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xxxxhornet
16-06-2004, 05:18 PM
G'day,

Has anyone had a similar problem with the above model sounder?
My problem is that it occassionally loses about half the pixels (looks like stripes on the screen or every second vertical line of pixels is missing).
It mainly happened at first when my battery (non-starting battery) was low, but on a recent trip, I fully charged it and come dark as soon as I put the backlight on it went haywire. It came good after a while with the light off.

I'm not sure if its my battery charger isnt fully charging my battery, or if its corrosion in the connection at the back of the unit (cant see any), or if its the unit itself.

My uncle had one and reckons he just sent it back to Lowrance and they sent him a new one (or the latest equiv) for the cost of the postage.

Any thoughts?

Needmorerum
16-06-2004, 06:12 PM
Mate, Lowrance is a top brand, but things do go wrong in the production system. There is bound to be something go wrong with some products. I bought a X47EX last year and it kept flicking over to demo mode, real pain in the a$$ when you need it. Anyway, I took it back and without question it was replaced. I was told that it was easier to replace them than to attempt a repair.
I would return it to the dealer and let them know, worse comes to worse, and it is to old for them to uphold a replacement, they may know what the problem is, or if it is common. It's worth a shot.

HTH
Corry

flytime
16-06-2004, 11:28 PM
hI XXXXHORNET,
I got an x51 in my new boat. It's got water in it the first week i had it. Took it back to the dealer and i'm still waiting 3 weeks later. Lowarance told me there were none in aus at the moment there still on the docks or on their way. Pretty slack i thought .....................!
Hope you have better luck
Steve #>:(

aido
17-06-2004, 03:36 AM
losing half the displayed pixels is a serious defect
and has nothing to do with the external connectors.
definately send it back while you can.

i once had a lowrance x-25 (from memory)..
one of the touch pad keys (menu) stopped responding and
mine was out of warranty, doh.
they had a replace rather than repair scheme back then,
but it was very expensive.
the problem is the sounder case was 2 part shell thats fused
together when assembled. theory is good, the unit is sealed
and water (vapours) should never get in.
in practice it fogged up at the drop of a hat.
so being short of cash, out with a small modelling saw,
cut the case open around the seam, replaced the switch, and
i was back in business.
lowrance was a pain in the butt, and i always try to buy gear
now that can at least be opened and serviced in the traditional
way.

SeaHunt
17-06-2004, 09:57 AM
I had an X51, still have actually, only its a replacement one.
It was only 9 months old and just lost the bottom one day while I was using it, the screen still worked.
I thought it was the transducer, but that tested out OK on another box.
Sent it back , took about 4 weeks to get a replacement , and they put a little note in the box saying it is not designed to be left in direct sunlight or enclosed place in the sun where it can get too hot.. Infering I had cooked it somehow. # >:(
WTF is this crap I thought, It is on a boat after all, It's going to get the sun on it. #>:(
Anyway mine is under the canopy and in a garage at home.?
Everyone says they are a good sounder, but you would be at least the 6th person I have heard having trouble with the X51 in the last 12 months (apart from me).
BTW if sending it back, keep all the bits and pieces at home, they didn't send my knobs back, even though the unit itself was replaced. #:P

Hagar
17-06-2004, 10:14 AM
xxxxhornet
Sounds a bit tragic I gotta admit . I have spoken to the tech support people about similar things and you could try what they told me to do as a first up troubleshooting . Turn the unit off and then turn back on holding the power and exit keys together for at least five seconds and let it power up normally . Resets the memory of the unit . Repeat three times was the instructions I was given . Costs nothing to try .

Chris

xxxxhornet
17-06-2004, 11:36 AM
Thanks for the advice guys,

How about leaving them connected up - some people say to leave them connected in the boat so as not to wear out the connection and threads but it might walk.....

sharkbait
17-06-2004, 12:48 PM
Definitely leave it connected, I learnt that the hard way. The pins will go in the power lead, and leave you stranded when you need it. Mine is a x71, and it also loses pixels, but only when the light has been on for an hour or two, it becomes hard to see whats on the screen, although it still reads bottom. During the day, with the light off, its great. Personally, lowrance are good when they are working, but I'm not buying another one.

Kris.

Needmorerum
19-06-2004, 04:56 PM
Well mine is just coming on to 12 months old now and after reading this I'm getting stressed... NOT. I don't want to come across like the grinch but, how many of these things are sold compared to how many related problems. It's like anything, I'm involved in the 4WD scene as well and this sort of argument comes up here as well. You only ever here about the bad things, if everyone who owns a Lowrance Sounder that hasn't had any problems I would probably expect the internet to crash.
I personally know of at least 8 people who own Lowrance sounder and have not reported a problem yet. This is the reason I bought mine, although I have had a problem with it, I put it down to the same senario as the people that have bought bad cars, there are lemons with everything.
In saying this, I'm not dead set a Lowrance man, Cruiser man maybe but not a dead set Lowrance man, I am willing to take criticism for one item as much as the other. I just think that most brands should be given a chance. Allot happens to these things between being constructed and then freighted over here.
Anyway, my two bobs worth.

Corry