Lowrance I'm Jumping Ship

[brentr]

Have a X-15 which i just found out is on its way out and lowrance cant or wont Fix it instead they send me a rebate 75 - 400 dollars on the purchase of a new unit. So when you buy a new unit from them expect it to last only for the amount of time they want to fix it which might not be long! AND WHY WOULD i WANT TO BUY ANOTHER PRODUCT FROM THEM. Ive sent my 112 back or took it back to cabelas 3-4 times already should i sell it while its worth something for tomorrow they might stop working on them!!!!!!!!

Seriously peed off
Brent :mad:

[Plastic Leg]

Brent, I'm with you. Got an x-19c that keeps cutting out on me. I first e-mailed them for help and finally got a response from them after more then 1 week. Then they tell me they don't service the unit anymore and gave me the same response about a rebate, etc. Why should I buy from a company that isn't going to service their product? What has happened to Lowrance?

[Modog]

Can you pass that rebate on to someone else?

[KHedquist]

Can you pass that rebate on to someone else?

Do you have someone in mind?:howdy:some one you know:)

[tbomn]

www.vexilar.com

[Modog]

Do you have someone in mind?:howdy:some you know:)

..umm yeah, I could think of someone...

[ffishman]

I don't know, but I would imagine any electronics goes out of date quickly. It would be interesting to hear from somebody that has an old Hummingbird, to see if it is repairable. Maybe Lowrance has gotten to big, and don't care any more about how they got there. I know when I've called, it takes forever to get through. Years ago, I bought a Impulse Locator. When IT needed service, it too was too old, and they would not work on it.

[Rippin_Eyes]

The electronics industy is so funny. Weather you have a tv vcr dvd comp uter fish graph ect...... they all get out of date and cost more to repair than replace. when was the last ti,e you fixed a tv..... most tv's are ment to last 3 years....... I have a laptop that is 5 years old and I paid 2500 for it back then do you think they can fix whats wrong no............ just bought a new toshiba.
no you can't get an old humminbird fixed they don't make parts for old units its the nature of the beast in electronics. When you are in the business of electronics you are either keeping up with technology or you are falling behind the race to be a step ahead. Manufactuers can't help that their parts supplier is going to make a product obsolite. do you really expect them to have 100000 thousand widgets on hand of each component to fix a graph........... get realistic. you can't get parts for cars built in the late 80's anymore its the same difference.

This subject has been beat to death and I had to make my one comment on it. No matter how much you complain it won't change. Don't buy the product if you don't like it. The grass isn't always greener on the other side! Like I stated earlier I had to get a new laptop yup still bought the same brand cause you know what its the best out there, I could have also bought a cheaper one but it didn't have the features I wanted.......

[perchjerker]

when I bought my Hum 997c si last year I asked thier rep about the servicing issue.

She told me that they will support the unit 7 years after it goes out of production.

I thought that was pretty good. Whether or not it turns out to be true, who knows.

but thats what they are saying

[icontact]

Say what you like about electonics becoming outdated but Lowrance is not the company they were a few years back. I have owned and still do Lowrance and Eagle units that are 15 years old. The transducers still work, the screens work, and yes they could not repair them anymore but the big difference is that the units STILL WORK. Navico bought out Lowrance about 2-3 years ago and Lowrance has never been the same. Unless Navico changes the way they build their units and treat their customers I would never even consider buying one of their units now. Navico is a huge company with Lowrance contributing less than 1% of their business, I would`t expect too many changes in the quality or service of their product. Buy what you like, my next sonar will be a Hummingbird.

[blueicecpa]

Copied from Crappieman, that we all can use this!

This has probably been posted on here before. Sometimes all we need to do is get to the right people to get issues resolved. For those who think customer service is dead at Lowrance, try contacting the person below.My experience has been prompt, and she is the most knowlegable person that I know at Lowrance.Granted I do not know a lot of people from Lowrance, but it has been my experience and many others that this Lady knows her stuff and gets things done. I am in no way affilliated with Lowrance, Just a lifelong customer since the "Green Box". I have been fortunate to fish with many different people over the years who have had different products. They all have a niche and they all get the job done and they all have problems from time to time. Customer service, when it's done right is the backbone of any company. Sometimes it's just knowing who, what, and where to get effective service. Sometimes it's all in the approach. Sometimes after spending hard earned money, our delivery is a little altered when things go south. Just something to keep in mind. She responds quickly to e-mails.

Linda Colt
Customer Service Department
12000 East Skelly Drive
Tulsa, OK 74128
1-800-324-1356 Ext 8747
Direct Line 918-438-8747
Fax 918-234-1745
Email: linda.colt@navico.com

Hope your experience with her is as pleasant as mine have been.

[whofan]

I`m jumpping ship too. I bought the x510c early this spring. Only used the graph about 10 hours sent back to Lowrance twice for the shallow water freeze up issue.
I just got a Vexilar Edge2 to replace the Lowrance. Haven`t got the Vexilar fully insalled yet but the unit itself makes the Lowarance look like it came out of a gumball machine.
My Globalmap seems to work for now so I`ll keep that untill it craps out then its gone too.
Anyone looking for electronics take a look at Vexilar. After seeing how their flashers work on the DVD that came with my graph, I wouldn`t mind having one of them too!

[rebs]

I have a friend that has a bottomline, about 2 years ago it quit working, it was about 5 years old at the time. He called bottomline and they said send it in. He did and for 140.00 they put in a new board of some kind and a new screen and the unit is still working great
Maybe it is time to sell my extra lowrance transducers and gps antenna's

[yarcraft91]

icontact:

I'm curious why you would say that Lowrance is "less than 1%" of Navico's business. Hoover's estimates Navico's 2007 revenue as $163 million. You're saying Lowrance revenue is less than $1.6 million? I'd say $100 million is closer to the right answer, based on their revenue 1999-2003. It appears to me that the success of the Lowrance brand is critical to the success of Navico.

[icontact]

icontact:

I'm curious why you would say that Lowrance is "less than 1%" of Navico's business. Hoover's estimates Navico's 2007 revenue as $163 million. You're saying Lowrance revenue is less than $1.6 million? I'd say $100 million is closer to the right answer, based on their revenue 1999-2003. It appears to me that the success of the Lowrance brand is critical to the success of Navico.

That is what I was told by a Lowrance Rep at the time of the takeover. I never really thought about it one way or another at the time. It seemed to make sense now though when I see the inferior product they now produce and the decline in their customer service.
I have used Lowrance sonar for 20 years (all my units were bought before Navico) now and used to sell it for about 8, believe me their product and service were unmatched back then, not only in comparison to other sonar companies but to almost all other companies. I don't think people, including myself, would comment as much as they do, but there is such a contrast now, from what Lowrance used to be, that I just can't believe how in 2-3 years a company can fall so far.

[yarcraft91]

I've seen other companies crash and burn in 2-3 years after a change of control, so I know it can happen that fast. If I've got the right information, half or more of Navico's annual sales come from Lowrance & Eagle products. Navico had better work on keeping the loyalty of the customer base they were handed in the merger, or else their $200+ million investment in Lowrance is headed for trouble.

It's probably worth noting that when Navico was formed Sept. 1, 2006, Darrell Lowrance was named as the CEO. By Jan. 18, 2007, Lowrance retired from the company and the new CEO, Pietralla, was someone whose only experience in the electronics industry was at the management consultant or executive level- with no evident experience in marine electronics. However, his time at McKinsey almost certainly taught him the value of customer loyalty. He's been at the helm 18 months and his first major job was overseeing the merger of Brunswick's marine electronics business into Navico- let's see what he does with Navico in the next year.

[Dutchman]

"He's been at the helm 18 months and his first major job was overseeing the merger of Brunswick's marine electronics business into Navico- let's see what he does with Navico in the next year."


If this is true then Navico/Lowrance now should own the patents on Pinpoints mutli sonar sync technology, and Nav Stars Gps Technology.

I hope they use it......Brunswick never did.....

[redcedarguy]

I have been a very good customer of Lowrance products for almost 20 years. Unfortunately, I have had so many problems with their products recently that I will have to buy either a Vexilar or Humminbird next. I have had too many fishing trips and vacations and tournaments ruined, I need a reliable product that comes on and works when I push the on button. When I push the on button now I am suprised and happy if the unit comes on and works properly. I see Lowrance makes a product for aviation. I would never think of flying with a Lowrance product guiding me. When Lowrance depthfinders and GPS units work I think they are fantastic. Problem is they don't work very well anymore. One year I had four defective 102s in a row. I am not happy about this, I wish Lowrance products were as reliable as their old products( eg x-70, man that was a great unit) and I could continue to use them. I will in the future continue to browse through Lowrance products and when they return to quality I will come back, but not until then.

[JLWalleye]

I have to add my 2 cents worth in here. I currently own 3 of the I way 600 GPS units............I own a service business and we use them in our trucks. Since 2006 I have sent back 8 of the units...........every one of them has been sent back for repair...........for one reason or another. I currently have 2 of the 3 units that I own, in the shop for repair.........or replacement.
As of today they do not have any units in stock, of any kind, rebuilt or NEW to replace my units with........I sent them in on the 4th of August.
One of the units was Broken out of the box new.................its touch screen was non functional.

I talked with 2 techs today ................after waiting on hold for 17 minutes. I was told they have no units to send out and they do not expect any to be available for another 4-6 weeks..........they currently have 20-25 people waiting for there units to be replaced by the new expected shipment, whenever it arrives.

They had a group 400 units to replace for a state police agency. That is what ate the stock on hand.

The lack of support from this company today is appaulling......these units cost $700. EACH...........they do not have the common sense to do the repair in house............it is done in MEXICO!

I have began my search for a new supplier of GPS units for my service vehicles...........I will NEVER buy a product from this company AGAIN!