Lowrance HDS Favor?

[Mickey Finn]

I'm wondering if someone might be able to help me out. Lowrance added "Phantom Loran" to the software udate for the HDS units a couple updates ago. It allows you to see your position in both Lat/Lon coordinates and the old Loran coordinates. Older units like my LCX15MT and my LMS520C had this option and they worked fine. The problem I'm having with the HDS unit is that the Lat/Lon coordinates and the Loran coordinates displayed on the screen are about 5 miles apart. In some of the areas I fish we use the loran numbers becasue they line up with structure in the lake better than the LAt/Lon numbers do plus the guys I fish with learned the structure of the lake by these loran numbers and prefer to still use them. I don't think many of you use the loran numbers any more but I was wondering if anyone has noticed this or if I might be able to get some of you to check your HDS units to see if they show this same inaccuracy. If anyone has the time to check this out, I'd be very thankful. You can turn on Phantom Loran in the Navigation menu. From the chart screen, hit Menu, then settings, then Navigation. From there you should be able to turn on Phanton Loran as long as you have one of the recent software updates. After that, just select loran settings right below it and select the GRI of "9960 Northeast USA. Under preferred stations, I'm using the numbers ending in "W" first and "Z" second. IF you zoom out and put your curser on Stoney Point near the light you should see Lat/Lon numbers of about N 43*50.325, W 76*17.871 and loran numbers of 15810.00 W, 60155.00 Z. My lat/lon numbers are accurate but my loran numbers are 15783.52 W, 60129.29 Z which is about 5 miles away in a location about half way between the foot of Stoney Island and the foot of Galloo Island. I called Lowrance on this and the 1st responce was that it was normal because there would be some discrepency between GPS and loran but when I asked how the coast guard was going to find me looking 5 miles away they agreed that maybe it should be more accurate than that. So after much time on hold they told me that there was a difference between loran and GPS and there was nothing they could do about it but I could send my unit in to be checked if I wanted. I'm pretty sure its not a unit problem. I think they have a calculation problem in the software updates. I just wanted to confirm that other HDS units were having the same issue before I send it in to be checked. Maybe if one of you have a chance, you could check this for me. Send me a PM if you want and I'll give you my cell number. Thanks in advance.

Steve

[jimski2]

If you really want to get lost, just call Lowrance for service. They have an operator called "Peggy" who can steer you to tears.

[Mickey Finn]

I was surprised at how fast they got to my call. I was only on hold for a minute or so but then to hear him tell me that this was normal set me off a little. I think he could sense this and then decided that maybe the standard "this is normal" response wasn't going to work this time. He also told me "We've never had this problem reported" and then later in the conversation told me he was going to check to see if anyone had ever reported this problem. WTF? I'm sure this is a software issue but getting to talk with someone who can understand that isn't possible I guess. Thats why I was hoping someone else could verify that this is happening with all the HDS units. Then I'd call them back again. I don't want to call up and create a riot if it's just my unit. I also don't want to send it in if there's nothing wrong with it.