Really Bad experience with Simrad purchase

[drmnj]

This is actually a continuation of my post on 11/23/2013 "Gamin or Simrad don't make the same mistake I did" It was High Seas Technologies in Palm Beach County that sold and installed my new Simrad system in August 2013. This brand new system included 2 new NSS12's. After numerous calls the radar portion of the system was replaced because they could not fix it. In December 2013 my vessel was hauled and the chirp transducer High Seas Technologies sold me was installed for the sonar. They hooked up the system and the sonar has only been working intermittently since then. I have called John the sales manager numerous times to get the sonar fixed because we were planning to go to the Turks & Caicos for the summer. Most of the calls I made were not returned. He did come out the vessel for 2 sea trials and made a few adjustments and assured me everything was ok. Well I guess it was not OK. I'm now in the Exumas heading south and still have a malfunctioning sonar. I get negative depth readings at times, below certain depths it goes blank, shallow water alam goes off for no reason, and it is really useless. For the past 2 weeks while in the islands I have been calling and trying to get them to fix this sonar and all I'm getting is excuses why it's it working, but no solutions to getting it fixed. Not very good customer service at this time. Think twice before buying Simrad or purchasing electronics from High Seas Technologies and I hope you cruisers out there don't end up with these types of electronic problems.
Tailwinds,
Capt Mike

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Have called Sinrad directly?

 

[healhustler]

Have called Simrad directly?

Agree. Nearly any good product has its failed applications for one reason or another. Obviously a terrible experience that needs to be shared with the quality control folks over at Simrad. Hope you get the action you deserve......certainly must be frustrating.

 

[Larry M]

Sorry to hear that. I've been waiting to hear reviews of the Airmar's Chip Broadband Transducer. You could also try calling Airmar.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Last boat I ran we put in a whole new Garmin setup in the tender we towed (a 37' Intrepid) including a CHIRP transducer. The bottom picture was very, very good. With lots of detail.

Not sure you really need it that good unless you are fishing and diving. For just cruising a regular transducer should be fine.

In fact on the big boat we installed another complete new Garmin setup at the same time and didn't bother with the CHIRP transducer. Still had a good bottom picture. Certainly more than good enough for cruising.

 

[drmnj]

Yes we can definitely use it. We do deep dropping and quite a bit of offshore fishing so if it worked properly it sure would help.

 

[drmnj]

Agree. Nearly any good product has its failed applications for one reason or another. Obviously a terrible experience that needs to be shared with the quality control folks over at Simrad. Hope you get the action you deserve......certainly must be frustrating.

Yes we previously called and I'm going to call again this am. Thanks

 

[Billylll]

I have been using Garmin networked MFD's and higher end stand alones since 2005. I have only had one major issue with the initial release of the GMR24HD Radar. The unit had to be sent back 3 times finally they swapped the unit out for a later production date unit and it's still working flawless going on 2 years now.
What or why do I really like Garmin? The on-line periodic updates that can be done with an internet connection and a laptop that can write the files to a simple SD memory card.
Bill

 

[Stelaine]

A quick aside to CaptBill, must have been quite a mother ship to tow a 37' Intrepid as a tender!

 

[Billylll]

A quick aside to CaptBill, must have been quite a mother ship to tow a 37' Intrepid as a tender!

It is I have seen pictures of it while it was being built.
I know I'm not Capt. Bill but we know each other.
Bill

 

[JDCAVE]

Hmmm. Simrad are, of course, one of the "go to" outfits for high end scientific research and heavy duty commercial fishing units. I have no idea how good or reliable the yachting units are, except they are the high end of the price range. As others have suggested, I'd raise "#%|£¥}" with the main company.

BTW, my unit sometimes has trouble when I'm in very deep water, particularly if the boat is rolling at all. It's not surprising really as the energy of the returned echo is very low at the extreme end of the operating potential of the unit, and, the unit is having difficulty integrating over a range of returned echos that indicate different distances as the boat moves through its parallax.

When it comes to sonar technology, the devil is in the details. I get a real chuckle when I see these fish finders being touted. Target recognition is a real science, requiring a lot of training of the technicians and scientists alike. It's a complex blend of physics, biology and math and just when you think you've figured it all out, nature throws you a boomerang!


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

 

[JDCAVE]

http://faq.airmar.com/index.php?action=artikel&cat=1&id=195&artlang=en

Okay, so I'm a little suspicious of their claims WRT target recognition capabilities. I'll do a little digging on this and respond later.


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

 

[Capt.Bill11]

It is I have seen pictures of it while it was being built.
I know I'm not Capt. Bill but we know each other.
Bill

Actually Bill the pictures you saw were for a 90 footer where we towed a 24' Nautic RIB with a 250HP outboard on it. That is the boat and tender I took down and back to the West coast of Costa Rica.

The boat we towed the 37' Intrepid with triple 250HP outboards on it was a 100' Broward. While the Intrepid towed well, it was a bit to big for what we used it for and could be dangerous to handle when releasing the tow or hooking up the tow. I tried to talk the owner into getting something smaller and easier to handle, say like 25'-28' but to no avail.

On the 140' that I engineered on we towed a 32' custom single engine express sportfish. That was a bit of a PITA at times as well. In fact after I left the boat they lost that tender while towing it in heavy seas on a trip from Panama to St. Maarten. From what I've been told it started taking on water and they had to cut it loose and watch it sink. Not a good day to be the captain.

 

[N4712]

Actually Bill the pictures you saw were for a 90 footer where we towed a 24' Nautic RIB with a 250HP outboard on it. That is the boat and tender I took down and back to the West coast of Costa Rica.



The boat we towed the 37' Intrepid with triple 250HP outboards on it was a 100' Broward. While the Intrepid towed well, it was a bit to big for what we used it for and could be dangerous to handle when releasing the tow or hooking up the tow. I tried to talk the owner into getting something smaller and easier to handle, say like 25'-28' but to no avail.



On the 140' that I engineered on we towed a 32' custom single engine express sportfish. That was a bit of a PITA at times as well. In fact after I left the boat they lost that tender while towing it in heavy seas on a trip from Panama to St. Maarten. From what I've been told it started taking on water and they had to cut it loose and watch it sink. Not a good day to be the captain.

Was the name of the 140' by any chance Compass Rose?

 

[Capt.Bill11]

No.

 

[N4712]

No.

Oh ok, just wondering.

 

[Billylll]

Actually Bill the pictures you saw were for a 90 footer where we towed a 24' Nautic RIB with a 250HP outboard on it. That is the boat and tender I took down and back to the West coast of Costa Rica.

The boat we towed the 37' Intrepid with triple 250HP outboards on it was a 100' Broward. While the Intrepid towed well, it was a bit to big for what we used it for and could be dangerous to handle when releasing the tow or hooking up the tow. I tried to talk the owner into getting something smaller and easier to handle, say like 25'-28' but to no avail.

On the 140' that I engineered on we towed a 32' custom single engine express sportfish. That was a bit of a PITA at times as well. In fact after I left the boat they lost that tender while towing it in heavy seas on a trip from Panama to St. Maarten. From what I've been told it started taking on water and they had to cut it loose and watch it sink. Not a good day to be the captain.

Bill you do get around. Sounds like the 140' and the 32' was a bad combination. Sometimes you can't talk people out of something they have already decided on.....
Bill

 

[charles]

Have nothing but GOOD to say about Simrad/Robertson, had two of their units for 25 yrs, great service from two dealers.
CCC

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Bill you do get around. Sounds like the 140' and the 32' was a bad combination. Sometimes you can't talk people out of something they have already decided on.....
Bill

With the 150' and the 32', the problem IMO was the fact that they should not have been out in the kind of weather they were in at the time they lost the tender.

It's not uncommon for a 150' to be towing a tender that size. But when you do, you have to be very careful about the weather you're going to find yourself in.

 

[Conrad]

We put Simrad on Blue Sky last year - NSE12 MFD, AP28 autopilot, and Structurescan. They have worked flawlessly. The local supplier, Seacom Marine, have found that Simrad has significantly improved their support over the last few years, and the few issues they've had have been dealt with promptly.
And with a new 4G radar just installed, we're looking forward to another trouble free cruising season.
I think a big factor is the supplier/installer.

 

[Billylll]

We put Simrad on Blue Sky last year - NSE12 MFD, AP28 autopilot, and Structurescan. They have worked flawlessly. The local supplier, Seacom Marine, have found that Simrad has significantly improved their support over the last few years, and the few issues they've had have been dealt with promptly.
And with a new 4G radar just installed, we're looking forward to another trouble free cruising season.
I think a big factor is the supplier/installer.

+1 having a good installer that keeps the software updated is a huge plus. Since I'm my own installer I picked Garmin for the on-line software upgrades. Almost every bug I have found with Garmin has been promptly attended to and cleared with software upgrades.
Bill

 

[BruceK]

Had issues here with Garmin. Not the equipment, but what Garmin here said it could do when I specially asked them, which it could not. It got to the point they treated me as if I was lying about their pre purchase advice which I had relied on to buy.
So I emailed(or wrote, unsure which), to Garmin USA,cc Garmin Sydney. Instant local response, lots of help for a work around. The Garmin equipment works well 4 years on.