When recording Lowrance .sl2 files to use in the creating a sidescan mosaic with the best resolution, is setting the structure scan distance on the HDS unit to a shorter number better than scanning further out? Lowrance normally recommends that the distance is set to approximately 3X the depth of water for viewing it on the HDS. I typically fish in water between 10' and 17'. However, at least on my HDS 3 and Live screens, the images are much clearer when scanning at 100' rather than 40', even when I
zoom in when set at the 100' distance. Don't know how this translates into the final map resolution.When recording .sl2 files, does the unit automatically set the distance? Any thoughts? Thanks.

Try the automatic setting. When Going over dramatic humps the range will change with the depth but I think you get a better image.

Mark Meierotto wrote:
Mark

Thanks for the reply. My main concern in leaving range on Auto for structure scan is that width of scan will keep changing, making it difficult to get side by side swaths that are well aligned or have mild overlap. I know you can reduce the width of the scanned segments, but if the swaths are separated because of a sudden auto reduction in range, there is no way to bring them closer together.