Thread: Warning Lowrance Elite 7 HDI potential buyers!

I'm not trying to start nothing at all,but I bought my elite 7 when they first came out and have had no trouble at all.I bought the navionics card at the same time(south) and it works great in mine.You might have a bad card or something wrong with the unit itself.

Arky I know of 3 other people all have this chip in this unit and it sucks, If it takes 30 seconds to 1 minute to update each time that is not working great. It should do it within a couple of seconds if not almost instantaneously. If the cursor will not track and update to keep up to where you are then still not great. I tried it in Georgia and Florida and it is a no go on updating quick, even Lowrance customer service I hear has admitted this chip bogs the unit down and does not have enough processor speed for it. The problem lies not in the chip but in the unit processor speed. You may be on a lake without much detail from the Navionics chip with little info for the unit to process. Hey if yours is working great, you should feel very fortunate.

is there a setting to chose /navi. or lowrance on the unit? if so is it set to the correct setting? good luck

I had both the Elite 7 and the Elite 5DSI and liked the 5 better , GPS was better in the 5 to me.

I sure wish someone would have told me this BEFORE I purchased my Elite7. I really like the unit but as you said it has issues!! Not only did mine have processor problems, it would also turn itself off randomly maybe once a day while I was fishing. So needless to say I sent that unit back and upgraded to an HDS7 Touch. And yes you are correct, Lowrance needs to let their customers know of this problem and try to fix it.
P.S. I finally talked to a Supervisor and he did admit there were delays with the processor especially when travelling at speeds over 25 mph!

Yes Beagle man, Select the menu button and go under charts and you can select between Navionics or Lowrance.

I tried the Elite7...Twice...Definitely has GPS problems and the Tech at Lowrance told me that the problem was the processor was to slow for what us fishermen/women need. If your interested in Lowrance, splurge for the HDS models....Otherwise, I'd recommend Humminbird. I have a 798 0n my boat that I am happy with. Both Elite 7's have been returned and a HB 858 is going on the boat in its place.

Originally Posted by Countrytime

Arky I know of 3 other people all have this chip in this unit and it sucks, If it takes 30 seconds to 1 minute to update each time that is not working great. It should do it within a couple of seconds if not almost instantaneously. If the cursor will not track and update to keep up to where you are then still not great. I tried it in Georgia and Florida and it is a no go on updating quick, even Lowrance customer service I hear has admitted this chip bogs the unit down and does not have enough processor speed for it. The problem lies not in the chip but in the unit processor speed. You may be on a lake without much detail from the Navionics chip with little info for the unit to process. Hey if yours is working great, you should feel very fortunate.

I am having the same problems with the slow update. I have the Navionics chip. I did discover that if I zoom out to at least .5 mile it refreshes a lot quicker when I am running the OB,