The power button stopped working on my HDS7 Touchscreen. I can turn it on and off by plugging in or disconnecting the power cabel so the unit seems fine except for the button.
I called Lowrance Tech Support and I had a true test of my patience today. I was on the phone, mostly on hold, for 63 minutes. The lady was trying to be helpful but she has a script to follow and it was madding. I was instructed at least 3 times to turn the unit on using the power button. THE POWER BUTTON IS BROKEN!!!!!!!!!
We finally got through all the various questions and 10 minute holds and came to the conclusion that....drum roll please.....I need to send it in for further testing.
Now here is the kicker. I was asked to prepay a fee of $375 plus shipping and testing for a total of $425. If it cost less than that they would credit the difference back to my card less the $49 bench testing and $30 shipping to send it back to me.
After careful consideration, I will continue just plugging it in when I get to the lake and unplugging when I leave.
I would have had no problem prepaying the $49 for the bench test and based on what they found paying for the repair or just paying to have it shipped back to me. I think it is a simple fix to just the power button but I seriously doubt I would ever have gotten any of the $425 back.
What they basically were doing was charging me for a rebuilt unit just like mine, then repairing mine for the next guy.
This has placed a serious cloud over me ever buying another Lowrance unit.