LIVESCOPE vs. ACTIVE TARGET (Forward Facing)

[@troutnut01]

I’m glad you do these and thank God you do it from a Bass Cat 🥰. Love my Puma.

[@PushinWeightBaits]

Thanks for the comparison! Both look like excellent products. At some point, I’ll be moving in the Lowrance/Active Target direction.

[@JohnCrews]

Bingo

[@Mark-dj5qf]

Thanks John, I have both on different boats, one on a pole and one on the ghost. I love them both and I’m keeping them both. You did a great comparison, I really enjoyed watching this. Keep up the awesome content.

[@machappyday]

I have a love hate for my lowrance active target. Love it when I can catch what I'm seeing and hate it when I know the fish are there and looking at the bait and can't get them to bit.

[@douglasspickler4925]

Nice job thanks for taking the time for the comparisons. I'm glad I have the Lowrance because the auto mode is good and I don't have to adjust things. I would probably mess up the Garmin.

[@JohnCrews]

Oh, you can mess them both up 😂😂

[@davidb.8786]

I injoy my lowrance I am poor but got it on sale and it on a 10ft boat

[@robertfrancola8887]

John always great content. Thanks for what you do.

[@lescook1084]

Great video that takes out the mystery. Now that Hummingbird has come out with Mega Live, I would love to know how it compares as well.

[@JohnCrews]

Me too 👊🏼

[@jelmo1057]

Actually no I really couldn’t see the pictures, the glare made it difficult. However even if I had been able to see the screen, it really comes back to knowing what to look for, or rather interpreting the images on the screen. This pretty much confirms my suspicions, I don’t know what I’m looking at short of maybe the bridge or dock pilings, which is my own short comings, not the electronics.

[@codyhooser3333]

Great video brother 👍

[@neilandevette]

Garmin wins for me just because Garmin customer service is without a doubt better by a mile than lowrance customer service is. Nice video!

[@michaelvice6805]

I would have to argue with u about lowrance customer service. I have had to call them 3 times. Have had great success with them. They have went above and beyond to help. Just my two cents.

[@icefisher1171]

Never had an issue with lowrance service. Always email me back very quickly. Always helpful.

[@rickvann3489]

I would had like to seen you use the mega 360 trick by tuning it to side scan and compared it to the others.

[@kenburgess1229]

Thanks John. Great comparison. I run an AT mounted to the head of my Ghost, but also have a Mega 360. With both pinging at the same time, I get pulses (or crescents) going across the AT image. Have you seen that? If so, were you able to solve?

[@JohnCrews]

Yes, not much you can do for it

[@bassngal3314]

Owning both this is my two cents: first the garmin needs to be on the green color to get the best images and you must use the gain and set the depth range to twice of what you’re in to get the most detail, as for the active target the most annoying thing is the continual ping interference if you will that you see come across the screen every second which the garmin doesn’t have and you only have contrast to try and make it sharper and the fish are more linear than fish like as is on the garmin this coming from a lifelong Lowrance user since the 80’s!

[@JohnCrews]

Good input. Thanks

[@troutnut01]

I’m wondering if lowrance addresses this in the new model that is coming out this year ? #LowranceLifer2

[@robertfrancola8887]

John just saw your new boat and how you have the sonar rigged. Lowrance for 2D and Charts at bow, Garmin for forward facing at bow, and Hummingbird 360 at bow. Lowrance 12 at console for chart and 2D, and Hummingbird at console for down and side scan. Are you saying that you picked three different manufactures because each unit is the best at what you use it for?

[@JohnCrews]

Yes. Active Target is very comparable to Livescope but I was used to it

[@steveclark6283]

increase the Gain on the Garmin will help with detail.

[@MrWeezy-zz6ou]

U should have added 1 more test.. the "can i see the lure" challenge.. run a crankbait into the beams and see which umit picks it up the best 👌 Great video though... love my Livescope but I'm a mad rookie at it

[@JohnCrews]

You can see baits in both. Maybe a follow up idea

[@bigc8018]

Good job as always, brah. One question. Obviously the Lowrance had a record feature that the Garmin doesn't so, how much would you say the difference of one unit being able to record and the other being recorded on a camera skew the results. I know from fishing with both units the difference seems minimal, but in this context, I think the Lowrance had the advantage of being able to record intrinsically.

[@JohnCrews]

The GARMIN I have won’t screen record but others will. I don’t think the difference was in the video but the I could very much see a little crisper further out with Lowrance. GARMIN was good too.

[@jenlvjim]

That was a cop out answer

[@JohnCrews]

I really thought one was going to be better so I’m more disappointed than you. I don’t know which one I’m going to run next year

[@zlaupp]

I hear the screen resolution isn't the same between the hds and echomap ultra units. You'd need to compare hds with the 8600/8400 series from garmin. For the pixel densities to be more similar. RMP did a video on the "best" unit for livescope.

[@JohnCrews]

I’m using what my friend at GARMIN suggested. It’s what he uses.

[@zlaupp]

@@JohnCrews yup they are great units. I personally run a 93sv and hds 9s for everything else.

[@richardj6593]

If it is true that fish get conditioned to the sound and vibrations of forward facing sonar and stop biting over time, then individual manufacturers have a chance to take the lead by simply building a sound distorter on the transducer that mixes up or masks the sound and frequency to keep fish from getting conditioned. Wait and see, this is be a huge selling point for the first company to do it.

[@douglasspickler4925]

On the active Target what are the flash signals ? Interference? Transducer ping?

[@JohnCrews]

Interference with either 360, other live, or 2D

[@crankintanks2092]

If you could only afford one which one would you pick hummingbird 360 or active target

[@JohnCrews]

Active Target I think

[@brandonpalmeryakangling]

Hey John - Great vid btw.. You mentioned interference between the 2 units - I run 2 93sv Garmin's on a Hobie PA14. By chance is it possible that I could be experiencing the same due to them being so close to one another? I have them networked, but I seem to often have a burn/stale image while running LiveScope. Thoughts? THX!

[@JohnCrews]

Could be! Try running each with the other totally off. Thanks man

[@stephendavis7955]

John, from what I have been reading and videos that I have watched that most everyone uses the Active Target or the Garmin. Plus they also have the Humminbird Mega 360. But they never mention if they use them together. Plus they never talk about interference. I just bought the Active Target and the Mega 360. All of the videos and articles that I have been reading does not mention that there is any interference between them. Is there any interference? I know most everyone uses them different. Is there any time that you may use them together? I have the ghost trolling motor how would be the best way to mount the Active Target and the Mega 360. Nice job!

[@JohnCrews]

Thanks man. Yes, there is a little interference but not bad. I’d mount the Active Target on the head of the trolling motor. Getting it away from the 360 helps them both. Might have to do a video on how to use them together

[@stephendavis7955]

Thank you John. That would be great!

[@civilized5734]

I used livescope and the 360 and get no interference...go for it!

[@Bogeypro256]

Why didn't we get the onscreen video for Garmin? We couldn't see jack from a video of the screen. .. this seems slanted toward your favorite...

[@JohnCrews]

We tried but the Echomap won’t do s teen record. Sorry

[@jaggededgeoutdoors3334]

Does anyone know if you can run active target and a regular transducer on the same head unit? As a kayak fisherman, the less units I have to mount, the better.

[@JohnCrews]

Yes, you can. 👍🏼

[@jaggededgeoutdoors3334]

Awesome! Thanks!

[@colinmiller6160]

Is that pole on the side of your trolling motor for the active target setups or is that for a 360 degree scan if its not for 360 scan I’m trying to setup active target im curios who makes that pole.

[@chasealisacleary6007]

Which Garmin unit are you running? Is that 10 inch or 12 inch? Also which lowrance?

[@JohnCrews]

Echomap 102 = 10”, Lowrance LIVE 12

[@renaudtheis1197]

Great video John. Obviously looking from here Lowrence takes the win just because of the record function. Give it another 5 years and it will display in side imaging quality and in color. “It’s called fishing not catching” will loose its meaning.

[@tonysilveira30]

The higher end garmin graph can screen record too.

[@JohnCrews]

I don’t have that GARMIN 😬

[@thejimster47]

Do you have to change settings every time you go to another fishing spot on active target like you do on Panoptix live scope?

[@natewallis3885]

I'm running active target at 80' being the fastest out I look. Please do yourself a favor and don't run in auto depth whichever one you run set a depth and fish size will be consistent just like in di.

[@JohnCrews]

Agreed! Good call

[@ttillma1]

Video and laptop views for active target and only far camera view for livescope. Y'all didn't catch that.

[@JohnCrews]

No way to screen record Livescope

[@cerebraltackle]

I'm not impressed with either, honestly. For that price tag, I'd expect more.

[@BassUnion]

How does the lag compare? I tried one of the first AT’s and was surprised there was a 1/2 second delay compared to livescope.

[@JohnCrews]

Not much lag at all

[@natewallis3885]

If your running the active target turn off stable mode. Fixed the little lag in mine. Can't speak to garmin

[@davidb.8786]

I had to come back I heard what you said I draw really you can hear the excitement in your voice when you're looking at the lowrance so you lost my vote

[@JohnCrews]

I’m excited because I thought it was going to suck. I’m still running Livescope this coming year

[@petejablowski2123]

12 inch screen has a higher resolution so this test isn’t fair

[@jimhardison3142]

I thought set up instructions were great. I would like to see more pics of active Target transducer positions. I have active target and struggle with proper positioning and angle. Lowrance is very lacking in their manuals.

[@2quack]

Lol, Hummingbird blows both of these away.

[@JohnCrews]

Now that is funny

[@jeremyjohnston2583]

Lmao this a joke? Real fair comparison hahah

[@JohnCrews]

Please enlighten us.

[@BillSr.]

Not even fair to be honest. Lowrance released their transducer after Garmin had their old one out for years. Garmin's LV34 transducer is way better than Lowrance. This is the old Garmin LVS32 you're using now, right? You should had used the LV34 transducer.

[@eddiestephens868]

Not a good picture on the units too much glare to see!

[@chrisfetner332]

Why do we see the active target screen up close and the garmin screen from a distance? The Garmin will actually show details of a fish with head and tail. The active target displays the fish as a vertical line. No comparison. The Garmin is superior.

[@JohnCrews]

They are both good. Lowrance has screen record but the GARMIN unit I have does not. Other GARMIN units do have screen record

[@icefisher1171]

Nope. Not really. The Lowrance is a much clearer picture. Better detail.