Seems Lowrance Australia no longer have a repair facility

[NEWBY]

Cop the loss and buy another brand NOT associated with Navionics.
Best advice I can give you.

[pig75]

Pig 75 how good is the side scan and how much do you use it. Most of our fishing is around snags for Barra and Jacks, so I figure it might e handy.

Norm C

This is a shot of our local dam
I use the sideimageing all the time

[Bowser]

Mate, like all things in this world and electronics in particular you get the good and the bad. 25 + years ago when your TV went bad you took it to a TV repair guy, now you throw it away as it is a)cheaper and b) they don't really make them to or have serviceable parts in. Cars are the same thing. I have had many people say that the old cars are better because you can fix them. My standard responce is that is because you had too! They used to break down in the middle of no where and you had to get them going with what was available. When modern cars stop you don't get them going without specialist equipment, but in reality 99.9% of them don't stop. They are reliable and keep on going provided they are serviced regularly. Marine electronics are the same although because of the harsh environment and I suspect abuse they have a higher failure rate.

I have been using Lowrance for a number of years now starting with an X51 and am currently running a HDS5 and an LMS357. Had some things go wrong, mainly through my own errors I suspect and a lot go right. My experience with Lowrance has all been good, sure once I thought they could have bent a little more my way, but other times they went my way without fuss. Particularly when I fried a unit and LGS through, I suspect an electrical problem not of the units making. And that was a US bought unit. I sent it back and a new unit arrived in the post. I haven't used Humminbird myself but I suspect that they, like all corporates will will make commercial decisions on service and warranty that upset some and impress others.

Personally at the moment I think in the mid range of electronics that Lowrance is ahead of the challengers, in large part due to their implementation of digital units and advanced software. They seem to have had some problems in the earlier stages with the HDS units, in particular HDS7's that were bow mounted on US bass boats and they also had a problem with interference with VHF radios that took a little while to sort out but which they did sort out and released a software fix for. Personally I'd go with the HDS. The one modification that I do recommend is to buy an Airmar transducer. These are the ducks guts and from the US they are only slightly more expensive then the standard Lowrance unit. But this is a recommendation that I would also make for Humminbird, no use doing so for Furuno because there transducer is already an Airmar.

[rcfisher]

I have a 5 inch lowrance colour sounder which is just over 4 years old. The other morning while pluggining it into the boat in the dark i managed to bend one of the wire prongs on the back of the unit where the power cable plugs in. I realise it is my own fault and rang lowrance today to organise to send the unit in to be repaired ( quite a simple thing i would have thought) and they told me to throw it in the bin and buy a new lowrance. My question is why would i spend near $1000 on another lowrance knowing that if i have a problem after another 4 years i then throw the new one in the bin?

[rcfisher]

Well 11 months on the gps has now decided to pack it in so i guess that will be another $800 Lowrance will get out of me.

[SatNav]

"Seems Lowrance Australia no longer have a repair facility"

1. When did Lowrance have a repair facility in Australia?

[grammel]

Tried to get a problem fixed with my lowrence gps, couldnt get any authorised lowrence sales/service centre interested.I did get an offer from a store at runaway bay which was yeah we might get to it in a couple of weeks the cost is from $500.00 but you are better off buying a new one.So i took it home pulled it apart cleaned it and its fine now, dont realy know what i did but the problem is gone.My point is there is NO lowrence service.I will not be buying this brand again ever.

[testlab]

This is the same kind of problem faced by anyone trying to get a modern (Plasma/LCD/LED) TV fixed, or a DVD player for example. The circuit boards are generally not repairble to component level unless special tools, jigs and diagnostic info is available from the manufacturer. The cost is considerable to both supply and obtain these 'tools'.

So its cheaper to simply replace the whole board or complete product. Even so the cost of managing spare parts for a diverse product base is very high and with the rapid evolution of models not worthwhile.

So a great many electronics manufacturers only manufacture a particular model and its parts for a fairly short period of time. The parts are sold/bartered to a third party service agent who provides 'warranty' service and spare parts. When the parts are gone so is any chance of that model being repaired out of warranty if it has a 'board fault'.

Because the parts are often managed by a third party, even manufacturer authorised service agents have to buy them at extortioniate rates when the equipment is out of warranty... which is in the interest of all parties... encouraging the sale or upgrading to new equipment.

Many (most?) of the big multi-national electronics companies handle parts this way nowadays. Contrary to popular belief many original equipment manufacturers don't profit from parts sales as they sold them not long after ceasing production of 'that' model and therefore get no furhter income from them. Therefore them and their dealer network (including those with repair centres) profit most from new sales.

Any repair other than that which is really basic and not requiring high-tech parts replacement is uneconomic. Replacing a solder in fuse can well cost over a $100 just to cover overheads... replacing a circuit board can equal hundreds even though the labour may not be significant.

[marty_z]

I am pretty sure I heard there is someone on the gold coast that can repair lowrance units - if you are interested pm me and I will try to get details. No promises, but I am reasonably confident it was a lowrance repair guy.

In saying that, the service BLA offer (Humminbird and Minn Kota) is excellent and is becoming more of a selling point these days!

Marty

[honda900]

Tymax Marine in capalaba were / maybe still are, the repair agent for lowrance units, they still have an electronics workshop, might be worthwhile giving them a call.

Regards
Honda.

[Grand_Marlin]

Lowrance will check and repair units if they are repairable.
The units are sealed and nitrogen filled to stop fogging, which makes it all but impossible to do anything to them internally.
The good thing is if it is in warranty, most times it will be replaced with a new unit instead of being repaired.
No one can say they have had a legitimate warranty claim rejected if the unit is in the 2 year warranty period.
A unit that fails just outside the warranty period is really frustrating and disappointing - we have all had it happen with tv's, toasters, cars, etc etc etc - however when we buy a product we are all aware of the warranty period.
The upside is that Lowrance offer an upgrade to the new HDS units at about half the RRP for a unit that has failed outside the warranty period.
Downside is the upgrade only carries a 6 month warranty, not full 2 year warranty.
Personally I would like to see the full warranty given to reward the customer for loyalty.
Time taken to replace warranty units had been slow due to low stock levels. This has been addressed and is no longer a problem.
As a Lowrance dealer and a keen Ausfish Member I give a lot of feedback to Lowrance on issues that are raised on Ausfish.
Some of the issues raised are very valid, some not so valid...
Lowrance is aware of the concerns and "stigma" that has surrounded it's out of warranty handling / customer service side and are listening to what you / I have to say. Whilst changes aren't "instant", they are being considered and made.
Any suggestions you have for improvements can be taken back to Lowrance on your behalf...

Cheers

Pete