A few weeks ago Lowrance released the 4.0 update for the Elite and Mark units. Since that update my Navionics Premium map has been almost unusable at any speed over an idle. Map cannot refresh fast enough to stay ahead and eventually the screen goes blank. I noticed yesterday that Lowrance had pulled the 4.0 update off their site and I did not find any comments or information on their or any other sites on the web. I sent them an inquiry and they responded today stating that a new update is being released this week that will address the Navionics card issue. I've had the Elite 7 and the Navionics card for over a year now and they did not originally have this problem.

I just got the Nav card for my Elite 7 last week, and found it almost unusable due to slow updating. Not sure what version software is in mine right now, but will be looking for any update that makes the chart update faster than it is now. The only way I could get mine to refresh was to zoom it way out. Kinda blows when you need the trail to help navigate in the dark and the trail is the last data to load. If Lowrance can't fix this, I will convert to HB and never look back. I understand the Elite is an economy line of unit, but it should at least be usable.

Same exact problem with mine. It only occurs with the navionics card. Thankfully I kept my Lowrance mapping card. I guess I will throw that back in until the update comes out. I am really disappointed with lowrance. I used to have a LCMs 520c and it was bullet proof. This elite 7 HDI has been nothing but problems. I had an intermittent sonar issue where it would read 2.5 feet for no reason. That problem seems to have gone away for now. Now this.

Below is what I got from lowrance tech support today.
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Thank you for your inquiry.
David,
We will be releasing a new software update to enhance the Naviconics support. Once the software update is released you can find it at Lowrance.com then under support.

Thank you for choosing Navico products!
Navico Technical Support

Navico Inc.
Lowrance website: http://www.lowrance.com

OK the update has been posted on the Lowrance site:

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Software-Updates/Elite-40/

I got it installed and everything looks fine but its going to be late next week before I can check it out on the water. If anyone gets to check it out then please post your results. Really hope this speeds up the Navionics map refresh.

Help a brother out here please. I got the update downloaded, but cannot find any instructions on how to install. Do I just rip it to aa micro SD, insert SD, and start unit? Or is it more in depth than that? One would think Lowrance would link to some instructions on their site......

The file you download is a zip file, its compressed. Extract it to your desktop or some place you can find it. To extract it you may be able to just right click on it and elect to "extract all". It will create a folder named "Elite 7-4.05.0.14-28513r1-standard-1" open that folder and you have a file in it with the same name but with .upd at the end. Copy this .upd file to your micro SD card, put it in the unit and power up. It should say that it is updating the unit.

k, thanks for the info.

I wonder if this upgrade will help the sonar instability issues. I just re-routed my transducer wiring today to keep it away from all other wires. I hope it fixes my problems of loosing my depth reading intermittently.. Having to route my transducer wiring this way is very impractical on a center console where all the wires run under the floor down the same tube. Anyone else having the same issue with their lowrance?

Mine is routed similarly to yours, thru a single tube with all wires. I have yet to see any interference issues myself, but could see how it could happen. Have you looked at any shielding options for the transducer wire itself? Surely there is some product out there that would allow you to shield just the single wire. Food for thought.

I was considering a shield, but I read on an amazon review that someone had installed a grounded shield for the same issue and it did not work. Transducer wire is currently far away from all the other wires. I am gonna run it like this for about three trips and if it completely solves my problem I am gonna experiment with some other wiring options to possibly include some shielding. I will update with the results in case anyone runs into a similar issue. Thanks!

Went out last night and tried my Elite 7 out after updating the software, and I'm still not impressed. My old 522c had no problems at all before it took a dump on me. The Elite 7 with the Nav card is literally useless unless you slow to an idle, let it load, then you might get it to update before you run out of map. Only way to use it at speed is to zoom out so far the map never really has to update, but then you are zoomed out so far that you can't accurately pinpoint where you are. I'll be voicing my opinion on this directly to Lowrance very soon. Aside from the addition of downscan and the bigger screen, the Elite 7 was a big step backwards from my LMS522c. I knew I was giving up a few features to get this unit, and could live with that if the other features actually worked. Very disappointed with this unit. Sonar and HDI work good. GPS feature SUX!

Yep, mine is junk too. I have a couple of days left to return it at Cabela's. I am going to uninstall the whole darn thing and get a refund. I will probably upgrade to the HDS-7 for about $250 more dollars. I tried to go cheap and got what I paid for. Hopefully the Navionics chip will work properly on that model. It was not cheap either.

The updated software worked well today on my unit. It is still not perfect, but it may be 85% improved. The map still lags behind at speed, but it is now just a slight inconvenience. It will not work with the trails turned on when using the Navionics. So, turn off the trails feature and the unit is usable. I still wish I had bought some other model.

Got to test mine today and it is about the same after the update. Still cannot run on plane without outrunning the chart, I do not remember having this problem last year when I first purchased the unit and the map. Maybe they will finally work it out or let us go back to the original version. I know most of the lakes that I fish but the Navionics map really saves me when I'm trying to run Texoma. The Navionic map color codes depths so it is easy to stay out of the shallow water. I would convert to the Lowrance map to run the lakes but it cannot color code depth and it hard to tell the holes from the humps at WOT.

The sonar is awesome but they really missed the mark on the charting.