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eosvan · 02-10-2019, 19:16

I have a Lowrance HDS7 chart plotter. We are 1000 miles into our trip from B.C. to Mexico and it has stopped reading depths. It is not very old and I bought it second hand. It has had several issues in the few weeks I have been trying to use it, shutting down at random times, blowing fuses and the brightness of the screen causes it to get alarmingly hot. Now what has me pulling my hair out is it has stopped giving a depth readout. Several times it has stopped intermittantly and other times going to reset default settings has caused it to return to use. Now none of that seems to work and all I get is 3 dashes where the depth value should be. Tech support wants $54 just to talk to you and a number of unsatisfied customers seem to have a similar problem with no real help coming from Lowrance, plus I already feel ripped off and don't feel like throwing good money after bad. Does anyone out there have any experience with this problem? Is it something beyond my technical abilities (the manual is vague and incomplete as well as just plain wrong in places) or is this really just the P O S that it seems to be? Any advice is appreciated.

Sardean · 03-10-2019, 01:23

Approximately what depth are you in when it blanks out

**JPA Cate** · 03-10-2019, 13:07

@eosvan:

Most depth sounders I've ever dealt with only read out to some particular depth. One of them stops at 400 ft. So, when the water is deeper than 400 ft., the instrument shows a pair of dashes, nothing more. However, when we return to soundings, it starts displaying them again. Normal behavior for it.

So, if, according to your charts, your Lowrance is not displaying over a certain depth, I wouldn't be hasty to condemn it. However, if you are in less than 400 ft., or about 100 m., then I would feel more concerned. It is always possible that it was faulty from the beginning and that's why it was for sale 2nd hand. However, if, initially, it displayed depths correctly, it may again when you're in shallower water.

It is a lot harder for me to account for the other symptoms you've been having from it. Blowing fuses? never had a depth sounder do that. Display getting hot? never had that, either. Also the failure to work properly after re-set is really alarming.

Sorry for the troubles with it. Sounds to me like there was a reason it was for sale 2nd hand, and the seller just placed it for sale without full disclosure. :-( I can understand not wanting to pay $54 for a phone call: they should only charge you if they can fix it.

Ann

CassidyNZ · 03-10-2019, 13:33

Having no knowledge of Lowrance equipment it’s hard to give anything but a generic response but is it not possible that the person you bought it from exposed it to something unusual (e.g. voltage spike) that caused him to sell it on? If it’s “not very old” and was performing as expected, the previous owner should still own it unless of course it was a dealer selling a demo unit.

Buying used stuff and saving (mostly) a fairly large portion of the new article price often exposes one to a quality risk and should isolate the manufacturer from the “ripped off” feeling you have. To label the brand as a P O S is perhaps a little unfair. Also, on electronic goods, warranty is rarely transferable so their reaction is not unusual.

I’ve just bought two solar MPPT controllers from a Chinese supplier for a small fraction of the cost of known top-end devices. My rationale is that if they work OK then I’m well ahead and if they don’t I’ll graciously accept the risk I took, write off the pennies I spent and will spend the outrageous cost of the top-end device. In most cases, doing this has worked well for me so I’m certainly not criticising your decision to buy used. But one has to own the risk.