Customer beware

I have composed this comment and deleted it, but It is time to speak my peace. Maybe you are one of the fortunate ones who received a sonar unit that worked as advertised. I bought a Lowrance Elite 7 HDI when they first came out at about $700.00 bucks. That is a lot for an accessory.(at least to me) It never performed on DI as advertised, or as the screen shots shown on this forum. To pay this much and only receive a one year warrenty is kind of hard to swallow.I have always used Lowrance products as I don"t like Humminbird taking part of the screen on the left side to give depth, water temp, etc. instead of overlaying this information. EVERY unit should be tested for performance and a tester should have to stand behind his results. If they can hold you off until the warrenty expires, then they can offer a refurb unit at about half of the cost of the original unit. Lowrance calls this the" Advantage Plan". Guess who has the advantage? Under the thread "Humminbird 998" , Ricky stated that he just paid 697.50 on his Hunninbird 997. It's kind of like catching a fish.....once you hook um, keep winding. My only experience with Garmin was a monocrome 160 unit.(worked good) I believe if I were in need of a new unit, I would have to try a different company.....enough venting ....Thanks for everyones patience and understanding. Hope everyone has a good winter......and stay warm......crappie1133

Interesting, bad sad thread crappie1133. Like you, me and many others it is a huge sum of money to spend on an accessory. How long were you able to use the Elite 7 before it failed ? Sounds like it was defective when it was new. This thread should get a lot of reply's from owners of different brands lamenting the same disappointment you have gone through.

Don't give up, Lowrance products have been good to me through the years, I started with a x47 "3 inch and worked up every size screen all the way up to the "12 and non has ever given me any issue (knock on wood). Every unit that I had was bought used except for the HDS8 which I got from a website and the HDS12 which was new but I got it from an individual seller.. don't give up, don't let one bad apple ruin the rest. I am like you where I dislike the Humminbird using up an inch just to show display as if your screen isn't already small enough, I like the ONIX but $3000+ for a 10" i just don't see that ever happening..

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Originally Posted by crappie1133

I don"t like Humminbird taking part of the screen on the left side to give depth, water temp, etc. instead of overlaying this information......crappie1133

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Humminbird has fixed the data box problem with the new Helix units ..... and the prices are nice also.

I agree you've had way too much trouble with this unit since day 1 ...

(BTW I didn't have my 1197 fixed at that 697.50 flat rate price ... That's what it would cost "if" I was needing to have it fixed ... I've only had to send it in once way back when it was still under warranty) ...

I read of many instances in the forums of similar issues as yours Jim ...(and not just Lowrance) ...

Rickie

Have had my turn in the barrel with Lowrance also. The one thing I will say about at least bird offers something half way reasonable. And when they get one it's basically a brand new unit when you get it back.

stumblebum, You are correct. The unit was bad from the beginning. Thanks for everyones comments. I have always been a Lowrance user, had a great x 510 C. It seems others have gotten caught in the "pay more"plan. I am glad there are others who have had little or no problems. I still have a unit without DI and I am not willing to cough up more dough to get DI. Since I don't have it, I don't know what I am missing. Ricky, sorry I misunderstood your situation, but I understand now. I just feel a better testing program would eliminate the majority of the problems. The cost could be offset by having to not utlize as many tech personel....... heck at my age I probably will never buy another sonar unit anyway ......crappie1133