Garmin Striker 5 Ice Bundle Tips and Tricks

[crashed87]

I picked up my first sonar/flasher on a great deal from a local shop. I admit I have limited experience using a flasher, a friend had an old vexilar that he used only a few times when we were fishing together.

I understand the basics, I know how it works but I'm sure I could be doing a lot better with it. Does anyone have the Striker 5 ice bundle and have some advice on how to make it work great?

Thanks!

[bootstrap]

i have the 4 guessing it is similar. A scope mode is what i like best. you have to play with it for a while to get the colors and setting you like best. dont use the ducer out of water.

[remyjames23]

I have this exact bundle. My main tips are to use A Scope mode on the traditional sonar setting, scroll speed fast, make sure you have the correct transducer selected in the system. Also the Auto Gain can be kind of annoying and seems to vary when it shouldn't. Every time I set up on a spot or change lures, I manually adjust the gain so the lure is just barely visible, it seems to work so much better and helps with target separation etc. Last thing is that while I havent timed it, it seems like the blue color scheme uses less battery than the other since the screen is not lit as much. I haven't killed the battery on blue yet, fished with it on for 20 hours last weekend and still has some juice left.

[badger132]

I have the 73, but the settings are similar. I asked this a couple of years ago when I got it, and got the following, which is what I have been using since. I target perch in 20 FOW typically, so your application may be different.

Garmin sonar settings

I have two different Garmin sonars ... EchoMAP CHIRP 53dv and EchoMAP Plus 95sv ... and also both ice transducers above. Targeting perch and walleye typically in 20-30 FOW always using 'Traditional Sonar' with 'Split Zoom'; zoom window on the left and full water column on the right. Following are some of my preferred sonar settings for the 95sv; almost all settings stay the same between uses (i.e. cycling the power) until you change them again.

'Menu - Zoom - Split Zoom - [On].

'Menu - Range' set to [Auto] and 'Zoom' set to [Manual] with a 5ft zoom window.

'Menu - Sonar Setup - Scroll Speed' set to [Ultra].

'Menu - Sonar Setup - Advanced - Interference' set to [Off] and 'Surface Noise' set to [Hide].

'Menu - Sonar Setup - On-screen Control' set to [Gain].

'Menu - Sonar Setup - Appearance - Color Scheme' set to [Classic Blue].

'Menu - Frequency' usually set to [CHIRP] but I sometimes check out different 'Beam Width' settings ... interesting to see the return signal change while cycling through the different settings. The GT10HN-IF ice 'ducer provides 7-16 degree beam width and the 8HW-IF 16-24 degrees.

I want the lure return signal to always be visible but as fine as possible so, depending on depth etc, will usually have the 'Gain' somewhere between 40% - 60% accordingly.

I typically have the Backlight set at 30-50% evenings or inside a shanty, and 50-70% outdoors in daylight.

By the way, the EchoMAP Plus 95sv touch screen with keyed-assist features are absolutely AWESOME! (Also applies to EchoMAP Plus 7x models.) Simple two-finger motion to resize the zoom window or single finger swipe to move the zoom window anywhere within the water column. Four 'memory' keys to instantly jump to your most frequently used screens in any combination of sonar and/or navigation. Choice of On-screen Control ... Off, Gain or Range.

[DR.SPECKLER]

Ive have one and was using it today.i like traditional with blue screen on ultra scroll and ascope.i do not like the flasher mode and will run my vexilar for that.

[jimhaney08]

If you fish deeper water, I would suggest learning how to set up the split zoom function.  I find it helpful when fishing deeper brush.