Lowrance/navico Customer Service?

[lee8sec]

Sadly i can report it hasn't improved in the last week. I ordered, through a dealer the ethernet cable to do soft ware ungrades on my HDS5X, was told nil stock, due in a week. Well now 2 weeks has gone, still nil stock & NO eta.
This cable should be supplied with the unit as without it you can do software reflashing. Leigh

[NEWBY]

Sadly i can report it hasn't improved in the last week. I ordered, through a dealer the ethernet cable to do soft ware ungrades on my HDS5X, was told nil stock, due in a week. Well now 2 weeks has gone, still nil stock & NO eta.
This cable should be supplied with the unit as without it you can do software reflashing. Leigh

Mate, I did mine off the card...Does the HDS 5 not have a card slot?
Call Rob at tech support. 1300628426

[krazyfisher]

the hds 5x sounder does not have a card slot as it is only a sounder

[lee8sec]

The 5X doesnt have a slot, you use the card slot on the 5M & the cable to join the units together. Leigh

Mate, I did mine off the card...Does the HDS 5 not have a card slot?
Call Rob at tech support. 1300628426

[Sandman]

I have held off from buying one as my mate purchased one and it was sent off with a new unit returned its HDS5 which appear not to have as many probs.

But going by what i have read its dead in the water and going by the views of this thread Lowrance hasnt done themselves any favours .

Cookies and beer are out gotta go to work

[NEWBY]

I have held off from buying one as my mate purchased one and it was sent off with a new unit returned its HDS5 which appear not to have as many probs.

But going by what i have read its dead in the water and going by the views of this thread Lowrance hasnt done themselves any favours .

Cookies and beer are out gotta go to work

Your right, they have not done themselves any favours. Millions a year in advertising to get me to buy their gear. No amount of advertising will get me to buy Lowrance again. A bit of good customer service would have kept me. You ca cop the problems if they acknowledge, accept and atack them.

[Lucky_Phill]

AS you know big fella.... I am a Garmin / Furuno fan from way back to papergragh stuff and Sat Nav.

I hear ya about customer service......... Where TF has it gone these days, do not business's care about return customers or even backing their product ????

I remember when I first met you and we discussed your business and you told me a little story about " it's not the price of the car, but the deal ". I have taken that on board when starting my own business and have never looked back. Never seriously advertised and do not have one unhappy customer in over 2 years.

This thread is about customer service, I see that. It is also about the lack of product knowledge by support staff and substandard product. I can accept human error and electronics are fickle, but when it comes to many thousands of ( hard earned or borrowed ) dollars being spent to improve the quality of leisure time on the water, it is hard to fathom the attitude of Lowrance Navico.

Sorry to hear about your bent shaft........ hope your marriage doesn't suffer because of that

The only thing I can tell you is that I purchased a Furuno 668 many years ago for my 17ft boat. At the same time purchased a garmin GPS.

Furuno ( very old technology CRT ) still going strong on new boat and Gramin was upgraded. Never had an issue. Maybe I am lucky ????

Anyway. when you have a few minutes, have a squizz here.

You can get a free DVD ( which I have ), mind blowing technology

http://www.wassp.com/


cheers LP

[NEWBY]

AS you know big fella.... I am a Garmin / Furuno fan from way back to papergragh stuff and Sat Nav.

I hear ya about customer service......... Where TF has it gone these days, do not business's care about return customers or even backing their product ????

I remember when I first met you and we discussed your business and you told me a little story about " it's not the price of the car, but the deal ". I have taken that on board when starting my own business and have never looked back. Never seriously advertised and do not have one unhappy customer in over 2 years.

This thread is about customer service, I see that. It is also about the lack of product knowledge by support staff and substandard product. I can accept human error and electronics are fickle, but when it comes to many thousands of ( hard earned or borrowed ) dollars being spent to improve the quality of leisure time on the water, it is hard to fathom the attitude of Lowrance Navico.

Sorry to hear about your bent shaft........ hope your marriage doesn't suffer because of that

The only thing I can tell you is that I purchased a Furuno 668 many years ago for my 17ft boat. At the same time purchased a garmin GPS.

Furuno ( very old technology CRT ) still going strong on new boat and Gramin was upgraded. Never had an issue. Maybe I am lucky ????

Anyway. when you have a few minutes, have a squizz here.

You can get a free DVD ( which I have ), mind blowing technology

http://www.wassp.com/


cheers LP

Been there, got the DVD nearly 5 years ago mate.
Thanks anyway Mr Johnny Come Lately.
Thanks for the positive reinforcement on the advice I gave you. There are many more little gems I use mate... Over a few coldies one day...

[Bowser]

I have had Lowrance gear for many years now, some from here and some from the States. I have had some difficulties generally through exposure or electrical problems but in all honesty have found that their customer service here in Oz has been great. I have even had units replaced from the States where, when I really looked at the problem worked out that it was my fault not the units (electrical spike cooked the antenae and head unit) without whimper. I have called Oz for technical support several times and got through very quickly, got an answer or advice and moved on. I understand that this isn't always the case in the States but we don't live there so who gives a ....!

I know that Furono gear has a great rep for reliability, but bear in mind the boats that have them fitted. They are expensive items and are generally fitted to larger boats inside cabins/hardtops generally professionally installed and well mounted and very protected protected. The guys with small boats don't spend the same dollars on the sounder as it is not reality to put a unit that costs close to 2 grand in 5 grand boat. Units fitted to these boats are generally less protected, cop the odd and sometimes a lot of sea water over the side and still perform. Sure in these cases you will get failures, the same as you get failure from submersible, sealed trailer lights when they cop a dose of salt water.

The big scream about teh Lowrance units in the States was about HDS7's and 7's only, getting water intrusion. A lot of these were set up as 2nd sounders in the bow of bass boats where they were seriously exposed to water and got it. There was a factory problem which was fixed and the units were replaced. The initial reaction was slow, as most corporates are these days but they did come good. Something that our major corps don't, especially the banks. You don't see a lot of Furono's in this situation and I am willing to bet that if there were you would get failures. Stick your Furono on the gunnel of your 12 foot tinnie or on the foredeck/ casting platform of your gun bream boat and run around the bay for several months, let it cope with the salt and exposure and see how solidly they perform, it won't happen because most guys will look at the cost, spend a grand less on the sounder and more on the boat, it is just the way of the world.

One of the bugbears and also a great advantage of the HDS units is the software. It wasn't quite right and is now better, I still think there are some issues, but the design of the units enables rapid and easy software upgrades. This means that your current unit will be able to go through significant advances without having to replace the head unit to take advantage of the improvements. At the moment these are free, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a charge come into place at some stage. It only makes business sense. They are a manufacturer and only make money from selling units. Everything has built in redundancy these days, manly through technological advances. I will be more then happy to pay for a software upgrade that gives me a better system if it means that I outlay $50 or $100 instead of $1000 or more for a new unit. The other manufacturers aren't anywhere near this, if your $2grand furono becomes outdated by a technological advance you are up for another $2 grand or keep the unit you have. I understand that the problems at he start of this thread are more to do with the new radar system, but I think at least part of the problem is the newness of the thing. There is no base of knowledge to work from and everyone is trying to work out what is really what. It will get better and become a lot more common, unfortunately you seem to be the guy that got in first and are the crash test dummy. I hope that it all comes good for you. To me, it is a lot like NMEA2000, I find very few people have any understanding of it and getting this is near impossible because there are again very few specialists in it. It is far easier to run a dozen sets of wires from the motor to the helm in the same old way as we have always done. The trouble is that you only use a small part of the power of the computers in the engines and head units. You wouldn't buy a new car today that didn't have the displays and engine management systems available to you so why settle for a boat without it?

[Grand_Marlin]

Well said Boswser.

The key point to all the Lowrance issues has been Software.
The hard part is that even though it is software, it is only random units that are showing faults... not every unit, just random units through all models.
Weird, but Lowrance are fixing the problems with software updates as they are found, and it is a simple task to do it - no returns necessary.

Newby, I feel for you Mate ... no one likes to end up in that situation. I don't know who installed it etc etc, but at the end of the day it shouldn't have been made your problem to solve. In my opinion, the supplier & installer should have got you sorted and then argued themselves with Lowrance / Navico as to who paid for what.
I would like to point out that the transducer you have is an Airmar brand transucer, not a Lowrance made item.
Airmar does make a great item and I can say that you are extremely unlucky to have a 1kw transducer fail on you.
Airmar supplies transducers (either standard or optional) to nearly all electronics manufacturers.
The Radar? Don't know, but no doubt it will be sorted for you as well.

I heard Rob's name from Navico mentioned earlier.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that Rob is the guru for Lowrance technical problems.
Please keep in mind that the HDS is brand new and everyone - purchasers, dealers and Lowrance techs are still sorting out the finer points as we go along.

For every person that has experienced a problem, there are hundreds of others, including myself and my clients that are absolutely amazed with these units.
As most people know, I supply and fit Raymarine, Furuno and Lowrance and I still firmly believe that Lowrance is the best value for money package available at this time, with the best features and ease of use on the market.

Cheers

Pete

p.s. Lee8sec, if you need things like ethernet cables and can't get them, feel free to ask, I can always lend you one to get you out of trouble.

[krazyfisher]

Grand Marlin I have a hds 5x how is the software upgrade a simple task to do - no returns necessary??? no card reader is a major fault to start with.

[Grand_Marlin]

Good point about the card reader.

If you drop into your local dealer I am sure they can take care of it for you in store.

Cheers

Pete

[krazyfisher]

the only way I can get it done up here is send it back to lowrance.. yes free of charge but takes a couple of weeks, the reason so I am told is lowrance never send the up to date card.

[Grand_Marlin]

Doesn't add up to being right Krazy,

I have the card from Lowrance (I just asked because I couldn't download the update due to my wireless broadband dropping out) and anyone can download the updates directly from the Lowrance website.

Sounds like someone can't be bothered to help you.

Yes, I admit the HDS 5x update is a bit taxing in your situation, but keep at it, find a way because the benefits still far outweigh the inconvenience of getting th eupdate done.

Also, with the 5x...
If your unit is working fine and you aren't intending to fit Structure Scan, then there is no immediate need for an update.

Cheers

Pete

[NEWBY]

[quote=Bowser;1113608]
I know that Furono gear has a great rep for reliability, but bear in mind the boats that have them fitted. They are expensive items and are generally fitted to larger boats inside cabins/hardtops generally professionally installed and well mounted and very protected protected. I get ya drift here mate but I have mine fitted to a 35 Bertram up in the flybridge.
The big scream about teh Lowrance units in the States was about HDS7's and 7's only, getting water intrusion. A lot of these were set up as 2nd sounders in the bow of bass boats where they were seriously exposed to water and got it. There was a factory problem which was fixed and the units were replaced. The initial reaction was slow, as most corporates are these days but they did come good. Something that our major corps don't, especially the banks. You don't see a lot of Furono's in this situation and I am willing to bet that if there were you would get failures. Stick your Furono on the gunnel of your 12 foot tinnie or on the foredeck/ casting platform of your gun bream boat and run around the bay for several months, let it cope with the salt and exposure and see how solidly they perform, it won't happen because most guys will look at the cost, spend a grand less on the sounder and more on the boat, it is just the way of the world. Same again. Fitted to flybridge. No water. Or minimal anyway.

One of the bugbears and also a great advantage of the HDS units is the software. It wasn't quite right and is now better, I still think there are some issues, but the design of the units enables rapid and easy software upgrades. This means that your current unit will be able to go through significant advances without having to replace the head unit to take advantage of the improvements. At the moment these are free, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a charge come into place at some stage. It only makes business sense. They are a manufacturer and only make money from selling units. Everything has built in redundancy these days, manly through technological advances. I will be more then happy to pay for a software upgrade that gives me a better system if it means that I outlay $50 or $100 instead of $1000 or more for a new unit. The other manufacturers aren't anywhere near this, if your $2grand furono becomes outdated by a technological advance you are up for another $2 grand or keep the unit you have. I understand that the problems at he start of this thread are more to do with the new radar system, but I think at least part of the problem is the newness of the thing. There is no base of knowledge to work from and everyone is trying to work out what is really what. It will get better and become a lot more common, unfortunately you seem to be the guy that got in first and are the crash test dummy. I hope that it all comes good for you. To me, it is a lot like NMEA2000, I find very few people have any understanding of it and getting this is near impossible because there are again very few specialists in it. It is far easier to run a dozen sets of wires from the motor to the helm in the same old way as we have always done. The trouble is that you only use a small part of the power of the computers in the engines and head units. You wouldn't buy a new car today that didn't have the displays and engine management systems available to you so why settle for a boat without it? I cant resist this one mate... I stock and sell the all new Great Wall utes and wagons from China these days. They are still running on the old technology. NO COMPUTER... I nearly fell off my chair when I was told. But get this, were selling heaps of them and a few in the know are getting them because of the lack of engine management systems. Go figure... Same as some people simply dont like power windows. Hard to find a car without them but some people genuinely hate them.[/quote]

Mate seriously I know where your coming from but 4 months???? Nahhh mate thats just poor form. I also understand that it is an Airmar transducer not Lowrance (Navico) I paid 9 grand to get the HDS 10 with broadband radar, 1kw transducer and navionics gold card. I also elected to get the external antennae for the GPS. that STILL is not fitted, They have to have a special fitting to work. 3 months for a F*****G T piece???? Poor form. Really poor form. The Radar has a blip on the screen at 95 degrees to the centre about 2/3 across the screen. No matter what zoom, its there. Shows up like a large boat on the screen. There is another one at 0 degrees that is intermittent. Apparently it is something to do with a filter setting???? Its on AUTO....
Mate they tried to avoid this one. Trust me, I am in the car industry and have seen warranty avoidance way too many times in my life from unscrupulous dealers and I have also seen the devastating results to family's. They kept on insisting it was placement of transducer. When I am drifting and 11 tonne of boat is pushing the transducer 3 feet or more in clear water, how the F**k can it be a placement problem??? And the fact I have 2 others working perfectly well across the same line of the hull. That was the frustration. They simply kept trying to put the blame elsewhere... BLOODY POOR FORM. The installer/supplier spent many unproductive and unpaid hours, as did I, testing all possibilities. Rob from technical in Sydney was great.
Dont get me wrong, I have not really knocked the product mate and wouldnt have bought it if I didnt think it represeted value for money and a very well featured product. Its the customer service when somethin does go wrong that is NOT a sofware issue. Bloody awfull...POOR FORM. This is MY personal opinion and personal experience. They rushed the product to market. Little or no accessories and parts. IE Tee piece for GPS aerial and I see mentioned verious other items like cables for upgrades etc. Just look at this and many other threads like it. Lowrance have NOT done themselves any favours with the HDS.