Lowrance Elite 4 Issues

Yesterday, at the Sturgeon Slay Ride, we have both an Elite 4 and Elite 5 hooked up in our kayaks.  My Elite 4 I have had for a few years and has worked perfectly. However, yesterday, after about an hour into fishing, the screen image became distorted, and instead of showing structure, arches, etc, the screen became very pixelized, like an old video game.  This only was affected in the sonar mode.  GPS mode wasn't affected, and in the simulator, it looks fine.  I called Lowrance and they said it may be a software glitch and said to do a soft reset, which I did.

I hooked the ff back up to the boat, but out of the water, and the same images appeared.  I put it on the other kayak, to make sure it wasn't the new transducer, and the same issue.

Lowrance said I should send it back to them for review and replacement.  They said if I want to replace it I can get another on for $160, which seems high to me.  I can get one at Fishermans for $170.

I have read great things on the board here about how great Lowrance service is and that they have given many free replacements to our group, so I was a bit surprised when the service tech wanted my visa card right of the bat.

I told him I would hook the ff up to the kayak in the water one more time before I send it back, but I'm not optimistic.

Anyone have a similar issue?  Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Yikes! I just bought an Elite 4 but haven't got it yet. Would temperature affect it? How cold was it?

I don't think the temperature was the issue, but I don't know if I've had it out in the cold before.  I have had this FF for a few years, and its a great unit.  I hope to get on the water again this weekend, and will see if the same issue persists. Stay tuned.

If it doesn't work, I will probably replace it with an  elite 4 HDI unit, that's on sale at Fishermans right now for $170.  Big upgrade in features.  Mainly I like the size for the kayak.

The HDI is the one I got.

I think you should contact them again & talk with a manager or someone who respects good customer service. Give it another shot !& politely hold them to their standards of a high quality product. Good luck, they've been good to me in the past.
HH

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to give it another on water test this weekend and see if it wasn't just a fluke, then I will give them a call.  I will mention getting input from my Kayak Fishing Club chat board, as that may prompt a more interesting response.

You sure you have a full battery?  I know the ff can start acting very strange if you're low...might be as simple as that.   

That is an excellent point.  I had charged the battery, but it's possible that the battery was shot.  I will swap it for the other one and see.  That might explain why it was working initially, and then went into the pixel looking mode.

i was experiencing the exact same issues earlier this year with my elite 4hdi. swapped out my battery (was 2-3yrs old) for a new one, haven't had the issue since.