LOWRANCE ALERT !

[Regor]

Lowrance is right next to the Bass Tank in the same building as the Mammoth Lakes Seminar area, Fastlane, & Kevin (Sea Samurai) (third building).

It was Don Lovino (42 year employee of Lowrance) who swore that the fix is in there. I even asked him at his seminar, right in front of the crowd. Maybe the thing to do when you are there next time is - they have an HDS setup right there at the Seminar that he teaches. Walk up during/after the seminar and navigate to the page in front of the crowd.

Originally Posted by Billy V

I was at the show tonight but had limited time to search for the Lowrance Booth, as I was helping out one of our kayak brothers.

Can you tell me where they were set up?
---------------------------

[WahooUSMA]

Wish I would have know about this a couple months ago. Just bought an HDS8.

[Billy V]

When I return Sunday I will find a Lowrance rep and pull up La Jolla.

I just did this 2 weeks ago with a lowrance customer service rep on the phone.
-He also swore it was there, until I gave him the GPS #'s to look at - then I was placed on a loooong Hold.

I was told my Gen 2 has the most recent software version, buit the contour lines are not there.
-----------------------
Its simple enough to do. Make them show you La Jolla Canyon on the chart.

[Dan K]

Thanks Billy. I was going to step up to a Simrad NSE and based on what you have posted, this will seriously alter my plans. Ron ad the big West Marine showed me both the Lowrance HDS-10 and the Simrad 12. No mention of the most important areas to us local fisherman. Again, thanks!
Dan

[Billy V]

OK Guys here is the follow up to this story...

As promised I went to FH on Sunday and tracked down the Lowrance booth. It was actually fishing legend Don Iovino, a Lowrance Pro staffer that was displaying the Lowrance Banner.

-I asked him if he was aware that one of the most productive fishing area of Southern California had missing cartogrophy ? He said he was unaware - so I showed him.
He stood there in disbelief, and asked if I could return to the booth in 1 hour so we could talk more, as he was busy selling his fishing goods. He said he could help so I agreed.

-I returned in an hour and he was alone. I pulled up the chart and told him the saga. He was very cool about it and pulled out a phone number off his cell phone. He gave me the number for the 2nd in command at Lowrance and told me to explain the situation. He told me I had to get it to this guy to make it happen, anyone else was the wrong people.

-So today, Monday morning at 8 am I was on the phone, then fired off and email. It was very detailed with times, dates, and every person who I have dealt with to present date regarding this problem. By 10 am I had 2 responses from the big guy and the engineers in charge of cartography.
It reads as follows:

Mike's message to me
FYI here is the email I received , thank you again for your feed back . We’re thankfully for customers like yourself and your fishing bud’s.

Thanks for the continued feedback Mike. We are currently researching content to fill this gap as the official surveyed data that we rely on for our contours does not cover this area.

From a timing perspective keep in mind that we typically lock down requirements in April for the following year’s product. So fixes and requests for improvements received after April will not be included in the next release. So in the example below we received feedback in August 2011 which is too late to incorporate a fix in the 2012 product. The 2013 product is the next version we can update so we’re still working on this item. It hasn’t been forgotten.


Best regards,
Mike

-So in conclusion its coming, but it won't be here until the next update in 2013. I thanked Don Iovino for the immediate attention he gave toward helping us with this problem.

[wade]

Thanks Billy!

[Regor]

Originally Posted by Billy V

Best regards,
Mike

-So in conclusion its coming, but it won't be here until the next update in 2013. I thanked Don Iovino for the immediate attention he gave toward helping us with this problem.

Thanks Billy !

A couple issues don't pass the smell test.

1) The issue is not with the product line, but with the software. I make my living in Software, you buy software, we all buy software. With every product we have bought, patches can be released at any time, especially for important issues. If this issue was costing the company money, or costing stockholders money, there would be a patch. Not in 2013, but now.

2) There is a fix, right now! Fish-N-Chip from Navionics. Lowrance already partners with Navionics and it's products come with Nautic Insight. If they want this fixed while they "fix" their product line, then start dishing out the Fish-N-Chip from Navionics.

Are you still in contact with Mike to give him some more feedback? Or willing to share his Contact info, and we can all let him know how to run his company and fix these issues now and keep face and customers.

Thx
Greg

[Billy V]

I sent a follow up e mail this morning lets see what response I receive.

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the fast response. The cartography that is missing from the HDS Nautic Insight fish finders can be found on Navionics Chart Cards like the Fish-N-Chip, or Navionics Gold, or Platinum Chart Cards.
What has puzzled us for so long is the information is readily available through Navionics, but has not included in any of the updates.

The cartogrophy guys wrote this in their e mail to you:
"Thanks for the continued feedback Mike. We are currently researching content to fill this gap as the official surveyed data that we rely on for our contours does not cover this area."

I really appreciate any help you give us.
Respectfully
Bill Vitale