[Scott1280]

So, I finally did my spring maintenance on the boat Saturday so I could drop her in the water and fish the Tournament this weekend. I replaced my fuel filters, installed 2 new batteries and splashed her down Saturday afternoon for a quick ride. All seemed ok.

While prepping the boat in the driveway (I trailer) at 3 AM on Sunday morning I installed my Lowrance 332C and when I turned it on to check it I had quite the shock. The screen was very dim, illegible and had lots of vertical lines on it. Tried a soft reset and nothing happened. Wound up trying to Fish Sunday morning without electronics and managed 1 striper and plenty of blues. After coming back to the dock I stopped by Fred Chall and hooked my GPS up to their display power and sure enough, same problem.

So, didn't fish today but I did e-mail the Northeast Sales rep for Lowrance who gave me the tech support number to call tomorrow. Unit is 3 years old.

Here's the pics of the screen. Any comments, suggestions or insight is appreciated.

 

[MakoMike]

Yep, it's broke!

I think its a resisitor or something like that inside. I had the same thing happen on a Raytheon unit and they fixed it.

 

[Mungo]

Lowrance 332

I have a 335C and had problems with it. I called LEI sent them the unit, a check for $180.00 with the RA #.They sent me back a new unit with another warranty for a year .last time they sent me a new GPS module , transducer and unit.Have not had any problems latley .
The reps were more than good to work with there and the turn around time was quick.
MUNGO

 

[Scott1280]

So I e-mailed the Northeast Sales Rep for Lowrance (whom I've gotten to know) and he gave me the number for tech support. After 25 minutes on hold I finally spoke with Bonnie. I described my issues to her and it basically turned into a "It's out of Warranty. Here's the RA #. Send us the unit and $212.45 and we'll send you a replacement with a 6 month warranty."

I told her I read on-line that these units were supposedly shipped with bad boards 3 years ago and she said "No, there was a bunch shipped with a bad batch of keyboards". Oh, I felt so much better. I told her I also had a keyboard problem which I had discussed with Mike but never sent it back, and that was a mistake as far as she was concerned.

Anyway, I'll see how fast they turn it around and what the replacement looks like. I never saved my waypoints off the machine, so I'll lose that data (not a major deal).

Right now I'm not very happy with Lowrance. The unit was only 3 years old and kept INSIDE my house (I trailer). How well could they hold up if left on a boat all the time?

 

[GradySailfish]

Sorry to hear that Scott. Maybe if you tell the NE rep about this they will do you a solid, send a replacement or whatnot free of charge.

I was going to buy a Lowrance 527C for my little boat, but now after reading about your problem I am seriously reconsidering that purchase.

 

[Scott1280]

GradySailfish wrote:

Sorry to hear that Scott. Maybe if you tell the NE rep about this they will do you a solid, send a replacement or whatnot free of charge.

I'm going to e-mail him about it tonight. We'll see what/If anything happens.

Scott

 

[Mad Mahi]

Scott1280 wrote:
(


Right now I'm not very happy with Lowrance. The unit was only 3 years old and kept INSIDE my house (I trailer). How well could they hold up if left on a boat all the time?







Sorry to hear about your problem, Scott. If any consolation, you are not alone and got at least 3 years out of your Lowrance. There are many that don't even get their units to function, right out of the box!

It's a shame too, because those units work real nice, when they do fire up! At least their sonar units. GPS is another story.

 

[baywatch]

As in many discussions proir to this asking about electronics, F/F, Gps's, many have warned about how Lowrance does not back up there products.

Seems like this is perfect proof.

Now you know why I use Northstar and Furuno products.

Sorry for your trouble Scott, expensive lesson. Maybe it will help someone else down the road.

 

[Scott1280]

MakoMike wrote:
Yep, it's broke!

I think its a resisitor or something like that inside. I had the same thing happen on a Raytheon unit and they fixed it.

Mike -

Did they charge you?

 

[MakoMike]

Scott1280 wrote:
MakoMike wrote:
Yep, it's broke!

I think its a resisitor or something like that inside. I had the same thing happen on a Raytheon unit and they fixed it.

Mike -

Did they charge you?

It was a while ago, but IIRC they only charged me for shipping.

 

[Scott1280]

Shot another e-mail off to the sales rep for his info. Packing up my unit to send back to them tomorrow so I can get back in business sooner than later.

Just realizing that all of my trip & hour data is now gone as well.

I'll miss that more than my waypoints.

 

[offracing]

sorry buddy

sorry for your troubles scott, i know everything will get worked out, ill talk to ya soon.
carl

 

[GradySailfish]

Scott the data might not be gone. See if they can somehow transfer the data/memory over to the new unit. Its only the screen thats shot, I'm pretty sure the insides are OK.

 

[Scott1280]

GradySailfish wrote:

Scott the data might not be gone. See if they can somehow transfer the data/memory over to the new unit. Its only the screen thats shot, I'm pretty sure the insides are OK.
Oh, Lowrance doesn't do that, sorry.