Post a couple of screen shots.

havnt got any at the moment but will be sure to take some next time out. dont mind covering the cost of a days fishing if somone wants to come out and teach me how to use it properly?

Mustang, There are a few things you can change to get the best out of your lowrance HDS10. I started researching on the net by looking it up on youtube. Here are a few things I have changed on mine.

1)Turn off the auto sensitivity

2) Change your colour palette to 1 which is the standard lowrance colour scheme (Dark blueish meaning soft ground then redish yellow meaning a hard surface).

3)Turn off your fish symbols

4) Make sure you select 200khz if you're fishing below 100m

5) There's a good chance you haven't told the sounder to use the correct transducer type. Have a look on the cable which plugs into the back of your sounder and there should be a small tag hanging off the cable. On the tag you will find what type of transducer it is. On the sounder there will be a menu of shit loads of different transducer types where you will need to find the correct one and select it. From memory you hit menu and I think it's under system at the bottom? The manual should tell you where to change it or as I mentioned check out youtube.

6) When all the above is complete you then need to 'peak' the transducer. This is where you manually crank up the sensitivity to achieve the most out of your sounder. For example if you're in 40m of water change the depth setting to 3 times the depth you are actually in which will be 120m. Once complete then gradually turn up the sensitivity until you notice a second reading on the bottom. This happens because the transducer is pumping out such a strong signal the echo has enough strength to go from the transducer, to the sea bed, back up to the transducer, to the sea bed again and then back up again to the transducer which therefore gives you a second reading. When you can see the second reading you know you have 'peaked' your transducer. After I'm happy I then change the depth setting back to auto if I know the depth doesn't change too much.

You will find your screen can be filled with a fair bit of clutter which is from the increased sensitivity however you will soon learn what to ignore and what looks like a school of fish.

Good luck mate

best thing i did for my hds was a airmar p66 ducer -it is chalk and cheese to the lowrance supplied one

i d be happy for u to come have a look at mine or come out for a quick looksee with u

Pm me a number

Do you have the 80/200 transducer or the 50/200  80/200 would possibly explain why it struggles in the deeper stuff. That being said most likely the problem is in your installation and settings.

see the thread below

http://fishwrecked.com/forum/correct-sounder-settings-and-problems

cheers

trade it in for a furuno ;)

or a 1+kw transducer is a must for deeper water