me & lowrance

Some of y'all know that I have not been happy with Lowrance tech service from some of my post. Short history, I had an Elite 7 that the screen got busted, call Lowrance about get it fixed, they don't fix them, got an HDS Carbon. I liked the newer unit except it did not show me the speed like the Elite did so about 5 week ago i call Lowrance to find out how to turn on that feature, that's when it started. They said I just need to go to edit overlay and check the box Speed Over Water to witch I did. went to lake and all I could see was three little boxes but no speed. Called the back three other times and they said the same thing. One tech lady had me send it to them. Two weeks later I get it back late on Thur. so I went to the lake yesterday to try it out. It still did not show speed and when I got back home I was on the phone to them one more time. The tech that I was talking to was going to transfer me to someone else but she hung up on me. Needless to say I was really mad then, called back went through the whole story again and this time he put me through to an other tech (that was an American) and I told her the story again. She said that the other were tell me to turn on the wrong thing. We went through the steps in less than one minute and had the right thing turned on. I ask why did all the others tell me the wrong thing and she said "they are just learning". I will be on the water Sunday to see if it works like it should.

You know they have an owners manual built into the graphs, right? Seems nobody reads it.

Lowrance is known for having horrible service. If you buy their stuff then that’s the risk you run. And I have 2 new Live units. And yes I’ve had to send both back for replacement units.

Lowrance hasn't been the same since Navico took them over.

that's too easy, puts the responsibility back on the OP to have to research the manual and find the solution

negates the reason to complain here

I think the manual is the first thing people throw away...then wonder how everything works

One could also go to YouTube and watch the 4 million videos on setting up their graphs....I guess....

Yes Grout I agree, YouTube is your friend when it comes to graphs. I image the OP would have issues with any brand.

ON THE MANUAL, when I had to update the carbon to run the 3 in 1 transducer it change the menu up so it does not match the manual. I went there first and like most question people have when they look online it's the onethat no one has asked. They kept telling me I needed to turn on (SPEED THROUGH WATER) when all I needed was (SPEED OVER GROUND) that is in the GPS area. I though they just change the wording from what the Elite called it. When I first call them I ask for speed over ground, maybe they don't understand english all that good.

FYI- you must go to each page ( sonar/ sidescan/down image) to set up what data over lay you want for that page.

And yes when big corporation take over things everything goes to s***. Have you been to Academy lately, use to be a great place for us freshman but not anymore.

Never had a problem with Lowrance. Called them one time in the last twenty years and they took care of me.

I just had a similar experience with them. I too had a broken front glass that they said couldn't be repaired but they sold me a new one for $80 on out of warranty replacement. Got it and it worked for one week. Couldn't start it up at all. Went thru all the tech's trying to reboot it but it was just dead. Finally got a nice lady in Tulsa named Bonnie and she tried again to reboot it but it was just dead so she approved a replacement for me again. Told me to call the 800 number to set up shipping and getting a return label and when I did I got a barely English speaking girl that tried to go back thru all the things I had gone thru twice before. I finally got a little huffy with her and they finally gave me a return shipping label . The worse part was all the time I was put on hold for her to consult with other tech's which tried to make me go back thru the same test over and over. I almost felt sorry for the girl, thought she was going to cry when I got huffy with her. She was probably just doing what she was told to do. I just don't know why the lady in Tulsa couldn't have handled it all since she approved it.

Guess that is the way all the business's are trying to run things now a days.

Believe me I no tech but you tube is your friend RMP has some good videos

When calling Lowrance you will initially get a barely speaker. I have had better luck using the email option but you must be patient, you will probably be emailing back and forth for a few days to get what you want. So far I have had to return a live 12” and received a brand new replacement and currently have a new 3 in 1 ducer on the way. Each transaction was about a weeks worth of back and forth. I could not simply call in and talk to the barelys to try and resolve issues, you must get past them. Humminbird for me in the near future.

The email lady is why I shipped it to Calf. and she said she would send me a shipping label, I had to pay for the trip out. I sill feel screwed because if they would have told me how to turn on what I was trying to do in the first place 5 weeks ago maybe I would still be a fan of Lowrance. I got so much invested in this carbon that I can not afford to go with Hummingbird. I had to deal with M. K and my problem was sloved in one week for free, that's what I call good service.

I have spent a lot of time on youtube with RMP and Lowrance help videos

Is this about Bass Fishing?????????? or General discussion

I like Lowrance graphs better than Hummingbird but they are more expensive. I had to call Lowrance one time while I was at work in order to get in touch with them during their business hours. After playing the "let me switch you to such in such" game over and over, I was PO'd. My boss heard the conversation and came running in, thinking I was talking to a customer. I assured him I wasn't and continued trying to get answers.

It's not just Lowrance. If you read online, experts will tell you that companies try very hard to avoid talking to people on the phone. It is so frustrating talking to someone that does speak English properly and then doesn't know what the heck you are talking about.

JMO - the last 3 graphs I have bought did not have a paper manual. They all had manuals on CDs. It is hard to view a CD out on the water when you are trying to examine your graph.

Sounds like you’ve gone through a lot of trouble for a very simple mistake.

Speed Through Water (STW) is not going to ready your GPS speed.

You need to be using Speed Over Ground (SOG).

If your initial post is accurate, and you were using STW, then this is likely your only issue.

My point of this post is that I called Lowrance and asked how to turn on speed over water like I had with my Elite and they are the ones that said I needed speed over water. If they would have given me the right information in the first place I would not have any complaints. When i got the carbon I downloaded the owners manual on a memory stick and I went there first before I called.

Did you explore the options and try other things before you sent your unit back or finally spoke to someone 'in America'? If you asked for "Speed over Water", they gave you exactly what you asked for... All help desks and tech support units like this have an electronic guidebook with Q&A paths, they don't typically have expansive first hand knowledge of the systems.

I'm glad you finally got it fixed, hope you enjoy your unit going forward. I have no ties to Lowrance or any other vendor. I am just trying to point out that you received the answers you were requesting.

After many years with Lowrance on my past three boats, this week I went with Humminbird, putting 2 Helix 10 DI/SI's on my Skeeter. I did so because I like the graphics on HB more than Lowrance; I haven't had trouble with my HDS's at all that required calling the company. But as regarding paper manuals, HB's manuals are online; even CDs/DVDs are approaching obsolescence. Paper anything = dead trees and are definitely 20th century technology.

All us old farts... I'm soon to become 72... had better get with the program.

The new boat I bought had Lowrance Hook2-5 units at the bow and console. I wanted to upgrade to bigger units, but they couldn’t do that without running new wiring. So, I went with the 5’s. My older boat had an Elite 7, so I was not a newby to Lowrance. Even with some knowledge of Lowrance, setting up the 5’s the way I wanted took a long time. It just isn’t an intuitive unit. Utube helped, but I had to read and reread the manual many times, while simultaneously fiddling with the units. It was not easy to do.

I have no idea what units I should upgrade to, but I will upgrade eventually. No need to suggest units, since I don’t want to hijack the chat. I’ll ask again in a few months.

Just so you know, went to the lake today and the speed over ground worked. Like I said before if I was not given the wrong information in the first place everything would be ok.
Like HERBSTEINER I am 72 going on 73 I am learning still.