Lowrance Rant

[chinook35]

First , let me apologize for posting this here , It probably should go in this old boat . BUT , I wanted to be sure lots of folks see it . I bought , and installed , a Hook 7X sonar in April . It was a chore because everything is  different , mounting bracket , transducer bracket ,etc. I took the boat up to the St. Lawrence for perch in early May . The battery was deader than dead . had jump box . Decided it was time for new batt . so replaced that . Thought I left sonar on because it has a strange shut of process . Take boat to Lake O  for shake down run ,Batt dead . To shorten this up ,  I spent 2 days looking for draw on Batt. Had alt . tested , that's fine . ok , time to look at sonar . That's the culprit . Screen was very hot to touch with power off . , called Lowrance ,got some guy who has english as second language , ok , no problem , told him the story , he was punching it into his pc , after a minute he tells me I need to hook up the yellow wire . There is NO yellow wire ,only red and black ,ok back on hold , comes back and tells me I need to use the in line fuse . ok that was done at install . Back on hold for 20 minutes . New guy picks up and says "Navico ,can I help you ?"  getting hot now , Told story again . New guy says it has to go back for repair . I ask how long . Now this is good . If I give them a $179 dollar deposit to insure that it's warranty I would get it back in 10 days . what ,WHAT .?  face now very red and voice getting louder . I said the unit is 3 months old , how can it NOT be warranty ? So he says he will send me an authorization for return . Ok , I ask if the label is prepaid , small delay , and he says ok he can do that . But because it's closing time I won't get it till tomorrow  10 minutes later I get a label by email that is not prepaid . If the prepaid label is not here tomorrow ,It's back on the phone .   I have been a loyal Lowrance customer for 40 years . My first sonar was a green box flasher in the 70's . But this just lost them a loyal customer . Think my X136DF is going back on and call it good . Thanks for letting me vent . 

 

this is getting really strange . I contacted Lowrance to give kudos to the tech "Ryan" . He was true to his word and sent me the prepaid label as promised . I also inquired about the deposit that he asked for .I got an email response today which I would like to share This is a direct quote : Dear Mr. Reynolds ,

                                               Very happy to hear Ryan was able to assist you. Advance shipments do require a deposit that is refunded.We can work out where we could advance ship once you ship yours to us and we are given the tracking . Pending approval of course .But if you can wait till the end of the season that works as well .

Thank you for choosing Navico products !

Navico Technical Support

 

 

Can someone decipher this for me ?  What I understand is that unless I send $179 deposit (no mention about when it is refunded) Navico will keep my warranty Hook 7X till the end of the season before returning it . What season Fall , winter ?   I am wondering if this is even legal ? I only paid $399 for this unit , that should have been a wake up call .I have decided that I will NOT return this unit till after the fishing season . I will NOT give them any kund of deposit . I will unplug the power cable after each trip to keep it from draining my battery . And next season I will be buying a  new NOT Lowrance sonar .

Edited July 28, 2016 by chinook35

[Skidplate]

My hummingbird just froze up on me after 5 years for 350 they sent me a rebuild in less then a week that's one model better and spoke perfect English.hopefully they take care of you

[lost a lure]

You get what u pay for!

[chinook35]

You get what u pay for!

[emoji106]

[Xxx]

That's not right, weather you pay $600 or 6000, poor customer service is not acceptable if he bought a Lowrance hds 12 he would of got the same person who can't speak English right?? So the guy has enough mental anguish without a kick to the ribs

[Yankee Troller]

I had all Lowrance on my bass boats until one day I had to deal with their customer service. I literally waited an hour on the phone to talk to someone. When I did get to talk to someone I was told they could sell me the part I needed, but I could probably find it cheaper on the internet. I lost it and vowed to never buy Lowrance again!

[Sk8man]

I've had Lowrance's for many years and Vexilars before that.  Lowrance has never been known for  "stellar" servicing and their manuals are a total joke but most of the time they work OK. Something that has really accentuated the current situation is that they were taken over by Navico awhile back and since that point everything has deteriorated both in terms of the quality control and especially the servicing.  Humminbirds are not always totally problem free either as friends have had failures with them as well but the difference  is in the servicing and this is an important difference. They seem to have their servicing act together and are customer oriented. My next unit will probably be different than Lowrance.

[chinook35]

I've had Lowrance's for many years and Vexilars before that.  Lowrance has never been known for  "stellar" servicing and their manuals are a total joke but most of the time they work OK. Something that has really accentuated the current situation is that they were taken over by Navico awhile back and since that point everything has deteriorated both in terms of the quality control and especially the servicing.  Humminbirds are not always totally problem free either as friends have had failures with them as well but the difference  is in the servicing and this is an important difference. They seem to have their servicing act together and are customer oriented. My next unit will probably be different than Lowrance.

[Thun]

A few years ago I bought a 500 series Humminbird to use as a portable unit on a rented boat. It was about $600 at the time and the only complaint I have is that it didn't come with a manual. It sure would be nice to have a manual with you on the boat to shorten that learning curve.

[Xxx]

The newer lowrance units have a cd, when was the last time you took your laptop fishing?? Really???

[UNREEL]

When I first joined LOU in '09 I was looking for a FF and remember somebody in a post said, "Friends don't let friends buy Lowrance". I'm glad I paid attention

Edited July 28, 2016 by UNREEL

[laker1]

I have been a long time Lowrance owner and advocate. Lowrance lost me the day they talked down to me me telling me that my favourite unit should be thrown in the trash rather than try to repair it. I loved that machine! And spent a lot of money that I did not have just to get that unit. It was so special. So when I retired I went to Humminbird and bought their top of the line. I have had no regrets. Humminbird customer service is just great, they are very understanding and no question is a dumb one. My next sonar for boat number two will be a Humminbird!

[jimalbert]

I've had issues with Lowrance in the past also and have moved to Garmin.  Just bought a Striker 4DV for my bow when I fish for bass and after I installed the power wire and tried to plug the unit in I noticed that one of the power pins was bent over.  I had a new one 2 days later.  Love Garmin's customer service.

 

Jim

[Todd in NY]

I currently own and use four different Humminbird units on my 2 boats and I have NO issues with them at all. When I have called customer service with "newbie" questions they were very professional every time I called them.