Lowrance HDS-8 User manual

Operation Manual
HDS-8, HDS-10,
HDS-8m & HDS-10m

Software updates for your unit
Occassionally check the Lowrance website for free software upgrades for
your unit. Go to www.lowrance.com for the software upgrades. Select the
Downloads option from the grey menu bar near the top of the Lowrance
website homepage. The Downloads screen will appear. Select Products
Software Updates from the list on the left side of the screen. The Products
Software Updates screen will appear. Scroll through the Product list and select
your unit to download the software update.
Copyright © 2011 Navico
All Rights Reserved
Lowrance® and Navico® are registered trademarks of Navico.
Fishing Hot Spots® is a registered trademark of Fishing Hot Spots Inc.
Navionics® is a registered trademark of Navionics, Inc.
NMEA 2000® is a registered trademark of the National Marine Electronics
Association.
Points of Interest Data in this unit are by infoUSA, copyright©
2001-2010, All Rights Reserved. infoUSA is a trademark of
infoUSA, Inc.
Additional mapping data: copyright© 2010 by Transas Ltd.; Copyright©
2010 by Maptech Inc.
Navico may nd it necessary to change or end our policies, regulations
and special offers at any time. We reserve the right to do so without
notice. All features and specications subject to change without notice.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT RESTRICTED OPERATION
OUTSIDE OF THE AMERICAS
Units designed for sale in the Americas will have limited Language and Units
functionality outside of a zone dened as 30 degrees West longitude on the
East and the International Date Line on the West. Language options will be
restricted to English (US) only and Units will be restricted to non-metric
measures.
Units sold with Enhanced US Basemap, Nautic Insight, Lake Insight or Insight
USA units are impacted and will not have this functionality outside of the
dened region. Units sold with WorldWide Basemap will function without
these restrictions.

1
Contents
Table of contents
Introduction ....................................................................................... 4
Getting Started................................................................................. 6
Turning on the Unit..................................................................................... 6
Setup wizard .............................................................................................. 6
Keypad ....................................................................................................... 6
Backlight .................................................................................................... 6
Cursor ........................................................................................................ 6
Language ................................................................................................... 7
Menus ........................................................................................................ 7
Selecting Chart Data ................................................................................ 8
Selecting a Fishing Mode .......................................................................... 8
Entering Letters in Text Boxes................................................................... 9
Restore Defaults ........................................................................................ 9
Pages............................................................................................... 11
Pages Screen .......................................................................................... 11
Data Overlay ............................................................................................ 13
Conguration menu ................................................................................. 16
Sonar Page (Sonar units only)................................................................. 17
Chart Page............................................................................................... 17
Radar Page (optional).............................................................................. 18
Info Page.................................................................................................. 18
Utilities ..................................................................................................... 23
Displaying Combo Pages ........................................................................ 25
Sonar Operation (HDS-8 & 10 only) ............................................. 28
Viewing Sonar History ............................................................................. 28
Sonar Menu ............................................................................................. 29
Sonar Options.......................................................................................... 32

2
Contents
Palette...................................................................................................... 33
Measure Distance.................................................................................... 35
Log Sonar Data........................................................................................ 35
Chart Operation............................................................................... 38
39Chart menu .......................................................................................... 39
Waypoints ................................................................................................ 40
Routes...................................................................................................... 46
Trails......................................................................................................... 50
Measuring Distances on Chart page....................................................... 52
Search by Coordinates ............................................................................ 53
Find Chart item ........................................................................................ 53
Map Orientation ....................................................................................... 54
Look Ahead.............................................................................................. 54
Chart categories ...................................................................................... 55
2D and Shaded Relief ........................................................ 55
Navionics ................................................................................................. 57
Radar Operation (optional) ........................................................... 60
Radar menu ............................................................................................. 61
Adjust menu ............................................................................................. 61
Guard Zones............................................................................................ 66
Radar Overlay.......................................................................................... 67
Settings Menu ................................................................................. 68
Chart Settings Menu................................................................................ 77
Sonar Settings (HDS-8 &10).................................................................... 80
Manual Mode ........................................................................................... 81
Fishing Modes ......................................................................................... 82
Installation Menu...................................................................................... 83
Keel Offset ............................................................................................... 83
Radar Settings Menu (optional) ............................................................... 87
Fuel .......................................................................................................... 98

3
Contents
Alarms.................................................................................................... 102
Units....................................................................................................... 103
Network.................................................................................................. 104
Vessels (only available if connected to AIS receiver)............................ 110
Simulator.................................................................................................112
Specications: HDS-8/8m & HDS-10/10m ..................................115
Unit Care ........................................................................................ 116
Troubleshooting.............................................................................117
Index ............................................................................................... 125

4
Introduction
About this manual
Thank you for purchasing from Lowrance, the industry leader in marine technology.
This manual documents how to adjust features and options in your display unit. The
information in each section follows the same sequence as your display unit’s menus.
If you would like information on how to get the most out of your unit, visit our web
site, www.lowrance.com; click on the Support tab and select Tips and Tutorials.
HDS-8/10 and HDS-8m/10m
The Sonar Operation section and all other sonar references, only apply to the HDS-8
and HDS-10 sonar/GPS combo units. Sonar references do not apply to the HDS-8m
and HDS-10m GPS only units.
Manual Conventions
When you are instructed to press a button in this manual, the button will be shown
in all caps and bold text like — MENU, EXIT, ENTER, etc. If you are instructed
to select an item from a menu, the item to be selected will be listed in bold like —
Brightness, Key beeps, etc.
For example: Press MENU, select Language and press ENTER.
Lowrance Customer Service
US [phone]
Canada [phone] or [phone]
Introduction
WARNING:When a GPS unit is used in a vehicle, the
vehicle operator is solely responsible for operating the
vehicle in a safe manner. Vehicle operators must main-
tain full surveillance of all pertinent driving, boating or
ying conditions at all times. An accident or collision re-
sulting in damage to property, personal injury or death
could occur if the operator of a GPS-equipped vehicle
fails to pay full attention to travel conditions and vehicle
operation while the vehicle is in motion.

5
Introduction
HDS-8/10 & HDS-8m/10m
ZOUT: Zoom out to see more of the map with less detail
ZIN: Zoom in to see less of the map with more detail
MOB: Pressing ZOUT and ZIN at the same time will set a man overboard waypoint
LIGHT/POWER:
controls backlight
level & turns the
unit on/off
MMC/SD Card slot: insert
MMC/SD and high-detail
mapping cards here
WPT/FIND: saves a waypoint
at current position; accesses
searching tools
EXIT: cancels
entries, closes
menus & windows;
toggles between
cursor position and
chart location on
Chart page
KEYPAD: move the
cursor, scroll through
menus, adjust features,
view sonar/GPS history
MENU: opens
context &
settings menus
SOFTKEYS: controls com-
monly used features and
functions
ENTER: conrms menu
selections; shortcut key
for functions like saving
a waypoint at cursor
position
PAGES: opens Pages
menu; hold down the
Pages key to switch
active panels when
viewing combo pages

6
Getting Started
Getting Started
Turning on the Unit
Press the POWER/LIGHT key to turn on the unit. To turn off the
unit, press the POWER/LIGHT key, select Power Off and press
ENTER.
Setup wizard
The Setup wizard will appear when unit is turned on
for the rst time. To choose your own settings, do not
run the setup wizard. To restart the Setup wizard, re-
store defaults.
Keypad
This unit’s keypad can be used in two ways. Pressing the arrow
symbols on the keypad will move the cursor in the corresponding
direction on the screen and allow you to scroll through menus.
Backlight
Tap the LIGHT/POWER key to make adjustments to the backlight
level and open the Backlight Menu. To turn on Night Mode from
the menu, highlight Night Mode and press ENTER. Night mode
optimizes the display for low light conditions.
Cursor
Use the unit’s keypad to move the cursor around the display, select onscreen objects,
highlight data items and view sonar history. Press EXIT to remove the cursor from
the screen.
Keypad

7
Getting Started
Language
Selects language used for menus, text boxes and messages.
To select a language:
1. Press MENU twice.
2. Select System and press ENTER
3. Highlight Language and press ENTER.
4. Use the keypad to select a language and
press ENTER.
Menus
This unit has a Settings menu, a Pages screen and several context
menus. The Settings menu provides access to the settings menus for
the three main operation modes: Sonar, Chart and Radar. The Settings
menu is accessed by pressing MENU twice.
The Pages screen allows you to select a page to be shown on the
display. Utilities are also accessed from the Pages screen. Press the
PAGES key to select a page.
Each page has its own context menu which allows you to access
functions for that page. Context menus are accessible only when its
corresponding page is displayed. The Sonar Menu, for example, will
only be available when the Sonar Page is on the display. To access a
context menu, select the desired page and press the MENU key.
Closing Menus
Press the EXIT key to close a menu. Repeatedly pressing EXIT will close all menus,
taking you back to the main screen.
Radar menu
Chart menu
Sonar menu
Pages screen
Settings
menu

8
Getting Started
Selecting Chart Data
This unit supports Lowrance and Navionics map
data. Chart data is selected from the Chart Settings
menu.
To select Chart data:
1. Press MENU twice.
2. Highlight Chart and press ENTER.
3. Select Chart Data and press ENTER.
4. Select the desired map data option and press ENTER.
Selecting a Fishing Mode
Fishing modes enhance the performance of your unit by providing preset packages
of sonar settings geared to specic shing conditions.
To select a shing mode:
1. Press MENU twice.
2. Select Sonar and press ENTER.
3. Highlight Fishing Mode and press ENTER.
4. Select the desired shing mode and press
ENTER.
Fishing
Mode Depth Settings Palette
General Use ≤1,000 ft 50% Ping speed Bottom brown/ blue background
Shallow Water ≤ 60 ft 75% Ping speed bottom brown/white background
Fresh Water ≤ 400 ft 50% Ping speed bottom brown/white background
Deep Water ≥ 1,000 ft 50% Ping speed Deep Blue
Slow Trolling ≤ 400 ft 50% Ping speed Bottom brown/white background
Fast Trolling ≤ 400 ft Lower chart speed Bottom brown/white background
Clear Water ≤ 400 ft 50% Ping speed Bottom brown/white background
Ice Fishing ≤ 400 ft Settings optimized to reduce interference from
other sonar units