U.S Humminbirds now Geo-Fenced

[LittleSkipper]

Gidday to all.

This just in from Fish-On-Marine

Humminbird units will work perfectly in Australia. They will just display imperial units, no metric. There is also no background map but mapping like Navionics will work fine. There may be a small message on the bottom of the gps screen that this unit is not designed for use outside of the US.This is what the Humminbird calls geo-fencing. They do it to protect their overseas dealers.

Because of this, our company has decided to suspend shipments of Humminbird and Lowrance products overseas. For our overseas customers we highly recommend Garmin, Raymarine, Furuno, and Standard Horizon products. They offer metric units and there is no geo fencing in their products. Plus they are of the highest quality available on the market today.

[SatNav]

1. Has anybody asked these companies what around the world navigators/sailors should do? Obviously these manufacturers do not support a global utility?

[trueblue]

1. Has anybody asked these companies what around the world navigators/sailors should do? Obviously these manufacturers do not support a global utility?

I did ask the questions, but asked through a supplier not the manufacturer. I asked from the point of view of a yacht sailing from Sydney to San Fransisco, needing a new gps. The answer was to buy an "International Model" which costs 30% extra. Comment from the dealer was that lots of US yachts are getting caught because they are not made aware of the geofenced problems when they buy them in the USA.

[LittleSkipper]

Makes you wonder what runs through these manufacturers heads?

[LittleSkipper]

Poor buggers are probably sailing around in circles with their units flashing Geo-Fenced at them as they cross the international date line.

[Eug]

had a google but couldnt find any info. anyone know if this affect old units which are updated?

[Awoonga]

And this is from Humminbird USA.
No, our products do not employ any sort of geo-fencing for the GPS. The Domestic (U.S.) version units do not have all of the Time Zones, languages, and metric measurements available in them but that does not stop the GPS from working.

[SatNav]

"Humminbird units will work perfectly in Australia. They will just display imperial units, no metric. There is also no background map but mapping like Navionics will work fine. There may be a small message on the bottom of the gps screen that this unit is not designed for use outside of the US."

1. Same context, same meaning, just a different way of wording things.

"No, our products do not employ any sort of geo-fencing for the GPS. The Domestic (U.S.) version units do not have all of the Time Zones, languages, and metric measurements available in them but that does not stop the GPS from working."

[Eug]

Ok so no geo-fencing, just different units of measurement. If that's the case then nothing has changed and the thread title is incorrect.

[LittleSkipper]

If this information from Humminbird themselves is correct then I guess the information from Fish-On-Marine is a ploy on Fish-On-Marine's behalf to protect international dealers,hence the reason why he told me they were Geo-Fenced.

[dan204]

The Humminbird units are not what you'd call 'Geo-Fenced'. As stated the unit(imperial/nautical) will not change, but the GPS unit will still send and receive like it should.

In the next 6-12 months ALL Lowrance (and assuming Simrad)units will be Geo-fenced, as in the GPS will only work in areas in which it was sold. This is straight from Navico.
Basically if you want the unit unlocked for global roaming, you can do so. Units sold in Australia(with appropriatte serial number) will be unlocked by Navico with a simple software update/change. For those purchasing units overseas and using them here in Australia you will need to purchase unlocking codes. It's designed to protect retailers here, and overseas, by keeping competition local, not international.

I wouldnt be surprised if other brands follow suite.

[SatNav]

"In the next 6-12 months ALL Lowrance (and assuming Simrad)units will be Geo-fenced, as in the GPS will only work in areas in which it was sold."

1. Could you confirm that these units will not navigate in areas outside of which they are sold?

2. If so who gives any manufacturer authority to restrict a system that is provided as a global utility?

[dan204]

1. The current units will. This system has not been implemented yet.

2. At the end of the day, it is their product, unfortunately they can do with it exactly what they like. It's intention is to stop units coming into Australia that are not sold here. The units can be unlocked, when implemented, if your unit was bought overseas you can go into your local dealer and purchase the unlock codes(supplied to them by Navico) It is intended so that it will cost the buyer roughly the same for the unit and unlock code, what it would to buy a new unit here.

[aardvarkscotty]

so then they would be covered by local warranty as well then?! (yeah I'm kidding)

I can see their point but if they charged the same in the other markets, people wouldnt bother importing them....so why the cost differential??
As with anything like this...someone will work out how to 'unlock' the units and put a fix up somewhere for all and sundry to use....until the next change...its a game of cat and mouse??!
Whereas the product owners could spend their money on a) making a better product b) selling it locally at a price that is near enough to the overseas price ie. not gouging the locals, so that no one would bother importing!

[dan204]

so then they would be covered by local warranty as well then?! (yeah I'm kidding)

I can see their point but if they charged the same in the other markets, people wouldnt bother importing them....so why the cost differential??
As with anything like this...someone will work out how to 'unlock' the units and put a fix up somewhere for all and sundry to use....until the next change...its a game of cat and mouse??!
Whereas the product owners could spend their money on a) making a better product b) selling it locally at a price that is near enough to the overseas price ie. not gouging the locals, so that no one would bother importing!

With a company like Navico it is very different. They work similarly to Raymarine-Flir or Shimano. In that they have different distributors/wholesalers around the globe handling their respective territories. Now whilst they can not supply units outside their territories, they can choose to set independent sell prices to their retailers. The cost price on a unit sold in the US is very different to the cost price of unit sold here(cost being $ to produce and put on a shelf). When you consider employing port staff, administration, transport costs etc. That is why the market here, is different to overseas.

They can only set a RRP for the retailers, they can not tell them what price to sell at.