Deeper PRO and CHIRP model series allow to choose between 3 different color palettes (Classic / Day / Night)
Choosing the right color palette can help you with interpreting fish size and bottom features like hardness of weeds. Colors you see on the screen are important in understanding how strongly underwater objects reflect the sonar signal, which is a key factor in determining their size and thickness.
ⓘ For best interpretation of fish size and bottom features, please use Narrow beam setting (PRO models) or Mid or Narrow beam setting of Deeper CHIRP. Wide beams are less accurate when determining fish size or bottom structure.
Day color palette (recommended)
This color palette is used in traditional boat sonars and is generally considered the best one to use. It allows you to get the most accurate understanding of underwater object size and bottom hardness.
The way of interpreting colors is quite simple: the intensity of the color equals to how strongly the ultrasound signal was reflected from the object. Big and hard objects will reflect ultrasound in a stronger manner, so they will be displayed with more vivid and bright colors. Soft objects like muddy bottom or weeds will be displayed in darker colors.
- Yellow colors - strongest reflection of the signal. You will see it from hard bottom, thick and hard underwater objects such as boulders, as well as big fishes. Sometimes you can see this color in areas with very dense vegetation.
- Red colors - medium reflection of the signal. You will see if from bottoms of medium hardness, as well as fishes of medium size. You might also see such colors from very thick weeds.
- Blue colors - weak reflection. Small fishes, baitfish and individual bushes of vegetation will appear in blue. Very soft, muddy bottoms will be seen as layer of blue colors that mix with red or yellow.
Classic color palette
This color palette contains special algorithms that interpret weeds and fishes, and mark weeds with green color and fishes with yellow. It is easier to understand for beginner users, but considering that the interpretation is done by an algorithm - inaccuracies can be expected. Other than that, understanding colors of this color mode is very similar to the Day color palette. The intensity of the color equals to how strongly the ultrasound signal was reflected from the object. Big and hard objects will reflect ultrasound in a stronger manner, so they will be displayed with more vivid and bright colors.
- White and red colors - strongest reflection of the signal. You will see it from hard bottom, thick and hard underwater objects such as boulders, as well as really big fishes. Sometimes you can see these colors in areas with very dense vegetation.
- Yellow colors - medium reflection of the signal. You will see if from bottoms of medium hardness, as well as fishes of different sizes. You might also see such colors from very thick vegetation.
- Green colors – vegetation or silt. You might also see green colors as a horizontal line going across the bottom - this means the bottom is very soft, made of mud or silt.
- Orange colors - weak reflection. This color will be seen on soft bottoms.
Night color palette
Choose this color palette in poor lightning conditions. For CHIRP models, colors used in Night color palette are inverted colors of the Day color palette, and logic of interpreting them is the same - the intensity and vividness of the color equals to how strongly the ultrasound signal was reflected from the object.
For PRO models, colors of Night color palette are similar to Classic color palette, except that they are dimmer.