Ifinder H20 C

[Genofish]

I have a H20c that i havent used since June in Canada and now it wont lock in any satelites, it keeps searching for them. I have tried it in Avon and St.Cloud but no luck.

[Augusta]

Go to the menu and press, "Initialize GPS" that should do the trick, does for me anyway.

[CrappieAttitude]

YOu probably have already done this, but if you haven't press the page button until you see the satalite page displayed. For some reason it locks in quicker when you have it on that page instead of the normal view page. Just a thought. Also, if you move around a little bit with it, sometimes it locks in quicker as well.

CA

[jtk15]

I had the same problem, and Lowrance had me return it and sent me a new one. I had tried the above.

jk

[Fish&Fowl]

Depending on how long you go in between turning the unit on, it can sometimes take quite a while to lock in to satellites. Try to get into an open area where there is little overhead obstruction and turn the GPS on 15-20 minutes before you need it.

Sitting still is usually the best way to get a solid lock, and if you do go the the satellite page you can see which way you need to head (east, north, etc.) to get under more satellites. After it locks in once, it usually does much faster the next time too.

[HookedUp]

I had a similar experience this summer. I used my H2OC this summer and three days later at a different lake 45 miles away it would not locate satellites. I did all the things suggested in the other replies with no luck. I was bummed out because I was soon heading on a week long vacation on some new lakes and wanted to use it to find some lake structure. The vacation was one of the primary reasons I bought the unit.

I logged onto their website but didn't want to take a chance sending it in not knowing what would happen right before I left for vacation. I called their customer service and waited over an hour to get a live human being. I explained to the rep what was going on and she took me through all the similar steps while on the phone and nothing worked. My only option was to send it in. I explained I was leaving on a week long vacation and had planned on using the GPS. She said it wouldn't be a problem, send mine in and she would send a new unit out immediately for my vacation? I questioned if she would need to receive my old one first or if she needed a credit card number. The reply to both was no, they would ship a replacement unit immediately free of charge.

I was pretty excited about what appeared to be good service, headed to a shipping center and sent mine out overnight yet that evening. After a week passed I hadn't heard anything and hadn't received a new unit so I started checking the tracking on the website with no success. I also started calling them, getting a live person at this company is like winning the lottery! After finally getting someone, they treated me like an idiot, which I obviously was for believing what the service rep told me. They stated they had just received my unit and had not checked it out yet and defiantly could not send me a new one until they had done so. I explained my conversation and my vacation coming up in a couple of days. They replied they would check it out the next day and either send the fixed unit or a new one. By now I was growing leery of what the reps were telling me so I told them I didn't want the old unit back, just send me new one; not an option.

The next day I received a call, they stated they found nothing wrong with the unit and it was working fine, they would be shipping it out. I was again leery how it magically began working. Regardless, next day air and I would have it in time for my vacation, again not an option. They would not pay for next day shipping and would not allow me to pay for it either. Frustrated, that night I borrowed a buddy's unit for my vacation. Incidentally, my unit did not arrive at my house until the day after I came home from my week long vacation.

I love some of the features of this unit, especially the lake maps. I also find this unit is not as accurate as my old Garmen E-trax. Trolling shorelines, the lake maps may show me on land or not near things marked such as sunken islands. It is not all a result of lake map variance as I find locking in coordinates; my Garmen does a better job of getting me back on an exact spot such as a small hump. My H2oC will not track speed below 1.13 MPH; I've tried everything suggested in posts on this site as well as corresponded several times with the company, even the reps admit this is a weakness of their unit. For slow speed tracking, I still rely on my Garmen.

Sorry for the long rant, but this has been a major frustration. The basis of this unit is great; it just doesn't deliver 100% as expected. The customer service has proven to be some of the worst I have ever encountered as well. Unfortunately, they have some features the others haven' matched yet so as a result I will have to live with it. I know I am not alone in my frustration, I've seen all the posts over time regarding issues with the Laurence/Eagle company their products and their customer service.

[harvey lee]

Sounds like a tough deal. My experience with them was totally different. Twice in the last 4 years I have had to send mine in to get checked out. Yes, its a wait for someone to talk to. They were very polite to me and from the time I sent mine in and the time it arrived back at my doorstep, it took 4 days total. This has happened twice to me and both times the service was nothing short of excellent. The second time approx 1.5 years later, they shipped me a new unit.

I'm a very happy camper with the service I received from them.

[jtk15]

I would second Harvey....their call center is terrible-the wait alone is simply unreasonable....but email was much better....I too had excellent customer service once you can contact them...I would not say knowledgable, but timely, and they sent a new unit-which was an H2O...Just one point. I lost all my waypoints...I would imagine if you asked, they would be able to transfer them no problem.

Good luck.

jk

[harvey lee]

I do not believe that they will transfer your waypoints. Seems to me that they told me that.

[cold one sd]

I got my H20 today and put the batteries in it turned it on and layed it on the dashboard of my pickup right next to the windshield for 4 hours and it wouldn't lock in. It kept telling me no fix. Is this normal or did I get a lemon?? Before I did this I layed it on the hood and parked in a clear area for about 20 minutes and had no luck either. Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong? Or is this normal?

[jwhjr]

It's definitely not normal. The longest mine has taken to lock in on my position has been about 3 minutes, and that was indoors.

[cold one sd]

I guess I'll try a reset options and if that doesn't work try a soft reset. It would be nice if some of these things would work out of the box. With my luck it will probably need to be sent in.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Try the "initialize GPS" function. I think it's in "menu"--->"GPS setup"

[cold one sd]

Thanks guys. I reset the options, turned it off and back on, zoomed in on the town that I am in and told it to initialize GPS. It took about 20 minutes, but I was inside of my house. It locks in fine now.

[Ralph Wiggum]

 Originally Posted By: cold one sd

Thanks guys. I reset the options, turned it off and back on, zoomed in on the town that I am in and told it to initialize GPS. It took about 20 minutes, but I was inside of my house. It locks in fine now.

Great! That first time is usually what takes a while. You should be good to go.

[cold one sd]

Now I'm going to order my Hotmaps North so I can be confused again. It is a lot more user friendly than my old one though.

[Tom7227]

Have you guys used the MapCreate Software with your units? I got it and just love the ability to upload extremely detailed maps. It allows you to use different chips and I am able to put all of N & S Dakota, MN, Wi and Iowa on one 512 meg chip. Once I get back from a trip I can download the routes and waypoints to a file and then pull them up again if needed later. An absolute lifesaver for my SD pheasant trip this year.

The only issue I have is that the unit doesn't lock in if it's back under the roof of the cab. If I put it on the seat it loses the lock. My Magellan Platinum actually locks while in my house, but Lakemaster chips don't work in it.