I just downloarded Reef Master Sonar Viewer in hopes I could look at and edit waypoints off my Lowrance HDS8. I'm only 2 days into the trial period and if I could get it to work I'd buy in in a heartbeat. But each time I open the program then try to open a file (usr extention saved from the Lowrance) the program crashes. My laptop is running Windows 7 Pro.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you.

As a follow up I tried running the program on my desktop at home which runs Windows 10 Home Edition. Same result using two different files. I get a message saying the program had a problem and is shutting down. Any suggestions????

Are you trying to import SL2 or SLG sonar files, or USR files? USR files don't contain sonar information, but can contain waypoints which can be loaded into the SV (USR v2/3 only, not 4).

I think the likeliest cause of the crash is that your computer(s) don't have hardware support for Microsoft DirectX 10.1 or later - sometimes the SV is unable to detect this and the result is a crash. The best way to check for DX support is to run the program dxdiag. You can run this by bringing up the "Run" window (Windows key + R) and typing dxdiag. You are looking for the field "DDI Version" - if you click the "Save all Information" button within dxdiag, the details are saved to a text file and you can forward that to us as This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you would like me to take a look at it.

Thank you for the reply and direction. I really do want this program to work as i have a couple of hundred waypoints to enter that I received from an old salt now retired from fishing. It would be so much easier to do from my computer than entering directly into my Lowrance.

I ran the program you suggested on both computers. On my laptop I'm running DirectX Version: DirectX 11 and On my desktop it says I'm running DirectX Version: DirectX 12. The file I get from my device I'm trying to load has a "usr" extension.

Any help would be appreciated.

The Sonar Viewer is really better suited to viewing sonar log files than entering and managing waypoints. Although it does allow you to enter and edit waypoints, the waypoint features are rather basic - it is really designed to let you create waypoints over a sidescan mosaic.
Having said that, the program shouldn't crash when you try to open a waypoint file without a sonar file loaded, and it does sound as if there is a problem here. Would you be willing to share your USR file so that we can take a look? If so, please send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I'm sending the file directly to your email as I'd prefer to not post it in a public forum as these are personal entries found over a long period of fishing. My only reason for wanting to use some type of computer based tool is to look at, add and change waypoints. If you can get the problem figured out it would help me decide to purchase one of your programs.