Sensitivity, gain and noise

Sensitivity, also called gain, is how loud the unit listens for echoes. Turn it up and weaker echoes show up, including small fish and faint bait. Turn it too far and the unit starts drawing noise as if it were real, and the screen fills with clutter. Turn it down too far and small or deep targets disappear.

Noise comes from other places too. A boat moving fast pushes bubbles under the transducer, and the bubbles block and scatter the sound. Engine and electrical interference draw stripes and speckles. Rough water adds more. None of this is fish.

Slide the controls below. The drawing is made-up data that follows the same rules: a few strong and weak targets and a bottom, with noise added as you turn the sensitivity up or the boat noise up.

An interactive drawing goes here in the app.

On the water

• Start in the automatic setting. Switch to manual only when the picture does not match what you expect, such as no marks at all in water you know has fish or a screen full of clutter.
• To tune it manually, turn the sensitivity up until a little clutter shows, then back off until the clutter just goes away.
• If the picture gets worse when you speed up, slow down or check the transducer for bubbles and a bad mount before you touch the settings.

Easy mistakes

• Cranking the sensitivity to the maximum to see more. That usually shows more noise, not more fish.
• Reading clutter at speed as a school of fish. Slow down and see if it is still there.
• Changing several settings at once, so you cannot tell which one fixed it.

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