Went fishing with Paul and jimbo weekend before last. Unit worked fine while chasing bait. Then the left side imaging flaked out as well as the down. So I contact humminbird and send them a picture of what was going on. Well that picture wasn't (good) enough! Went to worth to play around yesterday and same thing. Took shots from all angles left menus open to show settings and all. They email me today saying now they want pictures of my install. That's when they lost a customer. I have a electronics engineering degree and to be treated like some idiot just ain't gonna fly! So even if they finally just send the transducer cause that's all it is I'm very big on customer service. That's part of my occupation! And the money I shelled out. But anyway I am going to look at the hds 12. And to think I was going to buy another unit for that new pontoon next year to go with this one. Nope! I'm done! It's beer 30!

I have a HDS 12 TOUCH BNIB with your name on it!

Thats a shame, I've always heard their CS was top notch--
That don't sound top notch-

I like my HDS--

Well you will LOVE Lowrance Customer Service from what I hear.

STAY HUMMINBIRD!!!!

Some companies forget: The best way to win business is to take care of the customers you have. Especially if they are on the forum.lol

prob got a tech that just had a bad day...i've had some really good service from Humminbird.

Humminbirds support is very good. They have a procedure they must follow...they don't know your skills (or lack there of) so they must verify that it's installed correct and all necessary steps have been taken. BUT....NORMALLY....if you tell them you are very experienced etc etc etc...it helps speed up the process! They have replaced 4 transducers for me free of charge now...and with a 2 year warranty on new units...I wont have anything else!

I don't know for sure if I am right? You would think if I spend over a thousand bucks on a product there should be no bad days. I have a Hummingbird but think this is unacceptable.

My advice is write a certified letter and/or send a fax.

And let all your fishing friends know how you were treated.

I have a humminbird 999 bought it in May but I want a sonar unit for the front if the boat and decided to go Lowrance. I screen went out last month. CS was good they replaced the screen without any bs. I have a mechanical engineering degree and was gonna be F~ing pissed if the didn't fix it but they did. But after playing one the new lowrance arcane las I want a touch screen and like the images better from what I have seen. Not to impressed with the options to control the image with hummingbird. I work a lot with vision systems and I see a lot of potential outing Lowrance units.

They want a photo of the install because they're trying to isolate the issue.

Do you want to send them your unit only to find out it's an issue with your installation? Regardless of what you think you know they very well could see an issue and resolve it on the spot.

They have a troubleshooting list to work through to isolate problems. It not only helps to identify the issue but identifies what isn't the issuers well. Without that, they'd be shipping stuff back and forth for no reason constantly.

There's a lot of variables that play into sonar and getting images or good images and no two installs are the same.

Lowrance does the same thing to troubleshoot.

FWIW I'd send the pictures as they may see something you don't. If not you've allowed them the opportunity.

I've got a friend that's an avid angler, been fishing and running sonar for years. He's an engineer, smart dude. He went back and forth on an issue for weeks and had a similar response when they asked him to send a picture of the install.

He sent the pic, they identified the issue and had him up and running correctly with a simple fix in minutes.

I know of another person that sent his head unit to them twice? They found no problems and sent back and he still had issues with sidescan. Sent new transducer and he had the same issue.

Amazing that trimming the motor up fixed the issue

They've always been over the top with customer service and through my recent experience, still are.

Send the picture and if they don't get it resolved fast call and ask them to escalate the ticket.

During that time follow the golden rule of sonar troubleshooting.Find someone with a compatible transducer and plug it in on their boat. That way you can further isolate the issue.

The grass is always greener on the other side. Before I went through the trouble, hassle and expense I'd do some research on the other grass first!

or just buy the Lowrance and sell me the 'Bird real cheap like! I got No Degree and I Will send in pictures.

I am a retired Engineer. The tech support guy should have explained why he wanted the pics in my opinion. A simple explanation would have saved the company some bad press. I just hope you get something working for your fishing. I like Hummingbird products very much and think it would be worth getting your issue resolved and try to have a better dialog with your support guy.