NAVICO TotalScan SONAR Tranducer

[jimh]

NAVICO, the parent of Lowrance and Simrad, have announced a new SONAR transducer they are calling the TotalScan transducer. They describe this transducer as an "all-in-one transducer that matches [their brand of frequency modulated pulse compression] SONAR with StructureScanHD and DownScan Imaging technology."

Navico TotalScan Transducer

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The TotalScan transducer will utilize a new 9-pin black connector called the xSonic connector. To fit the TotalScan xSonic connector to legacy SONAR products using the 7-pin blue connector, an adaptor cable will be necessary. Unfortunately, when used with the adaptor cable, the side scanning function will be lost.

NAVICO says the TotalScan transducer:

--is an all-in-one transducer featuring [frequency modulated pulse compression] SONAR, StructureScan® HD and DownScan Imaging;

--supports 83/200kHz Broadband Sounder frequencies;

--supports Medium and High [frequency ranges of frequency modulated pulse compression] SONAR frequencies;

--supports 455 and 800kHz [side scan high definition] frequencies;

--has multiple mounting options;

--is fully compatible with Lowrance HDS Gen3, HDS Gen2 Touch, Elite-7Ti, Elite-5Ti, Simrad NSS evo2, and NSO evo2 via SonarHub Sounder Module; and

--is compatible with select legacy displays, but requires use of a xSonic transducer adapter, and side-scanning SONAR is not supported on legacy products.

The fully-compatible products are those devices that already have the black 9-pin xSonic connector, which was previously used for connecting the Structure Scan HD transducer.

HDS-12 Gen3 Rear Panel

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Lowrance HDS-12 Gen3 Rear Panel showing black 9-pin transducer connector now called the xSonic connector

When the new TotalScan transducer is connected at this 9-pin transducer connector, it can be used for all three applications, that is, frequency modulated pulse compression (or CHIRP), side scanning (or StructureScan HD) or conventional downward directed SONAR with higher frequencies (or DownScan Imaging). Having all three functions in one transducer will be an attractive option to replace using two or three separate transducers.

Navico also announced that three more transducer will be utilizing the xSonic connector, and then applies the name "xSonic transducer" to these other models. The three xSonic transducers will be

--an HDI Skimmer with Low/High CHIRP and DownScan Imaging

--Lowrance HDI Skimmer with Medium/High CHIRP and DownScan Imaging, and

--a Simrad HDI Skimmer with Medium/High CHIRP and DownScan Imaging.

I don't really understand what Navico means by "HDI Skimmer" as a type of transducer. The use of so many trade names to describe the SONAR functions has led to confusion for me. If anyone knows what "HDI Skimmer" means, please inform us.

[jimh]

In case you were wondering about the two devices, Elite-7Ti and Elite-5Ti, that are listed above as being compatible with the TotalScan transducer, those yet-to be-seen products are apparently something new and in the works from Lowrance. They should be announced this month. A Bass Pro Shop website apparently spilled the beans about them, but the web pages about the Elite-7Ti and Elite-5Ti have apparently been removed for now.

[crabby]

HDI means Hybrid Dual Imaging, but I don't really know what that means. [It is a] skimmer transducer from Lowrance and typically a small puck made for transom mounting.

[jimh]

All of these trade names and acronyms for trade names of various SONAR methods just keep me confused. I think the acronym HDI is an acronym for hybrid dual imaging, as mentioned above. But this is an awful use of "HD" because Lowrance uses 'HD" to mean high-definition, and they call all their newer products "HDS" products for (I suppose} high definition SONAR. Here we have a company using HD to mean two completely different things in the same product lines.

By the way, I believe that the HDS or high-definition SONAR is just the same pulsed SONAR at the same frequencies we have always been using except the pulse duration was made very short and the bandwidth of the detector made very wide. That is what the HD in HDS means.

As for HDI, Lowrance now intends "HD" part to mean "hybrid dual"--very confusing--and the "I" part to mean "imaging." I believe that the HDI transducer must then be a transducer that has the 83-kHz and 200-kHz elements used in the usual HDS SONAR products, and also has a higher frequency downward-looking transducer that is used to get an even higher resolution image. Generally in SONAR the wavelength of the signal determines the target resolution. Using higher frequency, say 400-kHz, gives better target resolution. So perhaps a hybrid dual imaging transducer is an array of two or three elements in a housing--in this case a skimmer housing--that can work at 82, 200, and 400-kHz simultaneously, and the transducer points downward toward the bottom. I hope that is right.

[Peter]

I have a Lowrance Elite 5 HDI. The difference between the HDI and the non HDI model is the ability to display the higher frequency (455/800 KHz) fish finder image along side the lower frequency fish finder image (83/200 KHz). I cannot recall if you can have all four frequencies displayed at one time. The screen on the 5 inch unit is too small to make use of that even if you can.

[jimh]

Lowrance now has a webpage for the TotalScan Skimmer transducer with 83/200/455/800kHz, Medium/High CHIRP elements. The MSRP is $300. They also have published the installation manual.

UPDATE: fixed a link that went to an error result, even though only a few weeks old.

[til]

Will [the just announced NAVICO TotalScan SONAR transducer] also work with the [StructureScan 3D] box?

[jimh]

According to Lowrance's product webpage, the StructureScan 3D module is "used in combination with the SideScan 3D Skimmer® transducer."

The Lowrance SideScan 3D Skimmer® transducer is a unique transducer with an unusual dual cable assembly. I do not see any possible inference in the literature about the StructureScan 3D or the TotalScan transducer that would lead to a conclusion the two devices are compatible, but who really knows?

[porthole]

Lowrance now has a webpage for the TotalScan Skimmer transducer with 83/200/455/800kHz, Medium/High CHIRP elements. The MSRP is $300. They also have published the installation manual.

It appears that the above linked page is now at

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/ ... en-us.aspx

And the installation manual linked above and on the web appear to be for the older transducer, at least the pictures referenced in the manual are the previous version.

[NOTE: I fixed the broken link where it appeared above. I guess Lowrance's website changes navigation on a weekly basis. In technical manual writing, a lot of boiler-plate is used, so it is not unheard of that a previous illustration to show placement might be reused, even though the appearance of the transducer might not correspond--jimh]

[jimh]

It seems that compatibility with SONAR devices for the TotalScan transducer may presently be limited to just the newly introduced ELITE-7 TI or ELITE-5 TI, but may be coming to the other HDS models mentioned (see above) sometime soon, probably after a firmware update is released to support the new transducer in those models. Lowrance sounders typically have a transducer selection menu option in which the operator has to inform the sounder of the exact model of transducer that has been connected. Introducing the TotalScan transducer to that selection option menu is probably needed, as well as setting up the sounder to the optimum parameters to use the transducer, and this will likely be seen in a firmware upgrade.

Or, completely on a different track, the new xSonic transducers may be using some sort of wired identification code that permits a connected sounder to identify the transducer as soon as it is connected to the sounder by sensing some sort of identification device in the transducer or a wiring pattern in certain connections. This is known generically as transducer-ID or XID (for xducer-ID). I don't know which path Navico is taking. It would seem like XID is the more modern approach, but one might suspect that in order for XID to be recognized by the sounder, the sounder would need to have some hardware to read the identity.

In AIRMAR brand SONAR transducers the term XID refers to the embedding of a small microcontroller inside the transducer that communicates over a single conductor to the attached sounder. The XID transducer can send information about itself to the sounder over this single-wire communication link. Whether Navico had built the required XID receiving electronics into their sounders is not known to me at this moment, however in an on-line forum comment, one Navico user suggests that Navco sounders can read data from Airmar transducers using XID. If that is true--and why wouldn't it be true--then perhaps the TotalScan transducer will also have XID in some form or another, and perhaps with the same protocol and identification methods used by Airmar.

[jimh]

Lowrance has updated their HDS Gen-3 chart plotter and SONAR devices to be able to use the TotalScan SONAR transducer. Their firmware update version 3.5 adds the necessary software to the HDS to be able to use the TotalScan transducer, and this update was released several months ago, in March 2016. (Note that Lowrance has already released a version 4.0 update that follows the version 3.5 release.) The application notes for the version 3.5 release can be found at

https://www.lowrance.com/Global/Lowrance/Support/G2T%20RTM%205.5_G3%20RTM%203.5%20Release%20Notes.pdf

The TotalScan transducer cable is terminated in a 9-pin connector, now called the xSonic connector, and the HDS has a mating connector, called the "Structure Scan" connector.

Lowrance is now selling HDS Gen3 units in bundles with the TotalScan transducer.

[Warpdrv]

Looks like [NAVICO] updated the TotalScan transducer's mount to plastic with ratcheting locking teeth adjustment.