunderfull]

Bought an Elite 5 several weeks ago. Not as happy with it as I hoped to be. Might be me, but the Humminbird menus seems to be easier to work with. And.....the elite 5 will not do GPS boat speed  like my Hummers would.....At least I haven't figured it out. See what others have to say. Maybe we'll both learn something.     J

[esox v]

the elite 5 will not do GPS boat speed like my Hummers would.....At least I haven't figured it out.

I find that very unlikely

[lunderfull]

Yes, unlikely. I agree. I'm still wondering if the elite 5 will do GPS speed. None of the manufacturer's literature mentions GPS speed and I've tried many different menu settings to no avail. What I find interesting is that when researching this I have not been able to even find a picture in the Lowrance literature, catalogs or website of a screen shot showing GPS speed. Humminbird just about always shows speed with their GPS units.
So, if anybody actually knows, we'd all like to know the true answer. Thanks.....J

[eyedoktr]

Yes, the Elite 5 will show SOG. Go the the chart page. Push MENU. Select OVERLAY DATA. Select CONFIGURE. Press MENU and select ADD. Select SPEED. Press MENU and select RETURN TO OVERLAY DATA. Press MENU and select DONE CONFIGURING.

This is off the top of my head as I do not have a unit in front of me but it should be close enough to get GPS speed on the chart screen.

[lunderfull]

Thanks, eyedoktr.....
I do have the SOG turned on. All I get is flashing zeros.
I'm wondering if it has something to do with the cable to the unit. When I changed from an older unit, I just changed the unit, not the transducer and cables as the new transducer and the old appear to be the same skimmer unit. Not sure if that has any effect on the elite 5. Both cables have the same type of connector, but the gold connectors (female) seem to be in different places. Maybe I do need to run the new cables. Didn't want to tear the boat up this year, so I took a chance. If I do need to run the new cables, I just may go back to hummunbird. I'm more familiar with them and they seem to be less menu driven.

[eyedoktr]

Thanks, eyedoktr.....
I do have the SOG turned on. All I get is flashing zeros.
I'm wondering if it has something to do with the cable to the unit. When I changed from an older unit, I just changed the unit, not the transducer and cables as the new transducer and the old appear to be the same skimmer unit. Not sure if that has any effect on the elite 5. Both cables have the same type of connector, but the gold connectors (female) seem to be in different places. Maybe I do need to run the new cables. Didn't want to tear the boat up this year, so I took a chance. If I do need to run the new cables, I just may go back to hummunbird. I'm more familiar with them and they seem to be less menu driven.

My guess it is the power cord that is causing the trouble. The internal antenna needs power and it may not be getting it from the old wiring. Before you tear anything apart, hook up the new power cord/transducer cord to the unit and see if that takes care of the problem.

[lunderfull]

I'll give it a shot in the next day or two. Thanks for the suggestion.

[lunderfull]

So here's the rest of the story, eyedoktr......
I changed out the old cable for the new like you suggested, turned the unit on and all I got was the same flashing zeros. That didn't make sense at the moment and all I could picture was taking the elite back to the store and replacing it with a hummer. I really didn't want to do the whole "find the cable" routine and then have to run new cable for the hummer. Fortunately for me, my neighbor stopped by to borrow some tools. About 10 minutes later the elite buzzed a few times. I'm thinking "now what??? only to realize that the GPS had FINALLY picked up a signal. LOW and behold, there was GPS speed of zero, but not flashing. I said bye to the neighbor and ran through the menus.......all was well.
So I disconnected the new cable, reconnected the old, turned the elite back on. Eventually, when a good GPS signal was located, the thing worked!!!

OK....I'm feeling a bit on the stupid side for not realizing that GPS speed does not work without a GPS signal. Seems so obvious now, but my hind sight is close to 20/20.....Bottom line, I should have been more patient to start.
And I still have you to thank, eyedoktr, for saving me the hassle of replacing the whole cable when it wasn't needed. Without your suggestion, I would have just started doing the replacement.

Thanks again!

[eyedoktr]

So here's the rest of the story, eyedoktr......
I changed out the old cable for the new like you suggested, turned the unit on and all I got was the same flashing zeros. That didn't make sense at the moment and all I could picture was taking the elite back to the store and replacing it with a hummer. I really didn't want to do the whole "find the cable" routine and then have to run new cable for the hummer. Fortunately for me, my neighbor stopped by to borrow some tools. About 10 minutes later the elite buzzed a few times. I'm thinking "now what??? only to realize that the GPS had FINALLY picked up a signal. LOW and behold, there was GPS speed of zero, but not flashing. I said bye to the neighbor and ran through the menus.......all was well.
So I disconnected the new cable, reconnected the old, turned the elite back on. Eventually, when a good GPS signal was located, the thing worked!!!

OK....I'm feeling a bit on the stupid side for not realizing that GPS speed does not work without a GPS signal. Seems so obvious now, but my hind sight is close to 20/20.....Bottom line, I should have been more patient to start.
And I still have you to thank, eyedoktr, for saving me the hassle of replacing the whole cable when it wasn't needed. Without your suggestion, I would have just started doing the replacement.

Thanks again!

I'm glad you got things figured out before you started ripping and replacing. I'm guessing that you never initialized your GPS to the area you were at and that's why it took so long to get a signal. You should have no problems now. Enjoy the unit.

[lunderfull]

Thanks, I think I will. Barring any unforeseen circumstances I expect to get out Saturday for some water testing and crappies...
Thanks again.
I'm glad I found this site.

[wnybassman]

I have been running an Eagle 640 and 642 for the last several years.  VERY happy with them.  Late this summer I had the 640 crap out on me.  For the flat repair/replacement fee Eagle/Lowrance sent me the Elite 5 because the Eagle unit was no longer made.  Initially I was happy with the transaction because the Elite 5 looked to be a "better" unit.

I have used it for the last several weeks and I must say, I hate it.  The menu's are great, the different features that my Eagle didn't have are great, but I just don't seem to mark fish like I am used to.  I have tried everything I can think of to try and get the thing dialed in but I can't build any trust with the unit.

Yesterday I took off the Elite 5 and put the Eagle 642 on my bow to make sure I wasn't going crazy.  Immediately I realized I like my old Eagles better.   Elite 5 will get sold and I will scrounge up another Eagle unit somewhere.