Hi smithbl and welcome to the forum!
You need to play for a while when you're first out with your new unit, but the time you invest there is really an investment you'll never regret.
First set your unit to advanced mode in the set up tab. Then you have all access to different settings.
Next choose fresh water as your water type ( I think you're in fresh water in Alabama, right?).
An important setting is your chart speed in relation to your boat speed to get good pictures and avoid "shrink" or "stretched" pictures. I wrote something about it here:
http://forums.sideimagingsoft.com/index.php?topic=916.msg4657#msg4657Another thing: Side range in relation to water depth: Robert adviced to set the side range to 2 - 3 times the water depth and I always got good results with this setting. I.e. your water depth is 20 feet --> side range should be between 40 - 60 feet. This is the best compromise between detail vs. area covered. If you set it to full range the structure of the bottom will not have as much detail as in a lower range or smaller things might not be seen easily on your unit's screen.
Play with the colours as well. I prefer the blue for daylight and the brown for night time. I haven't used the new colours yet.
Another thing: Review your day on the water with HumViewer or YellowFin. You wont believe what you see when your looking at the recordings at home in front of your PC screen. Of course you need to do some recordings while on the water to do this later at home.
Martin's HumViewer can be downloaded in the Download Section here in the forum:
http://forums.sideimagingsoft.com/index.php?topic=778.0George wrote an excellent "how to" for the set up of HumViewer here:
http://forums.sideimagingsoft.com/index.php?topic=638.0For your waypoint management I recommend HumminbirdPC which can be downloaded on Humminbird's website after register your unit.
A lot to start with, but you'll love it in the end believe me.
Regards from Germany / Harry