Purchasing Electronics

Electrical and electronic topics for small boats
Jefecinco
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Location: Gulf Shores, AL

Purchasing Electronics

Postby Jefecinco » Fri Apr 19, 2019 10:11 am

Over the years my electronic purchases have been based on reputed reliability, features and price. After a recent experience with Garmin Technical Support I may add telephone support wait time to the list. Thursday at around 3:00 PM the hold time for Garmin Technical Support was over three hours. I doubt I'll be buying a Garmin product again.
Butch

jimh
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Re: Purchasing Electronics

Postby jimh » Fri Apr 19, 2019 11:47 am

Complaints about reaching marine electronic device manufacturers by telephone for first-tier customer support for their products are common. Given the recent problems occuring with devices receiving signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) related to the GPS Week Number Rollover event, there may be unusually high call volume at this time.

fno
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Re: Purchasing Electronics

Postby fno » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:22 am

Butch, don't throw Garmin to the side of the road till you hear from others about their experiences with Simrad, Lowrance, Furuno. They all seem to have their problems, some more than others. I have had reasonably good luck with Simrad telephone support but others report otherwise. Part of the reason a speaker phone has become popular. You can do other things while waiting.

Jefecinco
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Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:35 pm
Location: Gulf Shores, AL

Re: Purchasing Electronics

Postby Jefecinco » Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:16 am

Perhaps I over reacted and was doing a little venting. Garmin is no longer struck off the list but they are not near the top.

A little off topic, but I have been looking for a less costly alternative in case my Garmin is truly fried. My short list includes a Raymarine Dragonfly 7 Pro and a Lowrance 9" Hook 2. I like the Dragonfly 5 we use on the Sport 13 and I already have the Navionics mapping chip so we could save a little there.

Connectivity is not a big bonus for me nor are most of the other bells and whistles found on the high end MFDs. I do want a chirp sonar capability. So far I'm seeing a cost of $450 for the Lowrance at West Marine through May 5 and a few dollars more for the Raymarine before installation. $450 for a 9 inch MFD even without touch is quite tempting.
Butch

MattFL
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Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 2:58 pm

Re: Purchasing Electronics

Postby MattFL » Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:23 am

More then year years ago my Garmin chartplotter and SONAR failed. I'm not sure why. The warranty period was expired, but Garmin repaired it for me for free. Based on that, my next upgrade was a Garmin unit as well. I have not had to contact them since.

I had a Standard Horizon HX350S handheld radio that got some moisture under the glass,. Standard-Horizon replaced it for me right away, and I still have the replacement HX350S today.

I'm shopping for a new radio now and based on that experience Standard Horizon is on my short list of brands to consider.

jimh
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Re: Purchasing Electronics

Postby jimh » Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:27 am

Regarding the time to wait on the telephone when calling a marine electronics manufacturer for first-tier technical support: the time of day and day of the week when a call is placed often affects the duration of time spent on hold. If you call at 9 a.m. on a Monday, the hold time will probably be longer than if you called at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Most of the problems that can be solved by consultation with first-tier technical support telephone agents are often problems that could be solved by a very careful reading of the operating guide for the device. Electronic manufacturers generally do not have their best designers, engineers, and technicians answering customer support calls, particularly at big manufacturers like GARMIN or NAVICO. To get to speak with a more informed support person, the call usually has to be escalated to a second-tier of support, where you will be able to speak to a product specialist with more knowledge.

In many cases, more information can be found by searching on-line resources such as forums that concentrate on a particular manufacturer and that manufacturers particular products. The knowledge and information collected and organized in a good on-line forum will likely exceed the knowledge of a first-tier customer support specialist at a large marine electronics company, particularly when the electronics company is a large global operation with dozens of products and new products introduced at very rapid product life cycles.

Jefecinco
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Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:35 pm
Location: Gulf Shores, AL

Re: Purchasing Electronics

Postby Jefecinco » Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:06 pm

My nine year old Garmin is now working as before. A simple "screen calibration" cured the problem.
Butch