Lowrance HDS Heading Offset

[jason78]

I just got my new HDS7 installed. Works great however the Heading is off by about 15 degrees. This is no doubt because the unit is tilted slightly to the left so I can see it. (It is side mounted). Is there a way to manually offset the Heading to correct this? I don't see anything in the manual about it and it is hard for me to believe they expect this thing to be mounted perfectly straight in all installation secnarios.

Thanks
Jason

 

[66pony]

The heading should be from your GPS module. It really does not matter what the orientation of your head unit but the motion of the boat, unless you have a flux compass and then in setup you can adjust the heading.

 

[jason78]

I guess that makes sense, I just didnt think it through I guess. Any ideas why it would be so far off from my compass?

 

[cpschwa]

A GPS unit (not slaved to a compass) uses the boat's position change to derive a true heading. If you are comparing this to a magnetic heading from a compass it will be off by the magnetic declination of your location, which for your lake is around 8 degrees west.

Also, your boat might be pointed (magnetic heading) in a slightly different direction than you are traveling (true heading or more accurately course) due to currents.