Lowrance
 

Had a great boating season but boat (1987 V20)has been tucked away and shrink wrapped for a couple of months. It was so warm in RI this fall that I hated to take the boat out of the water.
About mid-season, my Lowrance HDS7 started to act up. GPS worked fine but sonar would not work in shallow depths. Figured that I would send it back to Lowrance over the winter. Just called and I was told that that it was out or warranty and they don't do repairs only replacement and then only if the unit is still in warranty. Does anyone know of anywhere in RI or MA that I can get this unit checked out?
GB87

No personal experience but I think this guy does a lot of the commercial boats in New Bedford.

http://www.yachtinsidersguide.com/li...is-electronics

Maybe check with boe marine. They sell and do installs on alot of units, and seem to be very knowledgeable everytime I've talked to them.

when you say sonar wont work in shallow depths what exactly do you mean? are you losing bottom? is the screen just blank? what is happening. What settings are you running on the unit? What kind of transducer do you have and where is it mounted?

Could just be a transducer problem, that would be the first thing i looked at....

The unit works fine at depths greater than 20 feet. As soon as I go to any depth 20 feet or less it loses the bottom. As soon as the depth increases it works fine again. I have a transom mounted 50/200 kHz transducer. No problems until this year.

Try doing the reset to defaults

Do you have the correct transducer selected in the settings on the head unit?

Not sure of the depths you normally fish, but if you're in shallow water putting the head unit in shallow water mode helps out as well

if you're on facebook search for the walleye 101 public page, The guy that runs that organization knows about all there is to know about lowrance products and will help out as much as possible

I had an issue similar to yours, i would just lose bottom and sonar and the finder would flash either 1.7 or 2.3ft. i replaced the transducer and its worked great ever since

Thanks for all the suggestions. I did try both a soft and hard reset but neither worked. I also downloaded and installed and update that Lowrance suggested when I spoke to them while the boat was still in the water. My unit goes to 2.5 feet when I lose the bottom so it seems like the same problem that Jamesbalog had with his. I did check the Boe website. It looks like the place to get Lowrance parts. Once I took the boat out of the water, I was hoping that Lowrance would check out the electronics and if that was fine, I would buy a new transducer. It’s starting to look like a new transducer is the way to go. Problem is that I won’t really know until the boat goes back in next spring.

If you get a new transducer, it will have a plug with power wires. So, all you need is a 12v battery and a dock to test it????

If it doesn't work, you have an extra transducer for your next Lowrance...

My Brother and I were researching chartplotters this past spring as we were in the market for a new unit. One thing that was glaringly clear was that Lowrance was not very helpful with respect to helping us determine the differences between several units we were considering. Poor communication, poor attitudes and lack of knowledge from the several people we spoke to.

Spoke to Garmin, complete opposite. I have always purchased Lowrance units in the past. This time bought Garmin and won't look back.

Customer service is based in North America and is outstanding. We had no problems with the equioment, but needed some help with the install (specifically linking the unit to the autopilot). The CSR was friendly and knowlegeable, he even sent a replacement part that I damaged at no charge. They even covered shipping.

The unit is a touch screen and is simple to use, much easier than any other units I have used in the past including comparable units on boats owned by my friends.

Do yourself a favor and check out the Garmin units, I think you will be happy you did.